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Bring It On!

February 18, 2008 3:46 PM

The wife wonders if the best analogy for Barack Obama's "Just Words"-Gate is not Sen. Joe Biden's 1987 plagiarism scandal but rather the 2000 Kirsten Dunst cheerleading vehicle "Bring It On."

As you may recall, Dunst, as Torrance Shipman -- captain of the Toro Cheerleading Squad at Rancho Carne High School in San Diego -- hires Sparky Polastri, a cheerleading consultant, to help her squad win the competition.

It turns out, however, that Polastri taught the Toros someone else's routine. And in the past the Toros had stolen the moves of the of the East Compton Clovers, led by Gabrielle Union's Isis.

In this very forced metaphor, Obama is Dunst, Patrick is Union, and David Axelrod is Polastri. (Sorry, David.)

At the end of the day, Deval Patrick wins the cheerleading competition and Barack Obama learns a valuable lesson.

- jpt

February 18, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (24)

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to arlington,you can't dismiss what patrick in tx. has expressed because his typing skills could use some practice!...ummmh?

Posted by: john in Big D | Feb 19, 2008 12:39:22 PM

uhm...this is stupid...

Posted by: arlington | Feb 19, 2008 12:15:14 PM

Sorry to have to spoil the party Obamas, it'gonna take an INSIDER to get things DONE.He will be a LAME DUCK from the FIRST day.Doesn't it strike anyone as curious,the urgency of the MEDIA in FORCE FEEDING you this PAP.It's working so far.Think a couple of moves ahead-with the intransigeance of the beltway,no time left on the clock for a learning curve,the Republicans will have THE PERFECT PINATA for 2012.

Posted by: Patrick in Texas | Feb 19, 2008 11:53:10 AM

Up until now, Obama has been walking on water. The college crowd adore and worship him for his inspiring speeches. To them, he is the "ONE".

Saying that plagiarism is a non-issue means Havard must have tolerated it. Even kids in elementary school know this is wrong. Obama says it is no big deal. Quote, "we borrow from each other all the time".

Yeah, he is running for president of the United State solely on his so-called "inspiring" rhetoric.

I dare the media to examine the past speeches that Obama had delivered and may be the two books he had written. I won't be surprised if he lifted a lot of material from other people.

Posted by: SO1 | Feb 18, 2008 11:08:24 PM

Funny how the attacks around Hillary here and nearly everywhere involve charges that she is a "crybaby", "pathetic”, “childlike”,
“silly” and, my personal favorite - "desperate." Am I the only one who finds these hits gender-based, even if slightly? Certainly, a charge of "ugly desperation" has a certain misogynistic ring to it, when advanced against a woman. Seems that such language falls directly in line with Mr. Obama's dismissive charges that Hillary is "likeable enough," and Mrs. Obama's opinion that Hillary is unworthy of our vote on the basis that a woman who cannot keep her own house in order (or her husband in control) clearly cannot lead. Am I the only one who wonders why Tapper and Marsh (and Fish to some extent) are the only ones talking about this? The absence of dialogue is particularly noteworthy given the unbelievably disingenuous (and, at this point, probably fatal) attention and relentless play given to the Jesse Jackson and LBJ comments, which even Obama concedes were historically accurate and which Jesse Jackson himself described as innocuous.

Posted by: KD | Feb 18, 2008 10:21:20 PM

I still cannot get over the childish and silly level of your commentaries, Mr Tapper! You are supposed to be a SENIOR National Correspondent for the ABC but you write like a gossip columnist in one of those detestable cheap women's magazines. I just can't believe it!

Posted by: Ronke Rwagaju | Feb 18, 2008 10:19:46 PM

This is a non-story about a non-issue.

Hillary is guilty of using the letter A.
Let's keep repeating this, perhaps it will stick. Have you heard? She used the letter A again!

