Melania Speechwriter Rickrolls GOP Convention
Trump’s never gonna give you up. He’s never gonna let you down.
It’s funny, but there are a couple of serious issues that this reveals.
First: whoever wrote that speech is a mole. The insertion of the Michelle Obama plagiarism was no mistake. The speechwriter is trying to embarrass the Trumps. And they don’t mind making it perfectly obvious.
Second: it reveals just how pathetic the Trump campaign’s denials of the obvious plagiarism really are. Here’s the official statement:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former prosecutor, brushed off the controversy surrounding Melania Trump’s convention speech, saying he wouldn’t be able to make the case for plagiarism, “not when 93 percent of the speech is completely different.”
“This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down,” Manafort asserted on CNN.
“There’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech. These were common words and values, that she cares about her family, things like that,” Manafort said, according to the Wall Street Journal. “I mean, she was speaking in front of 35 million people last night. She knew that. To think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama’s words is crazy.”
It’s gaslighting, of course, because the speechwriter blatantly did crib Michelle Obama’s words, in much the same manner that a not-so-bright third grader might crib from Wikipedia:
Melania Trump straight plagiarized some of Michelle Obama's speech in 2008 #RNCInCLE pic.twitter.com/MMI7Bmfeb7
— Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 19, 2016
It’s good to know that when they have an active mole inside their campaign, their reflexive desire to deny any and all wrongdoing will compel them to go into Baghdad Bob mode rather than seek out the mole.
Maybe it is part of a master plan. After all, nobody is talking about yesterday’s banana-republic style disregard for the rules today, are they?
UPDATE: It’s being reported that Matt Scully wrote the first draft of the speech. I know Matt Scully. He is a good guy and would not be involved in shenanigans of any sort. He wrote Sarah Palin’s 2008 convention speech, which was fantastic.
Absolute incompetence at a stunning level.
Patterico (5c77c6) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:35 amFiled under “wake up and smell the cat food”:
“The best case for Donald Trump is this: the alternative is Hillary Clinton.”
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:45 amThat is not responsive to the post in any way. They have a mole and are going into denial mode.
Patterico (5c77c6) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:47 amYou’re outraged. I get it.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:48 ammaybe spare a little here, because of a real plagiarist, who opened his yap,
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000535494
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:52 amWow!
How out of touch is Melania that she didn’t realize this? What a terrible first lady she would be.
While Patterico’s theory that this is a mole seems very solid, after reading Trump fans for months now, I think this could just be a Trump fan’s idea of a great joke. The whole political process is unimportant to them… why not a funny rickroll here and there?
It says a lot about both Hillary and Bill that they married sleaze. It says a lot about Cruz that he married such an intelligent and independent woman. It says a lot about Trump that he’s married a series of weak minded trophies who are barely literate.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:53 amstay on target,
http://www.onenewspage.com/video/20160719/5047252/David-Clarke-proclaims-Blue-Lives-Matter-at-RNC.htm
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:55 amIf she had a (D) instead of an (R) you would make a dozen jokes about it. But because it’s the other way around, time for the water works. Must be boring where every single issue either serves your partisanship or is suddenly irrelevant.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:55 amHard to stay on target when you’re on the Road to Philadelphia!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:56 amfocus not on the squirrel, but on the important things,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APhKhzM3hnI
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:56 amRick Astley: “Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down.”
Melania Trump: “He will never give up and he will never, never let you down.”
Most of the alleged plagiarism by Melania is of that variety. The only actual duplication of Michelle’s speech is this “values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say….” This duplication doesn’t strike me as very noteworthy because it’s so brief, the sentiments are so generic, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Andrew Hyman (b12b60) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:57 amI find your Vichy mincing disturbing, Dustin.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:58 amit’s like hunting womprats, back home in the t-16
http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/07/19/rnc-convention-rudy-giuliani-make-america-one-again-bts.cnn
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:59 am“a mole”
Doubtful. The lack of organization and employment of second raters strongly suggests a very high probability of a decent colony of moles. Any political operative thinking of the future should be weighing the cost/benefit of getting a shiv in while they can.
Tell Trump there’s nothing personal, just business.
Rick Ballard (04482a) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:02 amhe’s fron queens, he knows streetfighting,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCoQYBOlb0Y
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:08 am“Speechwriters”? “Melania’s team of writers”?
But … but … but … she said she wrote herself with very little help.
I know, I know. Hillary!
nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:09 amWow.
You prove my point. I have no loyalty to the GOP. It’s a pathetic disgrace and has been almost all my life. But you have a devotion to the GOP such that I might as well be helping the nazis out if I don’t support Trump, the guy who supports Hillary.
It’s guys like you, both the democrat hacks and the republican hacks, who got us in this mess. By not understanding the value of integrity, and giving the politicians their chanting rabble of hacks, you’ve helped this country get exactly where it is today. You did it for Romney, you’ll do it for Trump. As a hack, you only think the other side’s hacks are bad, but that’s not so. The GOP is so much weaker because of guys like you. All I’m doing is treating Trump exactly the same whether he’s a democrat or a republican.
And you know damn well you’re not.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:10 amI don’t think they’re that smart but I guess if they had released the hard copy with footnotes it would be OK, right? Or I suppose if she had delivered her remarks in the original Slovene then we’d be arguing over whether the speechwriter or the interpreter used the same words. I blame Obama’s teleprompter. After all, it’s always saying dumb things.
crazy (fcf2fd) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:10 amCounselor, is it even possible to plagiarize a cliche?
Democrats and the media do not seem to feel that plagiarism is disqualification for office, see Joe Biden. Then Trump has solid democrat credentials.
I second the mole theory.
David Lentz (dd1ea5) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:14 amwho gives a farthing, karen vaughn’s son is dead in part because the solon couldn’t shut his yap, it took the libyans to rescue tiegen and zeist from the embassy annex, a cop was executed in sheriff clarke’s neighborhood, just two days ago,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:18 am3/10
the sky isn’t blue
Trump probably has a real university we don’t know about. Not a con artist at all.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:19 amColonel Haiku,
You just have to understand that when our friend Dustin holds his nose and votes for Romney, or McCain, or Dole, it’s a principled protest vote against a greater evil (Bill Clinton, Barack Obama.)
