Colleague Mike Riggs has already noted a few wrinkles in the Maureen Dowd-Josh Marshall plagiarism incident.

Putting it bluntly, Riggs says: "Dowd stole some shit and admitted it." Fair enough.

In Slate, Jack Shafer has an uncharacteristically mellow view of the proceedings. After chiding, "Bad, Dowd, bad—deserving of hard time in a pillory!," Shafer proceeds to exonerate the columnist—Dowd "almost sets things right," he says, a conclusion the media critic arrives at through six-point reasoning:

1. She responded promptly to the charge of plagiarism when confronted by the Huffington Post and Politico. (Many plagiarists go into hiding or deny getting material from other sources.)
2. She and her paper quickly amended her column and published a correction (although the correction is a little soft for my taste).
3. Her explanation of how the plagiarism happened seems plausible—if a tad incomplete.
4. She's not yet used the explanation as an excuse, nor has she said it's "time to move on."
5. She's not yet protested that her lifting wasn't plagiarism.
6. She's taking her lumps and not whining about it.

Taking these points one by one:

Read More "Jack Shafer Throws Maureen Dowd a Bone on Plagiarism" »

In case you missed it, Maureen Dowd flat-out plagiarized either a) Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall or b) One of her friends, who quoted Josh Marshall in a phone call with Dowd. Either way, Dowd stole some shit and admitted it. Michael Calderone reports that it doesn't really matter. From NYT spokesperson Diane McNulty:

Read More "This Just In: Maureen Dowd Can Do Whatever the F*ck She Wants" »

* Miss the debate? Don't head to the live blogs: Head to the live blog of the live blogs.

* G.W. student blog The Colonialist has a couple photos of Dick Cheney being released from G.W. Hospital. He waves.

* Dear China: Wish we could give you some advice on this whole fledgling democracy thing. Regrets, The United States of America. [via Polymeme]

* Via Talking Points Memo: Ayers, Shmayers; even those people who believe Barack Obama is a terrorist are still voting for him. Says one Obama supporter:

"Well, I don't know much about this terrorist group Barack used to be in with that Weather guy but I'm sick of paying for health insurance at work and that's why I'm supporting Barack."

And in this newspaper:

- Photographer Darrow Montgomery and Senior Writer Jason Cherkis document the end of a Columbia Heights relic and ask: Does anybody care?

- Your Reel Affirmations film fest guide.

- In Cheap Seats, Dave McKenna talks race and Redskins. What's black and white and reluctant to integrate all over?

- In Loose Lips, Mike DeBonis does Peter Nickles does Alberto Gonzales.

- and The Sexist launches its Manliest Workplace in D.C. tournament!

Photo by Jason Mogavero