Seldom in the history of humanity has so much been made of so little by so few. Forget the plagiarism, the combination of the campaign and the Bork hearings almost killed Biden. Had he spent any more time in the race, his brain aneurysm would have most likely killed him.

Maybe we don't want to admit it, but we all make mistakes. If we demand "perfection" from our leaders, then we're going to be led by a bunch of smarmy Edwards/Romney type politicians who are far more concerned with their image than actually governing. I'd much prefer someone who's willing to make an honest mistake than someone who spends all their time covering theirs up.

I'm not trying to defend what Biden did, but plagiarizing a speech is hardly new. McCain's speech writers plagiarized from Wikipedia, Obama plagiarized from Patrick, Hillary plagiarized from Edwards, and on and on and on.

I mean, Martin Luther King Jr. plagerized large portions of his doctoral thesis. He even plagerized his "I have a Dream" speech from Archibald Carey. Think about it. One of the most profound speeches in American history was stolen from an obscure source. Does that dimish Dr. King? Should we now celebrate Martin Luther King day with an asterick?

Biden has cast 35 years worth of votes in the senate. I imagine that some of them would make a meaningful story. Of course, it's much easier to paraphrase the same tripe over, and over, and over and over....

Yes, have to agree here - people's reluctance to condemn isn't just "scandal fatigue" from the Doris Kearns Goodwin and Stephen Ambrose plagiarisms, the reluctance is more about "bad governance fatigue" - i.e. in light of the fact that our government lied to us about going to war, torture, illegal wiretapping, politically motivated prosecutions, and rendition, to say nothing of just governing terribly, I realize I have a limited wellspring of outrage. I am just going to have to prioritize what I get angry about.

But, was he ever contrite about his plagiarism?

First, I believe Biden did apologize... and he dropped out... and has faced 20 years of ridicule because of it. I think that qualifies as contrition.

Second, who cares about some fake teary eyed apology? Biden did what every politician does, he lifted someones lines. He just happened to do it inarticulately. Why should he be singled out and cruicified because of it?

Plagiarism should certainly be a part of the Biden biography, it's just not the whole story. I mean, the guy has a son going to Iraq! Does anyone mention that? No, all we hear about is some meaningless event that happened 20 years ago.

really! this is a big to do about nothing. it's not like he got drunk and killed a chick or anything,

I mean, the guy has a son going to Iraq!

Wow, stop the election. Lets just immediately hail Joe Biden as our new leader! He has a son going to Iraq for Chrissakes!

Shrug. If you're so partisan that you can't appreciate someones sacrifice and service to country simply because you disagree with them politically, than your voice has no place in intelligent conversation.

mithros:

Shrug. If you're so partisan that you can't appreciate someones sacrifice and service to country simply because you disagree with them politically, than your voice has no place in intelligent conversation.

Shrug. If you're so partisan that you think having a son going to Iraq qualifies you for political office then your voice is incapable of intelligent conversation.

I'm actually not partisan at all, I just thought this quote was rather inane and called it out as such. The question here is why are YOU so partisan? You think that party that you give so much of your effort into actually gives a shit about you?