But when you vote for Romney or McCain or Dole, you’re personally getting us into a mess, you hack! (LOL)
And Colonel, don’t deny that you knew Ronald Reagan voted for FDR four times. How could you have voted for Reagan with that knowledge in mind?
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:22 amFiddling around in the clover, while Rome burns.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:23 amFolks, I really think that this wasn’t a mole. This isn’t a bug: it’s a feature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA
Trump intends to lose. This is part of his plan. He doesn’t care about losing. He will get more exposure, a new television deal (“Congressional Apprentice”) and a book deal.
And let’s face it, any of the candidates you all gave stupid nicknames to and shouted weren’t “real conservatives” endlessly could have beaten HRC during any debate like a rented mule. Can’t you wait for Trump vs Hillary during debates?
No, HRC is such an awful candidate that she needs a complete and utter clown to run against.
Mission accomplished.
I love the folks on Twitter, of course, carrying on about plagiarism…but who are strangely silent about Biden.
It’s just alphabetism, and I strongly suspect that the Big Boys and Big Girls have decided it should be HRC.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:26 amDustin is just Dustin, CS. Period. I’ve stopped trying to analyze what makes him tick as of now. I wish him good health and a long life.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:26 amin the end, coronello, and maynard keynes put it, ‘we’re all dead’ now is pandemic, collapsing power grid, nuclear attack, it matters little,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:28 amThat seems totally unwarranted. How do we know they aren’t seeking out the mole?
It’s also possible they gave the job of writing the speech to some low paid assistant who just graduated college or something.
Gerald A (945582) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:32 amDustin, I heard some people put down cash money to see the whole series of “Police Academy” movies.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Academy_(franchise)
Then they were shocked — SHOCKED! — to learn that they were not going to receive a diploma from an accredited “academy”. 🙃
Andrew Hyman (b12b60) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:34 amI recall with the huntress’s speech, they had to knock it down, so they found the speechwriter , matt scully who is a vegetarian, lol, he subsequently wrote mitten’s speech at cpac, which crashed and burned like the ghostbuster’s version of galactica 1980, (you shall not speak of it)
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:36 amDonald Trump’s people had to retract the claim that Melania wrote her speech when this came out/ But they still don’t want to say exactly what happenewd, not release the name(s) of the speeechwriter(s)
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:37 amI go with the mole theory (I already think there are moles)
A mole might pick just precisely that speech to copy some words from, and not use words that clearly do not apply, like Biden’s were in 1987.
I also think it’s not real plagiarism – Michelle’s Obama’s wods were themselves cliches or platitudes.
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:38 amThey’re not looking for moles in the Trump campaign because the person who would be in charge of looking for a mole is himself a mole.
I actually suspect that a mole or moles is how Mike Pence wound up as the vice-presidential nominee. The last thing the Clintons would want is someone for Trump’s vice president who might have an original thought. People like people with original thoughts and, more important, he might hit on just the right kind of unanswerable accusation to make agains Hillary, and it would get attention.
There was a real attempt to force Trump’s hand, and I doubt that the problem with the deadline to wirthdraw from the Indiana Gubernatorial race was at all insoluble. It’s really preposterous that there’s no work around.
If there’s a mole or moles, they probably disabled, or reported a problem with, Trump’s plane last week causing Donald Trump to stay overnight in Indianapolis last Tuesday night and have an unscheuled breakfast with Mike Pence on Wednesday morning, plus creating difficulties with Trump meeting with the other contenders.
(Newt Gingrich flew out to Indianapolis on Sean Hannity’s plane, and Jeff Sessions also came in, but Chris Christie was apparently stuck in New Jersey.)
Not all the people who conspired to make Mike Pence the choice would have been intent on helping Hillary. That’s not needed to loop a bunch of people in.
And Mike Pence himself might want the job or be talked into it not because he thought he was likely to win, but because he would rather lose running for vice president than lose running for Governor, because there was a good chance he could lose his race for re-election.
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:40 amback when the dems pretended they were not all about money,
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75dati.phtml
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:43 amPrediction: Michelle Obama will address the Democratic Convention and begin with this: “Good evening. I came to this country from Slovenia to be a model … Hey, wait, I’ve got someone else’s speech here!”
Joshua K. (9ede0e) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:47 amthey pay tribute to the first rebel.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/07/19/melania-trump-plagiarism-hillary-biden-barack-michelle/
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:50 amI think that someone probably did read Michelle’s speech and lifted a few phrases from it. But the idea that the person must be a “mole” strikes me as absurd, because, as Manafort said, there is nothing particularly out of the ordinary about those sentiments. Hinderaker at Powerline makes that point as well.
The Trump campaign should just admit that that may have happened and then call it much ado about nothing, which it is.
This is another of the absurd mountain-out-of-a-mole-hill episodes of the NeverTrumpers here, like Trump only delivering $4 million out of $5 million he announced he had raised for vets.
Gerald A (945582) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:52 amback to the ranch,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/19/man-stabs-french-woman-and-her-three-daughters-for-being-scantil/
I know first world problems like microagressions are more worthy,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:00 amRegardless of who wrote the boilerplate platitudes Melania espoused no one thought the speech was anything but great until one tweet started a twitterstorm of condemnation. Blame anybody you want or don’t blame anybody.
Hillary’s rapid response War Room is fully staffed alive and operating online and in the media. They are working overtime to kneecap Melania and push her off the stage and back into the solitude of Trump Tower.
As much as I share our host’s opinion of The Trumps if I were advising Melania I’d advise her to make herself to walk the floor and make the press accuse her to her face. She looks plenty strong enough to me to take care of herself and I don’t think more than a few of them have the b@lls to do it.
crazy (fcf2fd) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:01 amWell thanks! I hope you have the same. Albeit I know what makes you tick and that’s where the real problem with our political process lies.
Cruz Supporter,
You imply deep insight, but it’s a lie.
The core problem with our political system is the elite divided America into two teams that think the other team is subhuman evil.
Like Obama’s faithful, you are supporting Trump even though he has absolutely no experience and no temperament. You support Trump because you’re a republican. That’s the only reason. If Trump were a democrat who had said and done exactly the same stuff you wouldn’t just refuse to support him. You would mock those who did.
VS Obama, Mccain and Romney were more qualified and had better judgment. I harshly criticized Romney, but when he was nominated there was no contest between him and Obama. If they were not, I wouldn’t have voted for them. I have my country’s future in mind, not your political party’s.
