posted July 05, 2006 11:00 PM              

COPYCATTY COULTER PILFERS PROSE: PRO

By PHILIP RECCHIA

July 2, 2006 -- Conservative scribe Ann Coulter cribbed liberally in her latest book, "Godless," according to a plagiarism expert.

John Barrie, the creator of a leading plagiarism-recognition system, claimed he found at least three instances of what he calls "textbook plagiarism" in the leggy blond pundit's "Godless: the Church of Liberalism" after he ran the book's text through the company's digital iThenticate program.

He also says he discovered verbatim lifts in Coulter's weekly column, which is syndicated to more than 100 newspapers, including the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel and Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle.

Barrie, CEO of iParadigms, told The Post that one 25-word passage from the "Godless" chapter titled "The Holiest Sacrament: Abortion" appears to have been lifted nearly word for word from Planned Parenthood literature published at least 18 months before Coulter's 281-page book was released

A separate, 24-word string from the chapter "The Creation Myth" appeared about a year earlier in the San Francisco Chronicle with just one word change - "stacked" was changed to "piled."

Another 33-word passage that appears five pages into "Godless" allegedly comes from a 1999 article in the Portland (Maine) Press Herald.

Meanwhile, many of the 344 citations Coulter includes in "Godless" "are very misleading," said Barrie, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he specialized in pattern recognition.

"They're used purely to try and give the book a higher level of credibility - as if it's an academic work. But her sloppiness in failing to properly attribute many other passages strips it of nearly all its academic merits," he told The Post.

Barrie says he also ran Coulter's Universal Press columns from the past 12 months through iThenticate and found similar patterns of cribbing.

Her Aug. 3, 2005, column, "Read My Lips: No New Liberals," about U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, includes six passages, ranging from 10 to 48 words each, that appeared 15 years earlier in the same order in an L.A. Times article, headlined "Liberals Leery as New Clues Surface on Souter's Views."

But nowhere in that column does she mention the L.A. Times or the story's writer, David G. Savage.

Her June 29, 2005, column, "Thou Shalt Not Commit Religion," incorporates 10 facts on National Endowment for the Arts-funded work that originally appeared in the same order in a 1991 Heritage Foundation report, "The National Endowment for the Arts: Misusing Taxpayers' Money." But again, the Heritage Foundation isn't credited.

"Just as Coulter plays free and loose with her citations in 'Godless,' she obviously does the same in her columns," Barrie said.

Coulter did not respond to requests for comment.
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/copycatty_coulter_pilfers_prose__pro_nationalnews_philip_recchia.htm

posted July 05, 2006 11:05 PM              

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http://www.coulterwatch.com/files/BW2-009-Plagiarism_Trap.pdf

Plagiarism Trap

Ann Coulter’s words were not all her own.
Coulter stole many of them from a co-worker
whom she later disavowed even knowing.

February & March, 1998 – Other Authors
Circa Feb. 12th – Terence P. Jeffrey (Editor, Human
Events) and Michael Chapman (Clinton reporter for
Human Events), were originally tasked with writing
an impeachment book.

Circa Feb. 13th – Jeffrey dissolved the agreement
because he didn’t believe that Clinton had
committed an impeachable offense.

Feb. 19th – Regnery asked Chapman to ghost-write
the Coulter book.

Feb. 20th – Chapman presented Regnery with a
proposal containing the same terms and conditions
of his previous agreement with Jeffrey.

Circa Feb. 23rd – Ziebarth rejected Chapman’s
conditions.

Circa March 2nd – Ann Coulter entered Chapman’s
office, requesting his files and research. Chapman
later gave those files (paper and electronic) to
Thomas M. Winter (Editor-in-Chief, Human Events)
after assurances that he would receive some credit or
acknowledgement for his work.

Early March – David Wagner (former writer for
Insight magazine) took possession of the office next
to Chapman’s to ghost-write the manuscript for
Coulter. Wagner used Human Events articles and
booklets on impeachment.

June 8, 1998 – Original Research
Coulter appeared on C-Span’s Washington Journal
boasting that “both my undergraduate at Cornell and
University of Michigan professors have been quite
impressed with what I’ve turned up on ‘high crimes
and misdemeanors.’”1

What, exactly, did Coulter “turn up” on “high crimes
and misdemeanors” which was so impressive?

