More Morton woes
Feda Kidd Morton is a Fluvanna biology teacherPUBLICITY PHOTO
The traditional family values candidate who once lost custody of her children is in the news again for alleged plagiarism. The Daily Progress reports that an editorial purportedly written by Fluvannan Feda Kidd Morton, who is running for the 5th District Republican nomination, contains at least eight passages that duplicate or closely resemble an article by syndicated columnist Joseph Sobran.
The similarities were discovered by former Western Albemarle teacher Mark Crockett, who noticed that a February 24 piece in the Media General-owned Rural Virginian sounded different from Morton's previous writing. He started Googling phrases from the column and turned up Sobran's widely cited article, "How Tyranny Came to America."
"Restating the principles of the Constitution is no different than restating the Ten Commandments," Kidd responds in a statement.
43 comments
We can only hope that an exit is coming soon, but I doubt you'll see it. There's too many bloody issues swirling around in the waters. The sharks will eat her for lunch in June. If she has any dignity for the issues that she claims, a graceful exit is the only logical move...
You probably don’t know anyone on Capitol Hill, and my guess is that you are afraid to talk to girls.
durtburglar for the win!
@Brian - You haven't the slightest clue what you are talking about. Tom Perriello is one of the smartest people you will ever meet (well, YOU probably won't meet him). He mopped the floor with your boy, Virgil at every debate that Virgil didn't duck.
He is a consummate professional and has performed as a legislator exactly as promised on the campaign trail.
You probably don't know anyone on Capitol Hill, and my guess is that you are afraid to talk to girls.
"I wonder why all this ââ?¬Å?godliness” that conservatives push..." And what sentence does President Obama use at the close of all of his speeches? I'll give you a hint. --- Bless America.
There is no story here. Most, if not all, politicians plagiarize, as do most commentators. That's why we here the same phrases all day long everyday. Jon Stewart just demonstrated that on one of his shows this past week.
I hope she wins the primary and becomes the Republican candidate. Then the current office holder, who has worked his butt off for the people of the fifth district, will have an easy, and well-deserved, re-election.
Teddy Kennedy was kicked out of Harvard for paying someone else to take his exams.
He also drove drunk off a dock and left a 19 year old woman to sit there in an air pocket (that soon ran out of air) while he contacted his lawyers. When he finally contacted authorities more than 24 hours after the event, she was long dead. The people of Mass kept on voting him back in. And on one seemed to care about the girl he left to die when they were praising his life achievements.
The current office holder has worked his butt of for john podesta and his special interests groups such as LaRaza and the usual suspects. Congressman Perriello will be well rewarded with money for his campaign. Just like the the Murtha replacement Perriello will run center and vote as told by Podesta. anyone that works on Capitol Hill will tell you that Perriello is barely able to grasp an executive summary. Just tell them what they want to here....I think it was PT Barnum that came up with that.
Mark: Yes, Biden was caught up in a plagiarism scandal in 1987. Yes, he dropped out of the presidential race then. Yes, it was brought up again when Obama made him his veep choice. And yes, the American people decided that it was not a major enough deal to prevent them from voting for the Obama ticket 21 years later in 2008.
She won't win my guess is she will drop out soon. Perriello is suppose to be a rep. for the people of the 5th not for Pelosi and Obama.
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She’s against gay marriage? That cracks me up. Yes, Feda, because your straight marriages have worked so well, you certainly have the right to tell others how to marry. Wow. Hypocritical doesn’t begin to describe it.
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Didn't Joe Biden get in trouble for plagiarizing Neil Kinnock in a lot of his campaign speeches in 1987?
I do not remember the details, but I seem to recll that was an issue back then. "If you steal ideas from one person, it is plagiarism...if you steal ideas from many people, it is 'research.'"
Na na na na
na na na na
hey hey-ey
goodbye
Mark,
I am a Feda supporter, but I agree with you. It is only fair to report both sides and to have a fair and balanced debate. I wrote a comment on the blog last week that was immediately erased by the hook and they told me it was because it was almost "libel and slander". Well the way I see it, it is no different than anything that anyone else has written on these blogs about her, but mine was in defense of her. I also wrote a letter to the editor and I can not find it in the most recent Hook. So Mark, you are 100% correct and also, for the people who think that she plagiarized; she had conscent from the author and if certain newspapers would give her a chance to defend herself, then you may have a different view. I also find that it is convenient that the person who "found" this is a supporter of another candidate and my personal belief is that the other candidate used this and the other story as an "october surprise" before June 8th.
Hurt's father owns land near the site he was just looking out for his inheritance.
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Why is Feda still in the race she should show a little dignity for the good of the Republican party and drop out.Her campaign manager is gone and her campaign is flat broke.
