Plagiarism, Take 3...

We've written here and here on the issue of plagiarism, prompted by the Washington Post's precipitous firing and precipitous firing of token conservative blogger Ben Domenech. Wonk voiced the opinion, which was dissed in some quarters, that plagiarism stinks no matter which side of the aisle it comes from, but isn't it funny how rightie miscreants receive swifter justice than do lefties who commit the same sin.

Well, damn, I plum forgot all about the master of serial plagiarism, "historian" Doris Kearns Goodwin. But Mickey Kaus remembered:

Note to Doris Kearns Goodwin--Ben Domenech Died for Your Sins: Maybe Domenech just wanted to win $50,000 from the New York Historical Society! ... Eric Weiner notes that the wages of plagiarism are good if you have a survival network that includes Walter Isaacson and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. ... For more of the goods on Goodwin: See this summary and try to find the damning LAT piece cited here. ...

Kaus' links are good, particularly the one to Weiner, who cites a 2002 story in the online Daily Standard that relates Goodwin's sins in chapter and verse, noting that, according to Weiner, that Goodwin was "forced to reach an 'understanding' with one author she ripped off. (In other words, Goodwin paid off a lesser-known historian to prevent her good name from being smeared.)"

Weiner continues:

Goodwin's so popular with her highly respected colleagues that nearly two years after the plagiarism scandal broke several prominent historians and media folks -- everyone from Arthur Schlesinger Jr. to Walter Isaacson -- actually signed a letter to the New York Times asserting that she didn't plagiarize anyone. You can make your own call, but in my mind Slate columnist Timothy Noah pretty much pantsed them in this column that ran shortly after the letter appeared.

Funny thing about this is, last time I looked, both Kaus and Noah were and are libs. But it seems that even being outed by conservative and liberal bloggers alike is not enough to put a pinhole leak in Goodwin's balloon. She's a certified lefty "intellectual" and the elites are gonna take care of her anyway, even to the tune of the $50K award Kaus cites.

Looks like all animals are indeed equal, but some are still more equal than others. Particularly if they inhabit the clubby world of the left-wing elites. Perhaps Domenech's real sin was that he picked the wrong side.

Now eagle-eyes out there might say, "Hah, you mind-numbed hypocrite. Didn't you cite the downfall of lefties like Jayson Blair and Janet Cooke in your earlier misinformed rants?" Indeed I did. But there's a hairsplit here worth noting in the code of conduct observed by leftist intellectualoids. Neither Blair nor Cooke had yet made it into the Elite Club. Therefore, their status was "unprotected." Once you're in the club, you're there, dude and can write anything you want even if someone else wrote it first. Ask Goodwin how that works. Wonk will never know.

Gets bloody depressing sometimes, don't it?