Another Democrat accused of massive plagiarism

U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.

While the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Joe Walsh, D-Mont., has been rocked by claims that he plagiarized 25 percent of his 2007 master's thesis, another well-known Democrat senator is in the hot seat, facing plagiarism accusations from an author.

As a radio host on the left-leaning network Air America, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., regularly emphasized the importance of telling the truth.

"Telling the truth is something I take seriously, and I try to hold myself to an impossibly high standard," he wrote in his book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them."

But Alan Skorski, author of "Pants on Fire: How Al Franken Lies, Smears and Deceives," contends Franken plagiarized a chapter, "The Chapter on Fox," lifting the words from a leftist group called Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, or FAIR.

Skorski lists at least 18 examples of what he claims is Franken quoting almost word for word from the group's reports on Fox News and conservatives.

The examples listed by Skorski include the following:

On "Hannity and Colmes":

FAIR: "Even Fox's 'Left-Right' debate show, Hannity & Colmes – whose Crossfire-style format virtually imposes numerical equality between Conservatives and 'liberals' – can't shake the impression of resembling a Harlem Globetrotters game."

Franken (Page 63): "If any program on the Fox lineup represents the networks credo 'fair and balanced,' it's got to be what has been called the highest rated show in television. … It's a Conservative – versus-liberal talking head show, kind of a combination between Crossfire and a Harlem Globetrotters game."

On Fox News' general coverage:

FAIR: "Stories favored by the journalistic establishment, Kim Hume says, are 'all mushy, Like AIDS, or all silly, Like Head Start. They want to give publicity to people they think are doing good.' – New York magazine (11/17/97), quoting Kim Hume, Fox News Channel Washington Bureau chief"

Franken (Pages 62-63): "For Washington Bureau chief, Ailes chose Brit's wife Kim, who was determined to change the tone of television journalism, Mainstream stories, she complained in 1977, are 'all mushy, like AIDS, or all silly like Head Start.'"

Skorski also said Franken's "Lies" and a book called "Big Lies" written by his good friend, Joe Consason – both published in 2003 – contain very similar attacks on conservatives.

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