Bad for both...

This plagiarism issue exposes the worst in both campaigns. A presidential campaign speech is not a work of scholarship, and that she would say that it is, even though she knows better, is base. Hopefully no one is buying what the Clinton campaign is selling - or, more hopefully, buying it as a sign of desperation. Here's what probably happened:

Barack: She's killing me with this "it takes more than just a good speech" angle.

Deval: Say the stuff I said!

Barack: Yeah, you handled that just right. Should I say I got it from you?

Deval: Are you kidding?

The Obama campaign, though, bears some responsibility for keeping this story afloat for two days, so far. Obama is saying that he should have given Deval credit, but it's no big deal. The second part is better than the first part.

They say an attack unanswered is an attack believed, but before it can be believed, it has to be reported. Dismiss it first, and something spurious like this will go away. She is going to attack him now that she is behind. If he agrees with the premises of her attacks, he's leaving the door open. I don't like it, but this may be a test.