Obama Borrows Riff, Clinton Camp Screams Plagiarism

Update: Obama says this is no big deal; I tend to agree, and don't think Hillary's Gotcha Game will play in Platteville, WI.

Sen. Obama used a passage from a speech that Gov. Deval Patrick had also used at a campaign rally when he was running in 2006. Obama told Ed Schultz that "he borrowed a riff from a friend, " but the Clinton camp, after months of phony attacks, sensed that this one could have legs. So, of course, they went straight for the jugular.

Politico: Clinton aide accuses Obama of plagiarism:
By: Mike Allen
Feb 18, 2008 1

Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's communications director, today accused Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) of committing “plagiarism” in a speech in Milwaukee on Saturday night.

Wolfson made the explosive charge in an interview with Politico after suggesting as much in a conference call with reporters.

On the call, Wolfson said: “Sen. Obama is running on the strength of his rhetoric and the strength of his promises and, as we have seen in the last couple of days, he’s breaking his promises and his rhetoric isn’t his own.”

"When an author plagiarizes from another author there is damage done to two different parties. One is to the person he plagiarized from. The other is to the reader," said Wolfson