Every day some politician relies on the loyalty of partisans to con this country. It’s the shield they hide behind every day. But it’s been a while since partisanship was put to the test like it is with Trump.
Trump is less experienced than Hillary, less intelligent, has worse judgment, and Trump is more to the left (because he lied about his views in the primary and was on record before then). They are both about equally corrupt, but Hillary would not nuke Europe or roll tanks over protestors. Trump would be a horrible president.
Cruz was the thinking man’s candidate. He was stubborn and unpopular amongst the snakes in DC, and to partisan hacks this was bad, but to patriots it was great. How could his fans line up because Hillary 2.0 just because he has an (R)? We don’t care about the R! I recall in the primary you were more of a Rubio supporter than a Cruz supporter, but it seems you just like the political party. You don’t seem to understand why Cruz was a great option.
This fanboy partisanship is the Achilles heel in our country. You hate it when I mention it, but it must be addressed head on. Republicans rely on it when they decide to stab us in the back over and over. That’s why Fox News, Drudge, and Brietbart.com are so pernicious. They emulate what went wrong in the democrat party, now a mess of conflicting graft factions all brought together by whoever the GOP devil is today.
But you take this argument and say my vote against Obama = your vote against Hillary. If you’re trying to be annoying you’re doing a great job.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:02 amThe dude who named the blogosphere is an originalist. The rest of you plagiarize.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:03 amshe’s been wrong since 1969, when she whitewashed the murderers of alex rackley, in what passes for the yale law review,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:04 amHe’s got by the end of the day tomorrow to file his forgiveness of his loans to his campaign, in the amount of $50 million, or it may be $45 million, with the FEC. If he doesn’t, he’s dead in the water. He’ll lose all the big money donors except gold digger PACs like Steven Hoffenberg’s Get Our Jobs Back Super PAC. (Did any of you get an email from them, BTW?) Let’s see if he does it, then we’ll know if he’s serious.
nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:07 amIf he punches his wife, we’ll know it’s serious.
(YouTube)
papertiger (c2d6da) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:22 am#39 Dustin,
We’ll just have to agree to disagree on most of your points.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:26 amBut I must admit that I am enamored with your metaphysical ability to magically intuit everyone else’s motivations for why they vote for a particular candidate.
Everytime I visit New Orleans, I like to throw down a little disposable income on a tarot card reader — it’s good entertainment value.
I should probably throw some of that money your way, bud! (LOL)
Hmmmmm
English is Melania’s 3rd or 4th language and that she relied on safe cliches and “near cliches” makes sense to me.
But I get it… possible plagiraism of a relatively unimportant speech by a candidate’s wife is much, much, much more serious than Hillary while Secretary of State lying straight to the American peoples’ face, lying to congress, grossly mishandling state secrets, probably taking the 5th in her FBI “interview”.
This really does it…. vote Hillary if you think Melania is a plagiarist!!!
Pts (ce7fc3) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:27 amSeems possible that the Rickroll reference was intended in good humor, while the plagiarism was a lazy f*ckup. Which is to say, I’m not convinced it was a mole. Whoever it was should be fired either way, but Team Trump may be trying to protect someone they believe to be truly loyal.
TR (2c5752) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:28 amPhony-baloney frauds and hucksters flock together. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-backer-speaking-rnc-falsely-billed-boss-100-000-article-1.2717098
nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:29 amPts,
no one said Melania being dishonest was more important than Benghazi. But then Benghazi wasn’t more important than the Holocaust so how dare you talk about that either?
Trump said Hillary did a good job as Secretary of State. Do you agree with Trump?
It’s tiresome that every single time Trump’s campaign is dishonest someone rolls out “benghazi” and every time someone tells the truth about Trump all you guys see is support for Hillary.
Have integrity. They guy the GOP chose to run against Hillary is terrible. If only you have integrity earlier the guy running against Hillary might have been great.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:32 amYou are right. It is almost certainly a mole who intentionally sabotaged them. I alluded to this (with less certainty) last night.
They’re doing the wrong thing, and indeed the stupid thing, by not acknowledging the obvious, and then rooting out the mole.
Trump’s still light years ahead of Hillary in terms of who is better for the national security of the United States, and its economy. But they’re not doing this right.
Trump should have dumped Manafort ages ago.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:39 amPeople aren’t talking much about Trump’s risible assertion that Saddam was a decent counter-terrorist, either.
And no, that’s not changing the subject – the man undermines his own previous claims at almost every opportunity. I mean, sh!t, what’s his wife’s third-rate plagiarism of a second-rate snoregasm, or bum-rushing parliamentary procedure, by comparison?
Folks keep coming back to Trump for his music-hall, dime-store Ted DiBiase routine.
And there’s a lot to laugh about where Trump is concerned, what with the Jefe de Queens posturing and podium theatrics.
Meanwhile weak mate Evita stumps along, with who knows how many other Benghazi foul-ups in her quiver.
JP (bd5dd9) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:44 amHey, Host – this is overkill. Just saying. Troubling Piffle (and I’m paraphrasing from Instapundit, lest I be charged with plagiarism).
Steve Malynn (4bc33a) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:45 am“The core problem with our political system is the elite divided America into two teams that think the other team is subhuman evil.”
BLM is a front for subhuman evil. If you’re trying to call for ‘splitting the difference’ or ‘balancing the tone between the interests of permanent tax consumers and mayhem generators and real American citizen tax producers, you’re as worthless as the subhuman evil that Hillary now depends on.
Dystopia Max (76803a) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:45 am“You are right. It is almost certainly a mole who intentionally sabotaged them.”
Implying that Rickrolling the audience in a fun-loving way and generating more media cycles focused on Trump’s family and the EVIL NEVERTRUMP MOLE who messed with them is ‘sabotage’.
Dystopia Max (76803a) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:47 amHalf the channels in California are Spanish language. I often wonder why they aren’t provided with English subtitles.
So how do you learn a foreign language if you are a Hungarian woman?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:50 am“People aren’t talking much about Trump’s risible assertion that Saddam was a decent counter-terrorist, either.”
People don’t talk much about how the balance of power against terrorism favors allowing dictators who maintain civilizational order until such time as the dictators overstep national bounaries….zzz…oh, wait, it sounds like Trump was using a soundbite that played well to the majority of the voters rather than just the people with IQs over 115, who knew?
