### Reaction to Harris Plagiarism
The reaction to Kamala Harris’s plagiarism allegations in her 2009 book “Smart on Crime” has been described as more benign compared to the backlash Joe Biden faced during his 1988 presidential campaign. Here are the key points:
– **Allegations**: Conservative activist Christopher Rufo has accused Harris of plagiarizing passages from various sources, including Wikipedia, in her book. The allegations were also supported by Austrian “plagiarism hunter” Stefan Weber, who found 18 instances of plagiarism throughout the book.
– **Campaign Response**: Harris’s campaign has refuted the allegations, describing them as a partisan attempt to influence the election. Campaign spokesperson James Singer stated that the book has been out for 15 years and that Harris clearly cited sources and statistics in footnotes and endnotes throughout.
– **Expert Analysis**: Jonathan Bailey, a publisher of the online site Plagiarism Today, suggested that the alleged instances of plagiarism are examples of “sloppy writing habits, not a malicious intent to defraud.” He noted that citing source material and copying text verbatim without quotes was commonplace in the early 2000s.
– **Historical Context**: The plagiarism scandal has been compared to Joe Biden’s 1988 campaign, where he was forced to drop out after admitting to plagiarizing speeches from Neil Kinnock. However, the current reaction to Harris’s plagiarism seems less severe, with some experts attributing this to the different political climate and the fact that the book has been out for 15 years.
