The media totally flubbed that story when it broke, and apparently never got it.
It was all over the media. Plagiarism, plagiarism, plagiarism.
If you're a journalist, plagiarism probably seemed like a big deal, and they reported that that was the issue. In truth, no one cared then, and no one cares now.
However, one of the speeches Biden plagiarized was a speech by a Briton by the name of Neil Kinnock. In that speech, Kinnock talked about his ancestors who were coal miners. Biden used the same lines, nearly verbatim,
except, Biden's ancestors weren't coal miners.
That, the fact that he plagiarized ancestors, was what creeped people out about Biden. The fact that he didn't give credit to the original writer of the speech is something that only a reporter would care about.
I think it was sufficiently creepy that it will hurt him this time around as well, but I would still vote for him.
I wish that one of his Democratic rivals would bring it up, just to see if it's still an issue that will linger.