Twenty-four hours after Joe Biden’s campaign was taken to task for lifting portions of a climate change plan without citation, it’s clear that the former vice president has plenty of company.
A sampling of policy proposals from Biden’s leading rivals suggests the lifting of direct text from academic papers, think tanks or policy institutes — and the cribbing of facts without attribution — is fairly widespread on 2020 campaign websites.
Politicians often rely on think tanks specializing in certain issues for facts and legislative ideas.
People plagiarizing from think tanks and think tanks plagiarizing from others is quite prevalent. Years ago, CNN's Fareed Zakaria was accused of plagiarizing from think tanks. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was also accused of plagiarizing from various think tanks.
Even think tank CEOs have been accused of plagiarism. Non-US think tanks have also been accused of plagiarism.