Via Wolking’s World. “Shouldn’t that be the audacity of plagiarism, big A?” Well, it’s old news that Obama and Patrick lift lines from each other and if Patrick’s upset about the lack of attribution, he’s being a good soldier and keeping it to himself. From the Times:

In a telephone interview on Sunday, Mr. Patrick said that he and Mr. Obama first talked about the attacks from their respective rivals last summer, when Mrs. Clinton was raising questions about Mr. Obama’s experience, and that they discussed them again last week.

Both men had anticipated that Mr. Obama’s rhetorical strength would provide a point of criticism. Mr. Patrick said he told Mr. Obama that he should respond to the criticism, and he shared language from his campaign with Mr. Obama’s speechwriters.

Mr. Patrick said he did not believe Mr. Obama should give him credit.

You can’t plagiarize someone with their consent; that’s not theft, it’s Christmas. But console yourself with (1) the comically grotesque manufactured outrage that surely would have bubbled over on nutroots sites if it had been McCain caught lifting lines from, say, Lindsey Graham; (2) this useful reminder that the Messiah is in fact a calculating politician and not, ahem, “the triumph of word over flesh,” although maybe Deval Patrick is; and (3) the warning from no less a figure than Douglas Wilder of a total, vintage 1968 convention meltdown this summer. Yes we can!