Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.

 

23 July 2014

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John Walsh and the case of the missing citations

Update. Walsh’s campaign says the document at issue was a paper, not a masters thesis. I have corrected this post accordingly.

The New York Times reporting that Walsh omitted numerous citations in a war college paper he wrote, and presents evidence that will be hard to refute. According to the Times, Walsh was 46 years old when he wrote his thesis 14-page paper, so he can't plead it was a youthful indiscretion that should be ignored. Montanans should withhold judgment until Walsh explains himself, which had better be pretty damned soon. And his explanation had better be pretty damned convincing.

Moreover, if the Times is right, Steve Bullock will have to explain why he didn’t do a better job of vetting Walsh.

Update, 2138 MDT. Walsh made himself available to the news media this afternoon, so stories on his situation are being published. There’s one in the Flathead Beacon, and there’ll be others. As an editor, I take a mighty dim view of plagiarism and sloppy attribution. I also take a dim view of rushing to judgment. I’m going wait until the weekend to provide analysis. In the meantime, I urge Democrats not to give up on Walsh. He’s politically wounded, but he’s not dead.