It appears Coulter drew heavily from Raoul Berger’s
book,2 the Rodino Report,3 and the Federalist
Papers.

Indeed, the preponderance of materials directly
related to “high crimes and misdemeanors” is
actually contained in those three sources. Hardly
“original” research. One could reasonably contend
that Hillary Rodham “turned up” more on “high
crimes and misdemeanors” in the Rodino Report
than Ann Coulter did in High Crimes.

August, 1998 – Book Publication
Regnery published High Crimes and Misdemeanors
under Coulter’s sole byline.

October 13, 1998 – No Conservatives
Welcome
Correct sourcing appears to be a continual problem
for Coulter. “I don’t rely on any disputed facts or try
to get into disputed issues and resolve them. I’ll
leave that to other people,” Coulter claimed in a
radio interview. “I also don’t cite a single
conservative newspaper columnist/journalist. I rely
exclusively on the liberal elite media.”4

Among Coulter’s oft-repeated assertions is that her
sources were all from liberal circles. No one, to my
knowledge has challenged this claim. Yet, a perusal
of her endnotes alone disproves her statement.

Among the “liberal” sources Coulter cites: the
Associated Press, Esquire, Gannett News Service,
Investor’s Business Daily, Forbes, Human Events,
National Journal, Newsweek, The American
Spectator, The Weekly Standard, Washingtonian,
Joseph diGenova, Peter Brimelow, Tony Snow.

Indeed, Coulter even makes an oblique reference to
herself in one of her endnotes: “The Human Events
legal reporter was consistently correct in predicting
legal rulings in the Jones case.”5 (So, by a peculiar
twist of fate, Ann Coulter is really a closet liberal!)

December 17, 1998 – Michael Chapman
Michael Chapman sent a letter to the Trustees of the
Phillips Foundation:
“From what I have seen so far, verbatim
passages from my writing are found on
pages 121, 122, 219 and 220 of the High
Crimes book. Rewritten passages are
reproduced on pages 125, 126, 127 and 220.
Other material I wrote is paraphrased on
pages 123, 124, 203, 204, 205, 214, and 218.
“Furthermore, mostly all of chapter 18,
‘Wampumgate,’ is a rewrite or paraphrase of
reporting I did for HE.”

October 2001 – Boston Globe
Rumors about Chapman’s work reached the Boston
Globe6 and Coulter’s attack machine immediately
went into action. Coulter threatened lawsuits and
denied ever knowing – or having heard of – Michael
Chapman. (Rather strange as Coulter and Chapman
attended weekly editorial meetings at Human
Events.)

Michael Chapman, “A Case for
Impeachment,” Human Events, 5/23/97
Ann Coulter, High Crimes and
Misdemeanors, Regnery, 1998

page 13: ‘‘Four Democratic fundraisers have stated
that former DNC Finance Chairman Marvin Rosen
explicitly advocated selling access to the
President...’’

Page 219: ‘‘At least four Democratic fund-raising
officials have revealed that former DNC Finance
Chairman Marvin Rosen explicitly advocated
selling access to the president ...’’

page 13: ‘‘A DNC fundraiser told Nynex
executives they would receive invitations to White
House ‘coffees’ if they joined the DNC’s
‘Managing Trustees’ program and agreed to donate
$100,000 ...’’

Page 219: ‘‘A DNC fundraiser told Nynex
Corporation executives that they would receive
invitations to White House coffees if they joined
the DNC’s ‘Managing Trustees’ program and
agreed to donate $100,000 ...’’

page 28: “Harry Thomason, the Hollywood TV
executive famous for producing ‘Evening Shade’
and “Designing Women,’ … He is an old friend of
Bill and Hillary Clinton, having first met the future
President when Thomason was a high school
football coach in the 1970s in Arkansas. …
Thomason, meanwhile, started to spread rumors
about the Travel Office.”

Page 121: “Harry Thomason, the Hollywood
television executive famous for producing such
shows as Evening Shade and Designing Women,
was a major Clinton fund-raiser. He is an old friend
of Bill and Hillary Clinton, having first met the
future president when Thomason was an Arkansas
high school football coach in the 1970s. …
Thomason spread rumors about the Travel Office.”

