3/10/2008

Goodwin's legacy

Hat tip to the Deseret Evening News for remembering the true social identity of Doris Kearns Goodwin. In advance of a well-paid speech locally, the News has rolled out this welcome mat: "Plagiarism allegations shouldn't be forgotten."

Hat tip to Slate as well for mocking Tim Russert for inviting Goodwin on Meet the Press to comment on plagiarism charges against Barack Obama without mentioning Goodwin's "expertise." Now that's rehabilitation.

The San Diego Union Tribune struck a harsher note: "Russert brings in plagiarist to analyze plagiarism allegations."

Where a newspaper trumpets a Goodwin event without reference to her misdeeds, the readers tend to chime in. Reading of a Goodwin cancellation at Farmington Historic Plantation in Kentucky, a commenter adds, "An ounce of pretention is worth a pound of manure," adding "I wonder whose words she'll be stealing tonight..."

She needs to come clean with an apology to her reading public.