Yeah, darn Republicans...plagiarism is wrong. They ought to be more like our current Democratic vice president:
From Slate:
"Biden lifted Kinnock's precise turns of phrase and his sequences of ideasââ?¬â?a degree of plagiarism that would qualify any student for failure, if not expulsion from school. But the even greater sin was to borrow biographical facts from Kinnock that, although true about Kinnock, didn't apply to Biden."
http://www.slate.com/id/2198543
Lying is a bipartisan skill, my friend.
This should not only take her out of this race, but this should take her out of her job. What kind of example does a plagiarizing teacher set for high school students? Fluvanna County School Board: you can do better than to employ this calibre of person to teach young adults. Fire her.
Man. This woman is a disaster.
Oh well, at least she has Shaun Kenney's endorsement.
It's bad enough that Morton plagiarized, thus setting a very poor example for students (she's a teacher at Fluvanna High School. But she also fails to accept personal responsibility for her bad behavior (and personal responsibility is a rhetorical trademark of conservatives, is it not?). And while other politicians have behaved in similar fashion, that's no excuse for Morton.
What's also important here is WHAT Morton chose to copy. She was not merely "restating" constitutional principles. She copied many of the core ideas from Joseph Sobran's convoluted and inaccurate description of American history. Sobran calls his screed a "a thumbnail history of the Constitution." But it is bad history, indeed, not entirely unlike what conservatives did to the Texas social studies curriculum (see, for example: http://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2010-05-21-1192728880_x.htm). Even former Sec. of Education Rod Paige repudiated the Texas changes.
To Sobran's way of thinking, the civil war in the United States "resulted from the suspicion that the North meant to use the power of the Union to destroy the sovereignty of the Southern states." No mention of slavery. None. (Perhaps the governor of Virginia has also been reading Sobran.) No discussion of economic differences.
The Sobran take on American history is similar to what Glenn Beck spews. The Sobran view shares ideas with that of W. Cleon Skousen. Skousen ââ?¬â?? touted by Beck and beloved by Morton ââ?¬â?? was perceived by the arch-conservatives of his time as a "nutjob." (see http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/16/beck_skousen )
Like Sobran and the conservatives on the Texas board of education, Skousen promoted a revisionist history of America, one that conceives of the United States as a "Christian" nation; one that should be guided by "godly" principles and led by "godly" people.
I wonder why all this "godliness" that conservatives push seems to lead to corporate excess in banking and on Wall Street, the avoidance of regulations that protect people and the environment, the loss of millions of jobs, increased levels of poverty and the squeezing of the middle class,and the most stratified income levels in the developed world.
Mark if conservative values in a woman mean promoting ignorance, mean spirited vicerol in front of your children, and a hypocritical stance, then yes, conservative women should be attacked. Thinking, intelligent, forthright women don't want to be represented by that.
Sarah Palin was an insult to any educated woman that has had to go into the world and accomplish something based on merit and hard work. She was lambasted for her own blatant ignorance and inability to see anything beyond her very narrow spectrum of existence.
" I can see Russia from my bedroom window." No one made her say that, she said that.
I'm sorry, I am not going to represented as a woman by that.
I too have ethics and values, and I don't break up marriages, or anything like that. I also don;t send my time running aorund saying how good I am either. of course, at least I ave atrack record in my personal life that matches my values, unlike Feda does.
Conservatives are not victims of anything but their own conflicted statements and inability to handle their personal and professional lives.
Cville eye, I won't argue with you on that score, but Feda and Palin got what they got because of their own foolishness and bad behaviour, not being conservative. Maybe they should start by actually lving conservative lives, instead of just running their mouths.
I am absolutely an independent, but I am also a highly educated woman who really has little tolerance for deliberate ignorance and it being heralded as something good. It's not good.
Did Bill Clinton get what he deserved when he lied about sexual relations "with THAT woman?" I guess John Edwards did. With so many liars among the ranks I gues most if not all politicians lie. Too bad most don't get what they deserve. But it's the nature of the business.
Mark, so if I say something that satires Palin's incredibly foolish comment, that means you can just take what I say and create your own complete fabrication?
"So, conservative women do get attacked by non-conservative women, who consider them traitors. You just did by spreading a falsehood about Sarah Palin."
I never said Palin was a traitor, did I? I never came close, and yet you said that I did. I said she was ignorant and pointed out that she used living in Alaska as a resume for 'experience' in foreign affairs. It was absolutely laughable to anyone with real experience in foreign living or relations, like me.
So, you just told a bald faced lie in an attempt to discredit my satire. I never watch TV so I have no idea what Tina Fey said, but I did see what Palin said on youtube.
Conservative women who are rational and well informed get taken seriously. You don't see anyone attacking/lambasting/ridiculing Kay Hutchison, do you? Maybe that's because Kay has substance and isn't a flaming hypocrite.
Thanks for showing that 'conseratvies' will lie when reality doesn't measure up to their desire to be victims.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXL86v8NoGk
Liberals and conservatives are often guilty of the same things, especially when they try to compete for who is the most moral. It's all about which group will have the pwer to impose its will over everybody else. It has never been about what is best for this country.