Dystopia Max (76803a) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:50 amLet me back off my certainty a bit and say, it’s entirely possible that you’re right. Alternatively, it could have been incompetent, unintentional plagiarism by whomever wrote it, if they’d done lots of reading of others’ speeches and had Michelle’s platitudes stuck in their mind.
I took some college English courses recently and that is something the teachers warned us about, that plagiarism could be unintentional and we had to make sure we didn’t subconsciously copy our sources’ style.
I would expect better from professional speechwriters, but who knows? Maybe they are that bad. And Melania’s not a professional writers, so if she added these bits, it’s possible that she did so unintentionally like that. However, the professional speech writers should have caught it.
Anyway, this isn’t lying to Congress and the American people and exposing classified secrets level bad or getting people killed in Benghazi bad, lying and blaming it on a video, and having an innocent video maker arrested bad.
It’s the style of a speech, not even the accuracy of it or the content.
But yeah, the Trump campaigns should figure out what happened and address this head on.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:50 amSaddam Hussein was paying $25,000 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers who were blowing themselves up in school buses in Israel. But Twitter did not tell Trump that.
nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:52 amNow there’s a rickroll in there too. Even Melania’s controversies are charming.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:54 amyes, that’s true, but saddam didn’t have a network from san diego to sarasota to falls church, and everywhere in between creating an army of footsoldiers, support personnel, trainers,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:55 amWell, actually, that idea occurred to me last night. I was the first to use the word “sabotage.”
I hope they didn’t do this on purpose. I know Trump will throw out slightly less-than-precise but generally correct facts to generate publicity, and that’s a smart tactic, even if it drives people here nuts.
But plagiarism is kind of an ethical thing that bothers even yours truly. However, to plagiarize the sitting first lady, of all people, is brazen and maybe is a type of trolling. I don’t know.
But what’s the point of it? To point out how good Michelle Obama’s speech was?
That’s why it strikes me more as an actual unintentional plagiarism or as intentional sabotage of Mrs. Trump.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:55 amSure. Pull the other one, it’s got bells on.
Rather closer to the mark with this one. Not that it is a very informed opinion that jibes with the sad facts of the Saddam era, or course.
JP (bd5dd9) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:57 amNo, it’s a serious point. A relatively secular dictator beats a democratic elected Jihad supporter.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:59 amhttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-backer-speaking-rnc-falsely-billed-boss-100-000-article-1.2717098
Horse manure. As long as Michelle Van Etten bags their gold, her network of 100,000 distributors works for her.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:59 amAnd let’s talk about it some more, in reference to last night. General Flynn was there and he talked about (or was supposed to) about the way Hillary and Obama effed up in the Middle East and set up Libya as a terrorist breeding ground when they overthrew Qaddafi. Additionally, there were Benghazi survivors and family members to talk about that. But Trump had to showcase the Slovenian airhead who could not avoid f***ing up what should have been the easiest thing of all — saying good things about her husbands to people who are his biggest fans. And now everybody is talking about her f***up, and not about Hillary’s.
nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:00 amas kyle orton has pointed out, much of the core of the attacks on coalition forces in the first wave, was carried out by fmr mukharabat and special republican guard, who ended up in the leadership of the islamic state,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:01 am*husband* She’s got enough problem without being accused of bigamy too. 😉
nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:05 amWhich one of Hillary’s [edit]ups did you want to talk about nk?
Be specific.
I don’t feel your anxiety. It’s not as if Hillary is going to quit [edit]ing up. She was on the Ellen Degenerous show yesterday. Bound to have told a lie.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:08 amWhat? Am I writing in Slovenian now? It’s in my comment 64.
nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:10 amBreaking News: via analysis of Verona interception, I have the mole’s first name. Transliteration from original Cyrillic, it reads “Donald”.
SPQR (0cce45) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:13 amI liked the idea of General Flynn, but he spoke in platitude after platitude and I felt like I was watching a third rate football pep talk. There was very little in the way of important strategy there.
I have a feeling, based on a recent interview I watched of Gen. Flynn where he called upon Khomeini (dead 15 years) to denounce the Nice attacks, and also called on Iran to do so as a priority (Iran are mostly Shia Muslims who are frequently attacked by the Sunni Muslims who make up the vast bulk of Jihadi terrorist Muslism) … that he may have been a smart and informed guy at one point, but that frankly he is losing his mind now and doesn’t realize it.
His speech last night did nothing to change my view.
That’s unfortunate. I’m sure he is a patriot who has done far more to serve his country than most; however, I’m very glad Trump did not, contra my previous hope, choose Lt. Gen. Flynn as his running mate.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:15 amIn other news, there was yet another terrorist attack in France today.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:20 amThis is how Trump stays relevant. Minor scandal.
TV eats up drama and we’re all watching a made for TV drama right now.
Has everyone forgotten how Trump won the primaries?
TheNaBr (0c7c2f) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:21 amSubstantively, Trump’s priorities still resonate, including on border control (such as keeping most Muslim migrants out) and confronting Jihadism aka “radical Islamic terrorism.”
He’s got a great shot at winning this election, and I hope he does. If they can avoid outright stupidity on the campaign trail, that would be nice.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:22 am“But plagiarism is kind of an ethical thing that bothers even yours truly. However, to plagiarize the sitting first lady, of all people, is brazen and maybe is a type of trolling. I don’t know.”
Trump certainly wouldn’t do anything brazen, and DEFINITELY wouldn’t engage in petty rule-breaking to get the news media talking about him over his opponents. A real ‘wait his turn’ and ‘follow all rules to the letter’ kind of guy, such a stickler for the spirit of the law that Saul Alinsky himself would be like “Naw, I can’t exploit this, my conscience would NEVER forgive me!”
Dystopia Max (76803a) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:24 amlol
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:24 amDystopian Max, why would he have his wife plagiarize Obama’s wife’s speech, highlighting how good it was?
Why would he want to introduce his charismatic wife to the world, then have her honesty and competence (to even write a speech) called into account?
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:26 amI’m not saying he wouldn’t intelligently break a rule; I’m saying why would he do that to highlight how good Obama’s wife’s speech was while, in her moment to shine, calling his wife’s integrity and communications ability into question?
