Rand Paul plagiarizes Wikipedia in at least two public speeches

[Lief 🗽]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/rand-paul-has-given-speeches-plagarized-from-wikipedia-befor

Last night, on the Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow showed how Ayn "Rand" Paul lifted paragraphs, basically word for word, from a Wikipedia article about the film Gattaca in a speech he gave in Virginia yesterday afternoon campaigning for Ken Cuccinelli.

Buzzfeed reporter Andrew Kaczynski also found today a speech he gave in June, where he again lifted text basically verbatim from a Wikipedia article about the film Stand and Deliver. Check out the link and compare the language yourself!

[Pheurton Skeurto]

oh my god i'm cracking up this is the funniest thing ever

[Mordecai]

It's embarrassing, but I really don't see it as being that big of a deal. It's just a plot synopsis.

But he should probably fire his speechwriter.

[Joe Republic]

I'm no fan of Paul, but this... really isn't a big deal.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

It is a film synopsis. It doesn't have anything to do with anything, unlike a certain Vice President whose path to the Democratic nomination was basically ruined by plagiarizing Neil Kinnock .

Good thing no one watches Rachel Maddow. But yeah, fire the speechwriter.

I love Rachel Maddow. Lots of people watch her. I agree that the story was amusing, but also irrelevant.

I'm no fan of Paul, but this... really isn't a big deal.

Even Joe Republic agrees with me on this one. It must be snowing in hell.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

God, I can't stand Rachel Maddow.

[Lief 🗽]

Of course it's not a big deal. Who is saying it is? It's just a funny story.

[Beezer]

Well, it's not really plagiarism or is he supposed to add a footnote to his speech?

[badgate]

Lmao.


The other weekend I went to this Battleground Texas volunteer thing. And at one point, somebody asked where they could get info on Wendy Davis such as her record in the legislature etc., and one of the workers suggested her wikipedia page. This woman way back in the next to last row suddenly hollers: "I don't trust Wikipedia because anybody can update it!" Followed by an awkward silence in which I openly LoLed.


This thread made me think of that.

[DrScholl]

He's not that articulate, so this is hardly surprising.

[barfbag]

Why are we making a federal case out of this? Does anyone believe he's the first politician to do this?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

How do we know that it wasn't Rand Paul('s speechwriter) who added those words to the Wikipedia articles?  After all if he is reading Wikipedia, it's not far fetched to think they might be editing.

[Consciously Unconscious]

It's funny, but it's not a big deal.  It's not like he's plagiarizing deep, meaningful stuff.  It's a film synopsis for goodness sakes.  Besides, if his speechwriter wrote these speeches, it's doubtful he even knew about it.

[barfbag]

It's funny, but it's not a big deal.  It's not like he's plagiarizing deep, meaningful stuff.  It's a film synopsis for goodness sakes.  Besides, if his speechwriter wrote these speeches, it's doubtful he even knew about it.

At least he's not as bad as Obama with his teleprompter.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

At least he's not as bad as Obama with his teleprompter.

Of all the things Obama gets dinged for, this is the silliest.

I've done public speaking, and believe me, even if you can speak well extemporaneously, you'll generally come off better if you are working from prepared notes.  You'll have an easier time sticking to your message and making certain you don't add or subtract from it.  Had the Mittbot used a teleprompter (or even some old fashioned sheets of paper) then at the very least he'd have probably avoided the 47% fiasco and gotten more than 47% of the vote.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I don't think this hurts him anywhere as much as it hurt Biden.

[Mehmentum]

Not a big deal, but this is funny.  It also shows how much impact Wikipedia actually has, potential candidates for president now use Wikipedia in their speeches.

[SPQR]

Republicans,nobody is saying this is serious sh*t...it's just a bit sad that you have to copy the sinopsis of a movie from Wikipedia when talking about one of the main points of your entire career.

[Mr. Morden]

Not as cool as Herman Cain quoting Pokemon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jV_11_q6Hc

[SteveRogers]

I'm not really sure that one can actually plagiarize wikipedia. 

[Link]

Good thing no one watches Rachel Maddow. But yeah, fire the speechwriter.

Saw it yesterday. Actually was tuning in to the show that comes on after and caught a snippet.  I thought it was funny.  I don't think it's a big deal.  I mean I think it shows how little intellectually is going on in Paul's head but we already knew that.

Personally I don't think a career in politics is for me.  I couldn't stand having to give a billion speeches a year.  I would probably start paraphrasing different people just to get through it.  Multiple direct quotes from Wikipedia about some pop culture thing is a little pathetic though.

Anyway I wish we lived in a society where the wealthy had more children and the desperately poor used abortion to limit their numbers.  Instead it is the other way round.  Not sure what is noble about a society of rich people who limit the number of children they have so they can indulge themselves and poor people who spit out hordes of children because ph-cking is their only entertainment and they don't give a rat's @$$ about the miserable future their children are going to have.

[LastVoter]

It is a film synopsis. It doesn't have anything to do with anything, unlike a certain Vice President whose path to the Democratic nomination was basically ruined by plagiarizing Neil Kinnock .

Good thing no one watches Rachel Maddow. But yeah, fire the speechwriter.

I love Rachel Maddow. Lots of people watch her. I agree that the story was amusing, but also irrelevant.

I'm no fan of Paul, but this... really isn't a big deal.

Even Joe Republic agrees with me on this one. It must be snowing in hell.

Ugh, if he was gonna plagiarize a Labour politician he shoulda done Michael Foot or someone else cool.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

It is a film synopsis. It doesn't have anything to do with anything, unlike a certain Vice President whose path to the Democratic nomination was basically ruined by plagiarizing Neil Kinnock .

Good thing no one watches Rachel Maddow. But yeah, fire the speechwriter.

I love Rachel Maddow. Lots of people watch her. I agree that the story was amusing, but also irrelevant.

I'm no fan of Paul, but this... really isn't a big deal.

Even Joe Republic agrees with me on this one. It must be snowing in hell.

Ugh, if he was gonna plagiarize a Labour politician he shoulda done Michael Foot or someone else cool.

Michael Foot was the natural rival to Thatcher in terms of bad assery.

[Likely Voter]

Rand Paul has denied he plagiarized by saying he never claimed he wrote the movies in question. It is possible he thinks that you can't plagiarize Wikipedia because it is freely available. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe even the Creative Commons license requires attribution?

[Mr. Morden]

Politico uncovers more such examples of Paul borrowing others' words without attribution:

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/rand-paul-pledges-caution-wikipedia-entry-gattaca-99208.html?hp=t1

e.g.,

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They also mention a case in which Paul lifted words from the magazine CitizenLink, when talking about the DC school voucher program in a speech at Howard University.