At last night's Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton was asked about the charges of plagiarism that have been leveled against the Obama campaign, and she attempted but failed to deliver a zinger. Clinton knew the “change you could Xerox” line didn't have the intended effect the moment she said it, and she spent the next few minutes scrambling to recover as she veered into a discussion of health care rather than plagiarism.
And Clinton ‘borrowed' words from Edwards last night.
Writes DailyKos: “This plagiarism thing is officially dead. I'm sure we'll be able to move on from this silliness. Worst. Political. Attack. Ever.”
Talking Points Memo notes that “the pivot of Hillary's powerful concluding remarks came from Bill Clinton's 92 campaign.”:
Bill Clinton in '92: “The hits that I took in this election are nothing compared to the hits the people of this state and this country have been taking for a long time.”
Hillary Clinton, last night: “You know, the hits I've taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country.”
Here are the candidates' closing statements.
Some are saying that Clinton's closing statement sounded much like a concession speech. I think both candidates performed fairly well in the debate and have behaved admirably toward each other, even given the attacks. Could an Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama ticket be in our future?