1 Ann Coulter, Washington Journal, C-Span, June 8, 1998.
2 Raoul Berger, Impeachment: The Constitutional Problems, 1973.
3 Staff report, House Committee on the Judiciary, 93rd Congress, “Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment,” February 22, 1974.
4 Ann Coulter, Janet Parshall’s America, WAVA, October 13, 1998.
5 Ann Coulter, High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton, Regnery, 1998, pg. 325.
6 Alex Beam, Boston Globe, October 18, 2001.

posted July 06, 2006 12:02 AM            

Ann Coulter is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including the current Godless: The Church of Liberalism.

Coulter, who writes a popular and controversial syndicated column, is a frequent guest on many TV shows, including Hannity and Colmes, Wolf Blitzer Reports, Scarborough Country, The O'Reilly Factor.

Coulter consistently raises the ire of liberals, most recently when she castigated several 9/11 widows for using their status to score political points against the Bush administration.

America knows Ann Coulter's views on liberals and liberalism in America, but little is known about her views on Israel. Ms. Coulter addressed that and other questions in an interview last week with The Jewish Press.

Jewish Press: Why is it that liberals can attack and ridicule you and other conservatives and it's considered within the realm of free speech, but when someone like you lashes out at liberals you are silenced and castigated? How do you explain this liberal double standard?

Ann Coulter: You said it yourself: the famed liberal double standard (although I think now they're calling it "multi-standardizing"). There's one set of rules for them and another, much stricter set of rules for everyone else.

How do you explain the phenomenon of so many American Jews identifying with liberal views and policies that often go against Jewish interests?

Absolutely baffling. But it is changing. I believe about 40 percent of Jewish males under 30 voted for Bush in the last election.

Moreover, both America and Israel are quite popular with Jews who actually practice the Jewish faith in some way. President Reagan's approval rating in the chassidic community was off the scale (something like 90 percent) – surpassed only by his approval from residents of Grenada.

Why, when it comes to terrorism in Afghanistan or Iraq, does the U.S. apply a strong hand – but when it's Palestinian terrorism against Israel, there's not the same tenacity and determination?

Probably because of the formidable left-wing lobby, which has now added anti-Semitism to its sins.

Many conservatives have been increasingly disappointed with President Bush's performance on issues like immigration, the economy and of course the war in Iraq as it drags on. Do you share their dismay?

Like most, I am utterly baffled by Bush's position on illegal immigration (amnesty for illegals, no serious wall at the border). But President Bush has fought the war on terrorism magnificently, completely ignoring liberal naysayers who want us to capitulate to savagery. For that, he deserves our support.

Even though the 2008 presidential election is still more than two years away, what's your early guess of who the Democratic and Republican candidates might be?

Absolutely no idea. My most interesting prediction at this stage – since she is the clear front-runner – is that the Democratic nominee might possibly not be Hillary.

Have you ever written about Israel? If not, why not?

I rarely write about any country other than the U.S. There are too many big juicy fih to fry right here at home! Also, I'm a Protestant girl from Connecticut and there are many other capable writers who know a lot more about the subject than I do. In fact, I just started a screenplay about a Connecticut shiksa like me trying to become an expert on Israel. It's called "Mission Impossible IV."

Have you ever visited Israel?

No, but I have been to Miami if that's any help.... Actually, I would like to go, but I've been too busy keeping my eye on liberals here at home for the past several years to have taken any vacations. My parents went to Israel a few years ago and loved it. I definitely will go some day.

While we know how you feel about liberals in America, what's your opinion on the liberals in Israel like Shimon Peres, Ehud Olmert and others like them who gave away the Gaza Strip and plan to give away the West Bank, which many perceive as a victory for terrorism?

No one can be as contemptible as American liberals. I am informed, for example, that, in Israel, even liberals serve in the military.

What are your feelings about the disengagement from Gaza last year? Since Israel's withdrawal from the area over 500 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Jewish communities. Al Qaeda has moved into the territory abandoned by Israel. Iran is looking to establish an embassy there. Egypt has accused the Gaza terrorists as targeting them as well.

