Look, I am not a Joe Biden fan. There are many reasons for this. He is allowed to get away with things that many other politicians would not get away with (white male privilege or political insider or both?) But I also realize he may be our nominee and I would not only vote for him, I would campaign for him. The major reason I am not in favor of Biden in the primaries is he has a history of hiring bad people and making massive unforced errors. Well this just happened. Read this this article from Vox on Biden’s plagiarism in the climate plan. Now I agree with the author, this type of “borrowing” should not be a really big deal in 2019. And obviously Joe Biden was not anywhere near the writing of this document. But,
If it were written for an academic course the author probably would have been at least suspended from the university.
Joe Biden has a history of plagiarism so it is easy for people to grab on to.
The people Biden hired to write this document did not seem to be aware of this history.
The people Biden hired (and not for lack of money I guess) seem inordinately sloppy.
How hard would it have been in friggin include footnotes? It is like the first thing you are taught from writing a paper like this (I would really like to know the universities the authors attended).
It was an easily avoidable error. An own goal. Listen, every candidate makes own goals. It is not possible to avoid them when there is a constant flow of information. And Biden is going to get a pass for this from the media and the democratic establishment. That is what worries me. Because in the general election when Elizabeth Warren is not a threat I am certain the New York Times and the AP will be roasting Biden for errors like this (and obviously he will make them). You want to talk about electability? We need to start right here.