Posted by: Mike | Feb 18, 2008 8:13:59 PM

Posted by: Mike,

You are nuts! If this sinks him, then it will sink her for stealing his "fired up and ready to go." Hillary has stolen others words and so has her husband. I can't believe people are dumb enough to believe this is the first time someone has used something that wasn't original to them? Yet, so many of you are allowed to vote. Shameful.

Where did Deval get those statements from? If they were origninal to him it would be theft but last time I checked, some other people used those words/statements/phrases, some before Deval was even born!

This is just another DESPERATE attempt at creating a story by ABC. And another DESPERATE attempt by Clinton to catch him in something, much like the kindergarten comment. We all remember rolling our eyes at that! Well, I'm rolling my eyes again....pathetic.

Posted by: Informed voter | Feb 18, 2008 7:36:46 PM

It is not bad to copy. It is who you copy that is scary.
Chinese proverb

Posted by: Liwai from China | Feb 18, 2008 7:07:13 PM

so what he has my vote . clinton need to stop cry about your lose this is the real world now.

Posted by: sylvin | Feb 18, 2008 6:09:46 PM

Here Lou, you can 'move on' with this article that shows you just how desperate the clinton campaign has become.
She has stolen words and phrases. If she's gonna hammer you with this bs, she should make sure its something that she herself is not doing first.

She has become very childlike in this election cycle. Its very clear why over half the country doesn't want her as president.

Posted by: LA in Indiana | Feb 18, 2008 5:44:25 PM

I strongly believe Obama's charater is already damaged due to plargiarm!!

Posted by: Karen | Feb 18, 2008 5:38:44 PM

Do you notice how the obama supporters try so very hard to "move on now" - BUT, WATCH - Obama supporters will now start to blam Hillary Clinton for this. Then if someone disagrees, they will be labled "Racists".
What double standards for just a common dyed in the wool politician, who is in the back pockets of Teddy Kennedy and John Kerry.

Posted by: Lou | Feb 18, 2008 5:34:25 PM

I can't believe that ABC news allowed itself to be duped by the desperate Clinton campaign into promoting and airing this idiotic non-story designed to smear Senator Obama. Governor Patrick, an Obama advisor and ally, specifically suggested that Senator Obama use that line, most of which in fact quotes famous lines from FDR, Dr. King, and America's founding documents. Every day of the week, Senator Clinton plagiarizes not only lines from Obama, but his entire message ("change", etc.). And not a peep from the press about it. Senator Obama is one of the greatest writers and thinkers (and, yes, doers) in the past half-century of American politics-- and Hillary Clinton has nothing left in her arsenal except trying in vain to turn his greatest strengths against him. Well, I can at least console myself that the American public can't possibly be as stupid as Senator Clinton's campaign thinks-- and that they will recognize her charges for what they are: another act of ugly desperation and deception from Hillary Clinton's losing presidential campaign.

Posted by: Staton Rabin | Feb 18, 2008 5:33:07 PM

Obama first big mistake.this will cost him.His character will be damaged.

Posted by: Mike | Feb 18, 2008 5:27:29 PM

Does anyone know the names or a name of the "fainters"? Obviously. that was an Obama scam.

Posted by: geevill | Feb 18, 2008 5:16:42 PM

It's on par with Joe Biden ripping of Neil Kinnock. How ironic for Obama, who asks people to overlook his lack of experience because of his lofty rhetoric, that he rips off others lines!!

Posted by: hopesprings52 | Feb 18, 2008 5:12:38 PM

I wonder what MS Hornaday would say about the analogy?

Posted by: pompomgirl | Feb 18, 2008 5:08:24 PM

Can we move on now? I do think the war and the economy are just slightly more important on the scale than...who stole who's canned phrasing.

Posted by: kate, texas | Feb 18, 2008 5:00:12 PM

Typical! Obama really isn't about "change" afterall. He has to steal someone else's inspiration to woo the crowds.

Posted by: Patricia Mejia | Feb 18, 2008 4:54:39 PM

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