GIBBONS PLAGIARIZED HIS "LIBERALS" REMARKS ... The man can't even come up with original insults. According to Raw Story and the Elko Daily Press, Jim Gibbons, Republican congressman from Nevada, stole 15 out of 21 paragraphs in a speech written by Beth Chapman, Alabama's state auditor. She delivered the speech at a rally called "Stand Up for America" in February, 2003. One of those paragraphs included the lines that created a national outcry:

"I say we tell those liberal, tree-hugging, Birkenstock stocking wearing, hippie, tie-dyed liberals to go make their movies and their music and whine somewhere else."

The speech is copyrighted, but Gibbons claims he did not know that. Of course, that does not explain why Gibbons used the phrase "I say" when he spoke the words Chapman had written. He knew they weren't his words, even if he didn't remember where they came from or who sent them to him.

He said he believed the speech had been e-mailed to him.

"I have no idea," Gibbons said. "I think it was sent to me, cut-and-paste."

Obviously, Chapman's politics are just as loony as Gibbons' are, but I'll give her credit for understated eloquence. "...[W]hen asked whether it bothered her that Gibbons delivered her speech[,]..." she said, " 'Yes and no,' ... adding that when she incorporates other people's material into her own remarks, 'I usually mention that.' "

Thank you to Chief for sending me the link to this story. I never would have known about it otherwise.