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Gibbons Speech Plagiarized

via Eschaton: Elko Daily Free Press:

ELKO - The speech delivered by U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., during Friday night's Lincoln Day Dinner in Elko was largely plagiarized from a copyrighted speech by Alabama State Auditor Beth Chapman.

Chapman told the Elko Daily Free Press this morning Gibbons had not requested permission to use her speech, which she said she delivered Feb. 2, 2003, at a Stand Up for America rally in Alabama.

She said Gibbons apologized today for using large portions of her speech.

"I spoke with him this morning and he has apologized," she said.

Chapman, a Republican, said Gibbons told her he did not realize the speech was copyrighted.

During his speech at Friday night's Lincoln Day Dinner, Gibbons did not mention that the speech had been written and previously delivered by Chapman.

"I don't remember where I got it," Gibbons said this morning. "I had no idea it was copyrighted."

Today, Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) defended his plagiarized speech in an editorial written to a Nevada Newspaper where he says he was “spun out of context” by the Democratic Party. He must have forgotten that people were able to read a detailed account of the speech in the Elko Daily Free Press. He also must have forgotten that what he said was completely detailed in the original speech delivered in 2003 by the Alabama auditor from which Gibbons plagiarized 15 of 21 paragraphs nearly word for word. He left that part out of his letter. It’s amazing that, once again, Jim Gibbons claims he was taken out of context, jut like he did when he called people who questioned George Bush’s corporate funded Inauguration events “communists”. Jim Gibbons’ words speak for themselves, and what they have to say isn’t pretty.

(hat tip Jon Summers)

via Review Journal

It's down the Orwellian memory hole for the old speeches and writings of U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, who was forced to admit last week he'd plagiarized a right-wing diatribe against hippies, Birkenstock-wearers, and tree huggers from a not-terribly-creative-but-nonetheless-copyrighted rant written by the Alabama state auditor.

Visitors to the "speeches" section of Gibbons' Web site were greeted with a blank page Sunday. Ditto for the congressman's "monthly column."

Could it be that Gibbons' staffers were anxiously reviewing every line of his writings, hoping and praying they didn't come across any familiar lines? After all, another plagiarism incident could seriously wound Gibbons' heretofore bulletproof candidacy for Nevada governor in 2006.

Chief of Staff Amy Spanbauer dismissed that notion, and blamed technical issues, not anything more sinister. "We are trying to make our site printer-friendly and some content had to come down as a result. We hope to have all issues resolved soon," she wrote in response to an e-mailed question.

Yet a check of the Gibbons Web site revealed every other link, from press releases, to congressional testimony, to "hot and current issues," to the congressman's own biography, was working fine. There wasn't a problem printing those documents.

It looks like Gibbons has taken another page out of Bush’s playbook by trying to buy positive media coverage.

The Las Vegas Review Journal is reporting this morning that Jim Gibbons paid $8,000 to a Reno radio reporter on November 30 for “post election analysis”. Just like they did when Gibbons was exposed for plagiarizing a speech two weeks ago, Gibbons’ office is, once again, pleading ignorance by claiming they didn’t know Andrea Engleman was reporting while being paid by the Congressman. Gibbons is planning to run for Governor in 2006.

Engleman defended the payoff as a favor, saying that Gibbons gave her the $8,000 “to get through Christmas” after she was fired from her political reporting job at KRNV as co-host of “Nevada Newsmakers”. Engleman is still covering Gibbons and other Nevada politics for KKOH radio, including a speech delivered by Gibbons at the Nevada Legislature last month.

While Engleman describes the $8,000 as a one-time favor, Gibbons’ office says they are considering Engleman for future work. You will remember GIbbon's for his communist remark, and his plagerized speech, and of course Hannity getting nailed, trying to bail him out.