Gormless
Quillblog doesn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but there is an Ann Coulter plagiarism scandal brewing. Last Sunday, shortly after the release of her new book, Godless, the New York Post, a newspaper that has carried Coulter’s columns, published an article that quoted John Barrie, who created a “plagiarism-recognition system,” as saying that her new bestseller featured at least three instances of plagiarism and there were many more in her syndicated column. Two of the passages from the book were allegedly lifted from other newspapers and the third was taken directly from — wait for it — a Planned Parenthood brochure. That Planned Parenthood passage was actually used in a chapter on Bill Clinton.
But, seriously … the so-called liberal media that has provided Coulter with so much fodder over her seemingly interminable career in punditry is all over this story. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann (whom Quillblog has admired since his days anchoring ESPN’s Sportscenter) has had Barrie on Countdown. (Check out the video on Raw Story.) And the Muckraker spinoff of Joshua Micah Marshall’s Talking Points Memo blog has been following this very closely, providing updates a few times a day.
For her part, Coulter has responded by ripping the Post in her latest column, reports Editor & Publisher. “How crappy a newspaper is the Post?” asks Coulter. “Let me put it this way: It’s New York’s second-crappiest paper.”
Related links:
Click here for the original New York Post article
Click here for the Raw Story item, with the Olbermann video
Click here for TPM Muckraker
Click here for the Editor & Publisher story