@Caesonia: ” I can see Russia from my bedroom window.” No one made her say that, she said that.
I’m sorry, I am not going to represented as a woman by that.
Caesonia, thanks for proving my point with your misattributed Sarah Palin quote. She never said anything like what you wrote. However, what you wrote fits what you WANT to believe so you parrot it as if it's true.
The quote from Tina Fey's spoof: "I can see Russia from my house."
What Palin actually said: "They're our next door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska."
So, conservative women do get attacked by non-conservative women, who consider them traitors. You just did by spreading a falsehood about Sarah Palin.
Bootzilla,
LOL. Yeah, spelling typos abound on the internet don't they? I try and be very careful about judging to heavily on some of that, because some of the most intelligent and best informed people I know have all sorts of disorders that get in the way.
I read it as visceral. You read it as vitriol. Either way both words are appropriate.
Now had Caesonia used their for there, then I would have been worried about the level of education :>))
Caesonia did you want to say 'vitriol' ? Vicerol is an antacid product name, and it's probably OK to use it in front of the children.
As a highly-educated woman you want to correct this (and keep on swinging at the numnuts conservative bimbettes).
Yes Old Timer, but she used it as a noun, which eliminates visceral (chuckle). Vicerol should be added to the lexicon though, it's got a good ring to it; think of it as a nasty bilious stew of vitriol, eviscerated moose, and vituperation. The kind of stuff that spews from the mouths of family values candidates before the priests exorcise the demons.
But a bigger question: is Caesonia a "highly educated woman" or a "highly-educated woman". Chicago Manual of Style 7.87 would have the former.
Dear Feda supporters,
Perhaps you've heard of this?
Matthew 7:15
ââ?¬Å?Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves."
Ah yes, VERY Christian of her!
Cville eye says there is no story in Feda Morton's plagiarism......of course, there IS a story there.
1. A self-professed conservative "family values" candidate blatantly copies core ideas from an essay and presents them to the public as her own.
2. This conservative candidate then refuses to take personal responsibility for her actions.
3. The material that she copied and presented as her own is a distorted and inaccurate portrayal of the Constitution and American history (it contains many of the same ideas peddled by Glenn Beck).
4. This particular candidate ââ?¬â?? and others like her ââ?¬â?? are part and parcel of the crowd that wants to "take America back."
5. There is more than simply a hint of hypocrisy here.....it's HUGE. And what may be most perverse is that these folks want to "take America back" and give it more of the very same medicine that caused all the problems in the first place (see, for example, the convoluted, erroneous essay by Arthur Brooks in Sunday's Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/21/AR201005... ). [notice how Brooks skips over the problems caused by Reaganomics and deregulation and corporate excess and greed and highly-leveraged risk and says that the financial crisis was really the fault of government....and how he omits Clintonomics, which balanced the federal budget, delivered budget surpluses and led tot he creation of tens of millions of jobs....these people have absolutely no shame.]
6. Feda Morton, Arthur Brooks, Sarah Palin and the Tea Partyers.....are really all about narrow self-interest....(see Michael Kinsley, in The Atlantic for more: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/06/my-country-tis-of-me... )...and the ideas they sell the public ââ?¬â?? plagiarized or not ââ?¬â?? are toxic (witness the continuing tragedy in the Gulf).
@D-mocracy, nice rant about conservatives. Still not a story to the rest of us ho don't give a rat's behind about political parties.
Since Hurt is known as a "dirtslinger" all repubs and neo-cons would do well to do a little research on He and his "Hurts/Hurtz" family. His daddy, a/k/a "uranium investor", is and has been pro uranium mining in Virginia, all the way from NC (Rockingham County) to Orange County VA. which includes Pittsylvania home to these people since at least 1940's when they migrated from NY in the midst of WWII.
His mom owns land on the Rapidan river in Culpepper/Orange county or an interest in her home-place. Right above C'ville. Uranium mining should really help the environment in and around the area. Dad also a CIA minion-wrote the book paid for and sponsored by the CIA re Kennedy assassination which may have not sold well.Hurt represents all the moneyed vested big boys...
@DirtHurts, what does this have to do with this article?
@Cville Eye
Sounds like a Tea Party comment.....party or no party, what Morton did was blatant plagiarism. The she lied about it. Sounds like George Allen, back in the news (again) saying to Fox (who else?) that he "made up" the macaca term.
I would not be surprised if you could dig dirt up on every Republican candidate, and I am no fan of Feda Morton. I actually have a low opinion of her based on a couple e-mail interactions.
However, it is very telling that of all the 5th District GOP candidates, the Hook chose to go after Feda Morton. Nothing inspires more hatred in people--non-conservative women, newspapers, woman newspaper reproters-- than a conservative woman. Witness Sarah Palin.
As I said, I don't like Feda Morton. But attacking her because she's a woman espousing conservative values is not journalism, it's political advocacy and sexist.