I have my doubts about your theory. I understand your point about Donald strategically doing things to get publicity.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:28 amGuess the first line of Trump’s Thursday night speech:
1. Four score and seven years ago…
2. To be or not to be…
3. Ask not what your country can do for you…
4. It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done.
Rick Ballard (04482a) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:28 amAhahahahahaha
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnurnuBXgAAHr2v.jpg
Dystopia Max (76803a) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:30 amWait wait, I saw this movie …. that Brit from Hogan’s Heroes played the host ….
SPQR (0cce45) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:34 amHT Tan
http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2016/07/its-time-to-start-running.html?m=1
If Trump does something like that, we’ll see all media talking heads explode at once.
It would actually be a pretty brilliant move and carry him to the Presidency.
TheNaBr (0c7c2f) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:34 amThat may have been his point, which is a fairly generous and more specific view of Saddam’s competence, capacity, and motivations, to say the least.
The sarcasm had more to do with the idea of The Donald-as-Kissinger explaining Iraq for the Trumpenproletariat. As though leaning on clown-shoe dictators was some sort of dull, complicated foreign policy notion that the rubes couldn’t get their head around.
To put it in Trumpese, he don’t know from “balance of power” or Hobbesian enforcement of social contract.
No, Big Daddy Saddy was big on killing terrorists, and that’s good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people didn’t like him. My kind of guy.
JP (bd5dd9) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:36 amAlso not unseating dictators means that you don’t encourage the State Department employees to pad their resumes by doing it again in Egypt, Libya, Syria (actually here’s hoping the ASSAD MUST GO curse takes Erdrogan before long)
Dystopia Max (76803a) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:44 amBasically:
https://twitter.com/ChateauEmissary/status/755397028411273216
Dystopia Max (76803a) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:44 am64. nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:00 am
He was on after Melania, but the broadcast networks didn’t show any of that – only Melania – that’s the only thing they were interested in. I heard someone say that he was speaking but I don’t know what he said. I actually wouldn’t expect very much out of it.
They were speaking before.
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:48 amFunny you mention that. I have some long-time friends who are Hungarian. She works as a Hungarian-English-Hungarian translator. Makes a pretty good living at it.
Bill H (971e5f) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:48 am76/77. Didnt Denver Guy or such state that it was brilliant for Trump to lay blame for Obama’s foreign policy blunders solely on HRC, so that he avoids tarnishing the Obamabot’s standard bearer. That should be how he spins this -if you are dissing Melania, maybe you are also dissing Michelle Obama the so-called original speechmaker. Again, would not surprise me if the more violent manifestations of BLM are bankrolled by Trump through Sharpton and Soros (who has likely diversified if not shifted his “holdings” like any sound investor should). To a unemploy-ed/-able black man , Trump is at least a 2nd option and probably a first option if they’ve spent time in prison in any jurisdiction within the arc from Portland OR to Houston.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:50 amDont go on tangents disparaging Hungarians, especially in Cleveland.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:50 amYou really shouldn’t try for the smart-assed comment. You’re not very good at it.
Bill H (971e5f) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:53 amThat was really interesting and creative, urbanleftbehind.
I’m pretty sure Trump does criticize Obama. And you think Trump is in cahoots with Sharpton and Soros to fund BLM.
OK then.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:53 amNow we’ve basically got two democrat parties. Hacks on Team R gave cover to allow the GOP to be taken over by democrats like Trump. And when this is pointed out you reply with a stream of nonsense.
Nothing about my comment referenced Black Lives Matters. You’re really desperate for some straw men to burn. Trump is handing this thing to Hillary and you’re cheering him while freaking out about how bad Hillary is. You couldn’t be more foolish if you tried.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:58 amNewkirk? Tell me it’s not Newkirk.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:00 amYou’ve got it backwards. The hacks of Never Trump are effectively working for Hillary Clinton’s victories. Trump’s campaign is about protecting America from excess and wrongful immigration stemming from the 1965 immigration act that has doomed the GOP long term. Further, about protecting America’s manufacturing base through jettisoning these ideologically motivated international trade agreements that have put America at a steep trade imbalance.
Clinton is on the opposite side from Trump on each of these critical issues.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:01 amTrump thinks you’re stupid enough to believe his primary season flip flop from New York degenerate and longtime Al Sharpton partner who hates veterans and loves employing illegals into this caricature of a Fox News viewer.
You helped turn the GOP into another democrat party, run like a banana republic.
When Hillary wins, I’ll be here to tell you I told you so. Being honest about what Trump was, when there was time to change course, would have been the worst thing for her. Instead, we have a choice between two Hillarys now.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:02 am@ Gerald A (#27), who wrote:
Yes, never attribute to malice that which can be explained by ineptitude.
And before I’d conclude that this text was inserted into the speech by a Clinton mole, I’d assume instead it was done by a #NeverTrumper. But if that were the case — if this was something that could be explained as deliberate action by someone — I’ve got to think there are a very limited number of footprints to be backtracked upon in the “whodunnit” search. And if Trump had anyone specific to blame, I’m quite sure he’d have done that by now.
I think someone — maybe Mrs. Trump — googled “First Lady Convention Nomination Speech,” and Michelle’s from 2008 was among the first couple of entries. Whoever did the borrowing would surely insist that it was unconscious (“I read lots of speeches carefully, I just didn’t realize I was accidentally tracking one specific speech so closely,” yada yada), whether it was or wasn’t.
Normally a First Lady has a small but important symbolic role in an administration. We’re likely to see how the first First Bubba does — God help us all — but no part of my disdain for Donald Trump is based on Mrs. Trump in particular. (That he’s a serial adulterer with a fetish for women with fake breasts is somewhere on the list of things I dislike about Trump, but it’s not in my top 50.) If Trump manages to get elected, which I continue to believe improbable, he’s leave no oxygen for even a symbolic role for a First Lady anyway, so I pretty much view Melania Trump as an irrelevancy.
But it’s an obvious unforced error, a screw-up that completely overshadowed the rest of the first night of the convention. I’m not outraged that Mrs. Obama’s work product has been stolen: As others have pointed out, it’s trite and formulaic, although not to the point that Mrs. Trump could possibly have duplicated all those phrases, in the exact order, so precisely as a random coincidence. And I doubt this will account for any non-votes or vote changes.
