Mark Warner delivered the Democrats' keynote address last night and while he might have fallen a bit short of 2012 nominee status, he certainly reached out to a vital constituency in American politics: New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman.

Much like Sen. Joe Biden was accused of plagiarizing a speech by British politician Neil Kinnock in 1988, one might argue that Warner's entire speech was lifted from a library of Friedman columns.

The evidence…

On China
o Warner: "The race is on, and if you watched the Olympics, you know China's going for the gold."
o Friedman: "We are so cooked. Start teaching your kids Mandarin."

On India
o Warner: "If you can send a job to Bangalore, India, you sure as heck can send one to Danville, Virginia and Flint, Michigan and Scranton, Pennsylvania and Peoria, Illinois."
o Friedman: "I've been in India for only a few days and I am already thinking about reincarnation. In my next life, I want to be a demagogue. Yes, I want to be able to huff and puff about complex issues — like outsourcing of jobs to India — without any reference to reality."

On Energy
o Warner: "With the right policies, within 24 months, we'll be building 100 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrid vehicles right here, with American technology and with American workers."
o Friedman: "I was visiting my local Toyota dealer in Bethesda, Md., last week to trade in one hybrid car for another."

The only difference between the two is that Warner is at least attempting to mask the fact that he’s filthy rich, while Friedman seems happy to divulge as much.

Meanwhile, with Thomas L. safely in the bag, the Democrats can turn their focus to his equally influential colleague Maureen Dowd—who could most likely be won over with a speech plagiarized from US Weekly.