Don't fall out of your chair. I'm fair.
(And a poet.) Well, at least I'm one of those. Don't you know it.

Clinton's people accuse Obama of plagiarism.

"Sen. Obama is running on the strength of his rhetoric, and the strength of his promises. So I think it's relevant when someone who's running on his rhetoric lifts words from the speeches of another politician," Clinton campaign communications director Howard Wolfson said Monday during a conference call with reporters. When asked why the campaign is highlighting the similarities, Wolfson stated that "Sen. Clinton is not running on the strength of her rhetoric. She's not running to be the Orator in Chief. She's running to be the president."

Of course, after Clinton's people make a big fuss about this, and news organizations start reporting this, we find out that:

Patrick and Obama are close friends, and that Obama strategist David Axelrod helped run Patrick's 2006 campaign for Massachusetts governor. Patrick tells the New York Times that he shared the language of his 2006 speech with Obama's speechwriters, and did not believe Obama should give him credit for the statement.

Here's the link.

Mr. Patrick employed similar language during his 2006 governor’s race when his Republican rival, Kerry Healey, criticized him as offering lofty rhetoric over specifics. Mr. Patrick has endorsed Mr. Obama, and the two men are close friends.

“ ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ — just words? Just words?” Mr. Patrick said one month before his election. “ ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself’ — just words? ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’ Just words? ‘I have a dream’ — just words?”

In a telephone interview on Sunday, Mr. Patrick said that he and Mr. Obama first talked about the attacks from their respective rivals last summer, when Mrs. Clinton was raising questions about Mr. Obama’s experience, and that they discussed them again last week.

Both men had anticipated that Mr. Obama’s rhetorical strength would provide a point of criticism. Mr. Patrick said he told Mr. Obama that he should respond to the criticism, and he shared language from his campaign with Mr. Obama’s speechwriters.

Mr. Patrick said he did not believe Mr. Obama should give him credit.

“Who knows who I am? The point is more important than whose argument it is,” said Mr. Patrick, who telephoned The New York Times at the request of the Obama campaign. “It’s a transcendent argument.”

David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Mr. Obama who also advised Mr. Patrick, said Sunday that Mr. Obama adapted the words from Mr. Patrick. Mr. Axelrod said that he did not write the words for either candidate.

“They often riff off one another. They share a world view,” Mr. Axelrod said. “Both of them are effective speakers whose words tend to get requoted and arguments tend to be embraced widely.”

Then it's not plagiarism then, is it? Good grief. The writer gave the material to Obama along with permission to use it. Obama's speeches are making Hillary nervous. Shoot. They make me nervous. But I'll save that for the general election.