But the only conceivable preparation Trump has for the presidency relates to his overall competence as a manager. And this is more proof — yesterday’s proof, in fact; there will surely be more today, and more tomorrow — that he man is in fact an abysmal manager, who can’t even see to it that his wife can read a speech to a teleprompter without shooting the campaign in the foot.
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:04 amI always liked that guy.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:05 amFor the time being, as they serve his short term purpose of scaring the general populace. He will repay them by clearing off a large chunk of their “ese” street competition and maybe some of the small businesses (Gavin Long railed against Arabs and Chinese carpet merchants) that they claim are ripping them off (but alas, who else would be dumb/desperate enough to locate a business on those mean streets).
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:06 amEven after Running Man.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:07 amRe #60 above, which includes:
This is the most brazen admission I’ve ever seen that Trumpkin shills know their guy lies through his teeth and they like him for it.
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:09 amHerr Goebbels was known to throw out a few slightly less-than-precise facts. His supporters thought they were still generally correct, and they thought it was a smart tactic, even if it drove the rest of the world into world war.
(I get to do that — trigger Godwin’s Law without reservation or pause — because Mike Godwin & I were classmates at UT in 1975, before he invented Godwin’s Law, and I’ve since confirmed from him that I have a special exemption as an old acquaintance.)
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:12 amWhen the Democrats are safely ensconced in the White House for another 4 to 8 years (or much longer!), we’ll know where the problem with our systems lies and which sanctimonious, holier-than-thou pricks deserve the hot tar and feathers.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:14 amNo. It isn’t.
Trump is not communicating a legal brief, he’s being persuasive. What he says is generally true, but not precise. So, when people fact check him, they end up criticizing him but in the process pull up tons of true material which proves his point as well as gives him oodles of free publicity.
This is a major reason why he has the nomination.
Trump isn’t a lawyer trying to be precise to the nth degree. He’s trying to get his point across and persuade people. He has. He has moved the Overton window.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:15 amCankxit!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:22 am“When Hillary wins, I’ll be here to tell you I told you so.”
I swore I’d refrain from the deep-dive psychological analysis, but peeling this Vidalia, he’s a closet liberal, with a near-pathological, deep-seated need to see himself – and have others see him – as heroic.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:29 amHe’s trying to persuade people with lies. Yup. You think that’s a feature, I think it’s a bug.
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:30 amDammit! Dammit all, woman!
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:31 amNot being pedantically precise, but speaking the general truth, and forcing the fact checkers to reveal the multitude of details of why what he said is essentially true, getting tons of free publicity, winning the nomination, and saving the Republic from Hillary Clinton—who lies, lies.
So yeah. The above.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:33 amBut at least she didn’t wear the same dress as Michelle did that night. Now THAT would have been REALLY embarrassing!
Tillman (a95660) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:33 am3 for 3 on the “Arab socialist republic via perma-emergency law and omnipresent baksheesh” index.
But sure, let’s give Herself and State serious props for harshing their ‘maintenance of civilizational order.’
JP (bd5dd9) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:34 amI rarely use swear words but when I do, it is important.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:38 amWas that teh black widow or teh Wookie?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:39 am“General truth.”
Heh. Heh-heh. Herr Goebbels definitely would like you, Denver Guy.
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 11:52 amRarely.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:00 pmMainstream media never disappoints: Troops going back to Iraq, debt going even higher, south china sea bubbling— but “lets talk about the speech given by a wife at a convention!”
-“lets talk about the time Mitt put a dog on the top of his car!”
-“Did John McCain have an affair?”
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (5e0a82) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:03 pmhat tip, it was mailman’s son’s major domo, that gave the times that thin reed,
re flynn he put together the infrastructure that underlay petraeus and mccrystals campaigns in both iraq and afghanistan,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:10 pm#104 Colonel Haiku,
I think you nailed it.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:11 pmAnd in order to establish himself as The Hero of puritanical intentions and goodness, he feels compelled to denigrate the motivations of everyone else. His motives are pure, while yours and mine are dirty and suspect.
For him, it’s not even about the results of elections which are ultimately just silly exercises facilitated by flawed, contradictory human beings anyhow.
He’s simply more comfortable with the certainty afforded by theories written down on paper.
Just sayin’, CS…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:13 pmBeing the Truculent King Prick of Smarm is not normally what one aspires to.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:15 pmeveryone’s a critic,
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/14/pennsylvania-newspaper-retracts-bad-review-of-gettysburg-address-from-1863/
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:16 pmthis by contrast, is gravitas,
https://twitter.com/EW/status/755416026272133120
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:18 pmUPDATE: It’s being reported that Matt Scully wrote the first draft of the speech. I know Matt Scully. He is a good guy and would not be involved in shenanigans of any sort. He wrote Sarah Palin’s 2008 convention speech, which was fantastic.
Patterico (0aa613) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:27 pm“…no one said Melania being dishonest was more important than Benghazi. But then Benghazi wasn’t more important than the Holocaust so how dare you talk about that either?”
The Holocaust is not related to this election and Benghazi certainly is. Benghazi was where we learned about Clinton violating Federal Records laws and endangering persons and secrets of the USA.
This in ADDITION to Clinton being a failure as SS and ignoring the many pleas from Stevens for fortifications and protection.
Its all on the record and in sworn testimony.
You libs don’t like Benghazi mentioned, but whats the statute of limitations on lying, dishonesty, reckless regard for you own people, basically treasonous acts to your country, putting yourself above the law and country… when should we forget about it….
When should we stop talking about the Holocaust as well… it was Soooooo long ago and the holocaust crew just keeps repeating the same stuff over and over and over…
What difference at this point does it make!?
Pts (ce7fc3) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:32 pmColonel Haiku,
When stranded in the desert half-way between Barstow and Vegas, most of us dream of a gallon of cold lemonade. But if that’s not available, we would just be grateful for a canteen of warm water. Certainly, a gallon of cold lemonade would be preferred, but hey, a smaller canteen of warm water is better than no liquid refreshment at all.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:33 pmUnfortunately, for a certain percentage among us, nothing less than perfection is acceptable.
Those unwavering expectations often make for unhappy people.
But what does Scully say about whether his first draft included the cribbed portion?
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:41 pmIsn’t there a course in plagiarism taught at the Wharton School of Business? Or was it Trump University?
“New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former prosecutor, brushed off the controversy surrounding Melania Trump’s convention speech, saying he wouldn’t be able to make the case for plagiarism, ‘not when 93 percent of the speech is completely different.'”