My first thought is that the Jewish people may not drive as hard a bargain as I've always been led to believe. I take it this is part of a long-term Israeli strategy to achieve lasting security by giving up some disputed areas while re-doubling efforts to protect their new, smaller boundaries with measures such as the security wall, which I understand has been very effective in keeping suicide bombers out. By the way, would you happen to know where the U.S. could get one of those walls? One about, oh, seven hundred miles or so long? No special reason, just curious.

What about the planned withdrawal from the West Bank, from which rockets can hit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel's International Airport?

If you start a war and lose, you lose your land. Next.

Have you ever thought of running for elected office?

No, but if I did, I'd run for the U.S. Senate from New York. Those people will elect just about anybody!

Have you been threatened, physically or in any other way, for being so outspoken against liberals?

Frequently on college campuses – or as we call them, "America's madrassas," I've had food thrown at me and I've been cursed out in the foulest language imaginable.

Has the response to your new book been largely congratulatory or disparaging?

posted July 06, 2006 01:32 AM              

quote:

---

Has the response to your new book been largely congratulatory or disparaging?

Overwhelmingly congratulatory.

---

Nice!

posted July 06, 2006 03:21 AM              

Ann Coulter without her botox and breast implants:

posted July 06, 2006 06:42 PM              

------------------
"WHATEVER the soul longs for, WILL be attained by the spirit"

"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation"

posted July 07, 2006 02:00 PM              

One of the governments who work very closely with OUR government.

posted July 09, 2006 07:07 PM            

Saturday, July 8, 2006 7:58 p.m. EDT
Publisher: Ann Coulter No Plagiarist

The latest media attack on Ann Coulter seems to be a desperate measure to undermine the credibility of one of America’s most prominent conservative voices.

Soon after her book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism” was released in June, Coulter made waves – Hillary accused her of being "heartless” and "vicious” -- for questioning the motives of four 9/11 widows.

With Coulter’s book topping the New York Times’ bestseller list, new allegations are surfacing that Coulter plagiarized material for her book and syndicated news columns.

But the publisher of Coulter’s book, Random House’s Crown imprint, has reviewed the plagiarism allegations and has found them to be baseless.

"We have reviewed the allegations of plagiarism surrounding ‘Godless’ and found them to be as trivial and meritless as they are irresponsible," said Steve Ross, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Crown Publishing Group.

Ross continued: "Any author is entitled to do what Ann Coulter has done in the three snippets cited: research and report facts. The number of words used by our author in these snippets is so minimal that there is no requirement for attribution. As an experienced author and attorney, Ms. Coulter knows when attribution is appropriate, as underscored by the nineteen pages of hundreds of endnotes contained in ‘Godless.’”

In the weeks after "Godless” came out, leftwing blogs began making claims that Coulter had engaged in plagiarism.

Apparently prompted by these reports, the New York Post asked a California firm to review Coulter’s writings with its iThenticate software, a program the checks databases to uncover plagiarism.

posted July 10, 2006 08:55 PM            

NEW YORK - The syndicator of Ann Coulter's newspaper columns rejected allegations that she had lifted material from other sources, saying a review of the work in question turned up nothing that merited concern.

"There are only so many ways you can rewrite a fact and minimal matching text is not plagiarism," Lee Salem, editor and president of Universal Press Syndicate, said Monday in a statement.

"Universal Press Syndicate is confident in the ability of Ms. Coulter, an attorney and frequent media target, to know when to make attribution and when not to."

The New York Post and the Web sites Raw Story and the Rude Pundit have cited numerous passages in Coulter's syndicated columns and in her current book, "Godless," that appeared to resemble text from other sources. The Post relied upon a software program, iThenticate, designed to catch plagiarism.

Last week, the Crown Publishing Group, which released "Godless," also dismissed questions about Coulter's work, calling them "as trivial and meritless as they are irresponsible."

Coulter, a conservative known for her harsh rhetoric — she labeled four 9-11 widows "harpies" who exploited their husbands' deaths — has also written the best sellers "Treason" and "Slander." Her columns appear in more than 100 newspapers.