What's worse: New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd plagiarizing, or the fact that Dowd's stolen source was Josh Marshall? Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery for the imitated, but for the imitator--not so much. From the Associated Press account: "[Dowd] claims she never read [Josh] Marshall's post last week and had heard the line from a friend who did not mention reading it in Marshall's blog." Oh, she took it from a friend who took it from Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo. That changes everything. Really. It. Does.

Plagiarizing plagiarists doesn't mean you aren't plagiarizing. I heard a story today of a student being shocked that large parts of their paper appear on a website. I guess she should pay the person who writes her papers more.