Again, a bridge too far, Governor Soprano:
“Despite some defenders saying Melania Trump lifted words “coincidentally,” the Washingtonian used Turnitin.com to find that “the likelihood that a 16-word match,” like the one between Trump’s speech and Obama’s, is “‘just a coincidence’ is less than 1 in a trillion.” The longest match between the two speeches is 23 words.” Oops.
Manafort. “She knew what she was doing.” Ba-thumpa. Ba-thumpa… toss the candidate’s spouse under the bus. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Conclusion: nobody fired means she likely stole the text herself. Accordingly, memo to The Great White Dope: your bitch is a plagiarist.
End of story.
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:47 pma mole would make sense – given how quickly to MSM reported the speech copy job
joe (debac0) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:50 pmso much ‘sound and fury signifying nothing’ when the literal raping, that the one that red queen condoned forty years ago, and the pillaging of haiti go unmentioned,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:52 pm@121. They’re looking for a sacrificial goat under every seat cushion.
If nobody is fired, and fast, one can only conclude The Great White Dope’s uber-smart, business-savvy, fashion-battle-hardened, multi-lingual wife actually did it herself in her ‘weeks’ of preparation. Or she -pshaw- lied to Matt Lauer on national television. A classy dame all around- to the trailer park crowd.
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:58 pmYes, well, narciso (#127), when one is entirely self-absorbed and only marginally competent (with the many resultant screw-ups and crises), one tends to lose message discipline.
You’re dead right about Haiti and the Clinton Foundation. Team Trump should commission a video news team to go to Haiti to interview the victims and get video of the ridiculous mockery of a “relief effort” there.
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 12:59 pm#125 DCSCA,
Is it really all that necessary to call her a “b*tch”?
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:05 pmWith the ease of which you resort to calling a woman a “b*tch,” you sound like a rapper with a moniker of something like EZ Fresh Cube.
Word!
(LOL)
So Patterico’s buddy duped Milania Trump into rickrolling the RNC?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:07 pmWho wrote this speech?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AgVEl0fiGA
It wasn’t the person who delivered it.
Benghazi was not the site of the embassy. Or even a consulate.
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:08 pmthey’re probably throwing him under the bus, as van der leun said ‘republicans they thirst for death’
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:09 pmit’s well understood the consulate was the key diplomatic post, in eastern libya, that’s why they were meeting with the turkish consul there,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:14 pmI’ve asked, but I don’t know that he would answer, at least publicly. I am 100% confident he is not responsible, though.
Patterico (0aa613) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:15 pmI feel as if I had been through something very exciting and rather terrible, and it was just over; and yet nothing particular has happened.
– Mole, to his friend Rat
happyfeet (a037ad) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:17 pmAbsolutely not, and I’ll thank you not to suggest things like that on my blog.
He wrote Sarah Palin’s electrifying 2008 speech. One of the best speeches I have ever seen.
Patterico (0aa613) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:19 pmWe all know what’s been going on, we know the game.
The question is, are we gonna play it?
Colonel Haiku (bba461) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:19 pm@130. Yes. Michelle, Laura, Nancy, Mamie, Dolly Madison… et. al., have endured much worse. She can take it— after all, shes a battle-hardened veteran of the fashion wars, isn’t she. o.O.
Plagiarism speaks to the core of a person’s character and sense ethics. Own it, apologize and a firing is called for then move on. And if nobody is fired over this, it reveals hers– and Trumps, completely.
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:20 pmI don’t know him well and we have not conversed in years, but I had the privilege of a couple of fascinating one-on-one conversations with him some years ago.
Patterico (0aa613) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:22 pm#139 DCSCA,
Thanks for the didactic lecture on plagiarism, but using the word “b*tch” to attack a public figure over an allegation of speech plagiarism just sounds low-class and trailer-parky. It even suggests there may be some lingering issues with women, there, eh?
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:29 pm@141. You’re welcome. Maybe you’ve never dealt with it professionally. And you’re projecting. Plagiarism speaks the core values of a person’s character and ethics.
It’s time Donald grew a pair, be the manager he keeps insisting he is, redeem his wife (unless she really did it) and use his famous line on a staffer: “You’re fired.”
I did. Back in the mid-80’s, I once caught a freelance writer who submitted a piece to me for publication at CBS/NY that I knew was plagiarized as I had the book it came from in my desk. Showed him the piece he lifted it from, word for word, turns out he’d subcontracted it to somebody else and was going to split the fee, unbeknownst to me. Reported them to my boss, nailed their asses and blackballed them from any more work at the network. A $500 job cost them thousands in the long run.
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:39 pmFirst draft doesn’t have the rickroll? Can this be proven?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:40 pmThey’d cover all traces… don’t tell me you’re too blind to see that.
Colonel Haiku (bba461) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:45 pmPerhaps a check should be made if Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNC speech was copyrighted.
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:51 pmDCSCA,
You’re defending your use of nasty language about a woman under the guise of defending “ethics” and “character.” Love it! (LOL)
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:52 pmIt’s that good ol’ boy lockerroom mentality, huh?
I never denied I wanted the responsibility.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:52 pm@146- She is what she is, until or unless she or Trump himself makes a move to redeem her character. End of story.
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:55 pmNo, CS I am not doing any such thing. If you are talking to me.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:57 pmBased on past experience, Trump probably bought the rights to that speech just like he buys right to play certain music at his rallies.
Colonel Haiku (bba461) — 7/19/2016 @ 1:58 pmmg, It is possible to defend profanity. Jesus whipped the snake sellers. George Washington told one of his deputies in no uncertain terms to shift his fat @r$$. But nobody went so far as to condone murder.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:05 pmI have read elsewhere that both speeches are based on a list of “Habits of Highly Effective People” by someone named Covey, and that both speeches use the same or similar language, and the same points, in the same order, as Covey.
So basically both speeches cribbed from the same source material, and that is why they are so similar.
gahrie (12cc0f) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:05 pmSteven Covey (of the Franklin Covey public speaking/organizer portfolio fame), another LDS icon.
urbanleftbehind (c3af4f) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:09 pmWell, can’t we just say it’s unknown at this point, and let’s keep an open mind as to what happened?
