Manure Matter
Hillary Clinton told a story yesterday on the campaign trail -- without attribution -- that turned out to be a Ronald Reagan original. Sigh. NBC/NJ's Athena Jones reports that her tale went like this:
"He (Rendell) reminds me of the story about that little boy -- you ever hear this story where, you know, a man walks by the barn. He sees this little boy in this room filled with manure and he's standing there and he's diggin' and he's diggin' and he's diggin' and the man says 'Son, what are you doing? You're up to your hips in manure with that little shovel' And the boy said 'Well, with this much manure around, there's gotta be a pony, and I'm gonna find him!'"
MSNBC, perhaps not surprisingly, has been running the clip this a.m. of Reagan telling the same story. We're looking for the clip.
In the meantime, readers, big deal? No deal? This latest hullaballoo turns on a parable -- unlike the botched Bosnia story, which Clinton exaggerated unnecessarily to inflate her foreign policy credentials. Or so it seemed. She said she misspoke and that she was tired.
I'm not as moved by the manure flap. Sure, some would say it's further proof of Clinton's lack of authenticity, her willingness to poach ideas or stories and claim them as her own. Thoughts?
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
In and of itself, I'm not bothered by the story either -- it certainly isn't the kind of outright lying ("mispeaking") that was the Bosnia story.
That said, I remember the Clinton campaign trying to beat up on Obama not that long ago for using Duval Patrick's words without attribution, throwing around charges of "plagarism". And a little while further back, the Clinton folks were screaming that Obama had made somewhat positive comments about Reagan.
So by Clinton's own standards, she has crossed a couple of lines here -- lifting Ronald Reagan's words without attribution. Wonder what Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson would be trying to do with this if it was Obama who was telling the my little pony story.
She was referencing a story in pop culture, not claiming it as her own.
I call it a push. It could be a Clinton+1 if the media tries to make a big deal out of nothing however because she'll get to play victim again.
Give me a break. My grandfather used to tell this joke.
Why is it you didnt put in your storyline which Msnbc also pointed out and that is she started off by saying..I am sure some of you have heard this story before....
Why couldn't she just cite Reagan?
She said Rendell told it to her. Maybe he did. I've heard it many times from many different people, so I don't think Reagan has some sort of copyright on it.
If it predates him -- which it probably does -- then he's just as "guilty" as Clinton.
This is an old, old story -- I first heard it (no, I don't remember where) back when St. Ronnie was still just a fading second-rate actor. And I've heard others (many, many of them -- including myself on many occasions) use it since then.
Clinton didn't say it was an original story -- she actually credits Rendell with its telling -- so no credit to Reagan or anyone else is do.
In other words: There's no story here. Just trot off and find something else to go after her about.
We let the media do this to Vice President Al Gore, against the clown who won their friggin' popularity contest.Are we all happy with how that kind of "journalism" turned out for America?
I guess a failing economy, two failing wars, and a DOJ lawyer that encourages our government to engage in war crimes is too much heavy lifting for National Journal.
I am no fan of HRC's, but this story has been around for decades, well before Reagan told it. So this isn't plagiarism. Incidentally, she goofed up the story: the real story is that there was a child who was an incurable optimist, to the point that his parents were simply amazed. As a test, for his birthday they gave him something he couldn't possibly like or want: a big pile of manure. Instead of being offended or disgusted, the kid cried with delight and waded into the pile, joyfully digging. When his parents stopped and asked him why, he replied, "There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"
"I'm not as moved by the manure flap"" Ms. Skalka, we aren't supposed to know or care about how you feel. You are supposed to report the news objectively. I wish you would learn that lesson.
Why shouldn't this be a big deal? HRC herself made it a big deal when Obama used Deval Patrick's words. Kind of ironic isn't it that she was caught stealing a story about manure.
I wouldn't put too much weight in this story either, but those who say she's citing Gov. Rendell are wrong. The little boy in the story reminds her of Rendell, it's not a story Rendell told her.
It's ironic that Hillary would tell this joke because the content of her speeches is pure, unadulterated manure.
She's run a vicious, race baiting, fear mongering campaign and she's a total disgrace to the Democratic Party.