During her debate with Barack Obama yesterday, Hillary Clinton condemned Obama for using phrases "borrowed" from his national co-chairman, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick:
CLINTON: Well, I think that if your candidacy is going to be about words, then they should be your own words. That's, I think, a very simple proposition. (APPLAUSE) And, you know, lifting whole passages from someone else's speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox. And I just don't think...
OBAMA: Come on.
(CROSSTALK)
CLINTON: No, but, you know, but, Barack, it is. Because, you know, if you look -- if you look -- if you look at the YouTube of these videos, it does raise questions. Now, there is no doubt that you are a passionate, eloquent speaker, and I applaud you for that. But when you look at what we face in this country, we do need to unite the country, but we have to unite it for a purpose around very specific goals.
How 24 hours can change things!
Today, Clinton came under scrutiny from Obama's camp and others as they questioned the originality of her much-ballyhooed parting remarks, some of which they said sounded strangely like those delivered by John Edwards when he dropped out of the presidential race on Jan. 30 and others of which sounded much like a speech her husband gave in 1992.
Here are the snippets, complements of CNN; read them, and decide for yourself.
BILL CLINTON, November 1992: "The hits that I took in this election are nothing compared to the hits the people of this state and this country have been taking for a long time."
HILLARY CLINTON, Thursday night: "You know, the hits I’ve taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country."
JOHN EDWARDS, during a debate in Iowa in December: "What's not at stake are any of us. All of us are going to be just fine no matter what happens in this election. But what's at stake is whether America is going to be fine."
JOHN EDWARDS, Jan. 30 withdrawal speech: "But I want to say this to everyone: with Elizabeth, with my family, with my friends, with all of you and all of your support, this son of a millworker's gonna be just fine. Our job now is to make certain that America will be fine."
HILLARY CLINTON, Thursday night: "You know, whatever happens, we're going to be fine. You know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. I just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the American people. And that's what this election should be about."
One of two things is true: Either Hillary is overpaying her speechwriter, or we have reached the political platitude point of no return.
Your thoughts?
