The Josh Cockroft plagiarism scandal – sure, we'll be all legitimate and call it a scandal – is the gift that keeps on giving.
If you remember correctly, we told you a few weeks ago that State Rep Josh Cockroft plagiarized portions of a Heritage Foundation abstract for a blog post on his website. The following week, we learned that Cock's local newspaper – The Tecumseh Times – republished the same blog post as a newspaper op-ed.
Here's our write-up about fiasco. It included a few lazy zingers aimed towards the newspaper:
Last Thursday, we told you that arts-hating, Batman suit-wearing, Derplahoman State Representative Josh Cockroft blatantly plagiarized excerpts of a 2013 Heritage Foundation article for an anti-gay marriage blog post that he wrote for his website.
Thanks to the Ogle Mole Network, we’ve now learned the same piece was also published in the print edition of the Tecumseh Countywide News, which is apparently Pottawatomie County’s leading source of plagiarized news and opinion...
After seeing [the column], I played the role of legitimate journalist and called the Tecumseh Countywide News for comment. Here’s what a spokesperson said:
"We are aware of it and we’re working with Representative Cockroft on the issue."
The person on the phone wouldn’t elaborate any further, so we don’t know what type of work they’re going to do with Cockroft. Maybe they’ll help him uncover more obscure abstracts and columns to plagiarize, or perhaps get a Tate Publishing ghostwriter from the Philippine’s to handle his future writing duties. Better yet, they could also go with one of those clickbait content farms that are all over the web. If Cockroft’s next blog post is about the “8 Most Dangerous Towns In HD27″ or a round-up of “12 Cat GIFS That Will Make You Want To Eliminate Public Arts Funding,” you’ll know something is up.
Okay, that's not too bad. I made a few digs at the newspaper and then closed it with an absurdist idea where we have Josh Cockroft hire Ryan Tate to ghostwrite his future plagiarized blog posts and newspaper columns. It could have been meaner, right? Just ask Ryan Tate, who is currently writing a new book about blowing goats at the Lake Hefner Canal.