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Barack Obamas lipstick on a pig comment grabbed all the headlines Wednesday, but a line he delivered just before that remark is leading critics to wonder whether the Democratic presidential candidates speechwriter is a cartoonist.
On Tuesday, for the third time in four days, Obama borrowed a lengthy bubble quote from Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles. He did not acknowledge the origin of the quote the first time he used it and credited the cartoon only after the Post contacted the Obama campaign to ask about the first use.
John McCain says hes about change, too. And so, I guess his whole angle is, Watch out, George Bush. Except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics were really gonna shake things up in Washington, Obama said during a rally Tuesday in Lebanon, Va.
As it turns out, Toles cartoon in The Washington Post last Friday depicted McCain addressing the White House with the caption: Watch out, Mr. Bush! With the exception of economic policy and energy policy and social issues and tax policy and foreign policy and Supreme Court appointments and Rove-style politics, were coming in there to shake things up!
Click here to see the cartoon.
Obama delivered the same applause line during speeches in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday and Farmington Hills, Mich., on Monday. Only during the Monday event did he attribute the line to a cartoonist.
You know, there was a cartoon the other day, its true, he said before repeating the line. So this is just a bunch of empty talk.
Asked about the lifting of Toles line, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said that the candidate did not initially know the source of the line, which he had gotten from a friend.
This came to Senator Obama from a friend who didnt indicate where he had gotten it from, but the questions it raises certainly continue to ring true, LaBolt told FOXNews.com.
He did not know it was from a cartoon and when he was informed that it was, he credited the cartoonist. LaBolt said.
Toles told FOXNews.com that after the first use, Post editors got in touch with the campaign and Obama made sure to credit Toles when he used the line on Monday. But in Tuesdays speech, he again used the line without referencing the cartoon.
Toles said he is OK with Obamas use of his line now that it has gotten credit.
Of course, I dont do cartoons for this purpose, Toles said. But if theyre cited with attribution, I think Im all right with it.
He added that he was unsure how he felt about Obama using his line without citation the first time.
I thought about it, but didnt come to a conclusion, he said.
But the almost word-for-word repetition of Toless cartoon bubble led Warner Todd Hudson of the Media Research Center to question Obamas reliance on the comics for his attacks on McCain.
Are we to understand that the Obama campaign is now being programmed by cartoons? Hudson asked. And will the old media confront Obama on his little theft from a cartoon?
A Boston Globe political reporter blogged about the borrowed remark, calling it a good line, but not Obamas.
Obamas failure to cite the cartoon has been noticed by other online critics as well. Some have said it is especially troubling given his own past use of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patricks line about just words.
Obamas running mate, Joe Biden, admitted during his 1988 presidential campaign that he had plagiarized sources in a Law Review article during his years at Syracuse University College of Law. He also came under fire for using lines from former British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock in his speeches, which were only sometimes attributed.
Obama Repeatedly Quotes Cartoonist While on Campaign Trail - America’s Election HQ