Sarah Palin is a politician more in line with Ted Cruz and, for that matter, Mike Pence. Perhaps your friend likes these politicians a lot and despises Donald Trump, as you do. Perhaps, as you do, he thinks Donald Trump would be a disaster for the country. So there’s a potential motive.
I’m not saying your friend did it. I don’t think he did, probably. But he’s one of the people who could have, and it shouldn’t be ruled out in advance.
By the way, I thought Melania’s speech was, by and large, excellent. Perhaps your friend did nothing more than contribute to that.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:17 pmMelania is not Trump’s b*tch. She’s his squeeze. Chris Christie is Trump’s b*tch.
nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:23 pmHa.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:25 pmIt probably wouldn’t be someone who worked on the first draft though, at least not if it was intentional. Too much chance of it being found out and losing one’s writing reputation for no political (sabotage) gain, as it likely wouldn’t make it to the end product.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:26 pmThere once was a bitch name Melania,
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:27 pmWho learned plagiarism in Slovenia;
Its her figure they’ll oogle;
Her words they won’t Google;
That she swiped,
From the wife,
of the President from Kenya.
I just skimmed 100+ comments, the majority from Trump apologists twisting themselves into pretzels to say there’s no fraud, nothing to see here, move along. What’s that phrase the Democrats like to use about telling lies to serve a Greater Truth?
On the topic, here’s three minutes of video from one of the fuehrer’s handlickers:
http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/07/19/civil-war-breaks-trump-campaign-melania-trumps-speech-controversy/
Luke Stywalker (33d1c7) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:36 pmThe Great White Dope may have plagiarized his mocking of an impaired reporter from Jerry Lewis.
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:38 pmWho said that? I acknowledge it’s plagiarism. I also said this:
It looks like I was exactly right, and he’s responsible for this mess.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:42 pm(that I’m right about Manafort needing to be dumped; I didn’t know he was responsible for this plagiarism scandal)
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:46 pmDenver Guy:
urbanleftbehind (c3af4f) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:47 pmHow bout these apples (see the state of the majority of the signatories):
http://www.redstate.com/california_yankee/2016/07/19/conservative-latino-leaders-cave-on-trump/
Re161.:
Oh come now, everybody knows he hires the Best people, only the BEST!
Luke Stywalker (33d1c7) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:50 pmGood for them, urbanleftbehind. It annoys me that people still report nonsense like:
Yeah, no he didn’t. He was talking about illegal immigrants to start with and specified he was only talking about some, and that others are good people. Anyway, I’m glad they’re on board now.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:51 pmHe got pressured into Manafort. His fault for allowing himself to be pressured. He’ll correct it very soon, I imagine.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:52 pmTwisting themselves into pretzels.
Luke Stywalker (33d1c7) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:56 pmDon’t be stupid, Luke. I didn’t like Manafort from the start. I knew it was a mistake.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 2:58 pmOh, well it sure is a good thing those kind of mistakes won’t be made by anyone who has a chance of becoming president, isn’t it?
Luke Stywalker (33d1c7) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:04 pmThe D convention may not feature plagiarism (though I wouldn’t bet on it) but it will feature the mothers of Michael “Gentle Giant” Brown and St Trayvon. Such wonderful children they raised, an inspiration to us all. It will also feature the mothers of Sandra Bland (who killed herself because her family refused to pay her bail, but somehow this was the police’s fault) and Eric Garner (whose death was probably the EMTs’ fault, but the police got the blame).
Milhouse (5a188d) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:04 pmGood points, Milhouse.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:06 pmLuke, no doubt the 16 losers of the GOP primaries would have all run flawless campaigns.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:06 pmIt’s a strange situation to find that the last, best hope for the nation is a successful assassin in one or both sides of the political divide.
Luke Stywalker (33d1c7) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:08 pmIs it too late to include one of those Arab mothers from Israel who are so proud of their darling hellspawn for cutting the throat of some Jewish baby before being shot?
Milhouse (5a188d) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:08 pmI think the last time an Arab succeeded was 1968.
Luke Stywalker (33d1c7) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:11 pmI genuinely feel for Melania that she has to make at least one more appearance on that stage, in front of the same folks.
My take from the beginning was that this was not deliberate. Occam’s Razor would indicate it’s just more carelessness and incompetence from DT’s frat boy campaign staff.
Would Sam Seaborn have made such a mistake????
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:13 pmOff topic: another police officer, a captain, was ambushed in his car and killed today. Terrible.
RIP.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:15 pm@159.
It seems pretty clear that Paul Manafort, or one of his aides is the mole.
Or he maybe is just may be trying to get Trump to lose for some other reasons.
Manafort and his allies are trying to blame Melania for he copied text. Manafort himself was responsible for this speech, and Trump considered this the most important speech of those delivered by members of the family.
Melania did not show up at the meeting with Mike Pence because she felt Donald Trump’s older children were trying to pressure him to pick Pence. Actually, reports are that it was Manafort and his aides who first wanted Pence. Reports were that his children wanted Gingrich. What they did not want, however, above all, was Christie, and probably not just because Christie put Jared Kushner’s father in jail, which would be very petty. Jared Kushner’s father gave up the fight after he had stooped to hiring a prostitute to seduce his sister’s husband and videotaping it, which was totally undefensible, but perhaps his son may feel he didn’t deserve to be prosecuted, or investigated as harshly as he was, for the underlying political acts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/nyregion/democratic-donor-receives-twoyear-prison-sentence.html?_r=0
The underlying offenses were illegal campaign donations and tax evasion. Charles Kushner, had been very close to, and a major contributor to Gov. James E. McGreevey, and even put McGreevey’s lover on his payroll for a while. McGreevey had appointed him chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey but then he quit because accusations came in that he had violated campaign-finance and conflict-of-interest laws. Incidentally, Christie’s apppointee David Samson, just pled guilty because he had forced United Airlines to resume a money losing flight to South Carolina where he had vacation home. That came out in the wash after Bridgegate.
Or it could be, whether his father was guilty of criminal activities or not, Jared Kushner felt Christie’s judgement wasn’t so good. And Christie had tried to give his father more than the maximum under the plea bargain because he said Kushner had failed to show “acceptance of responsibility” for his crimes. Charles Kushner really went to jail for two years because of what he had done to his brother-in- law. He had done that with the idea of discrediting him as a witness, or maybe just punishing him, or his sister.
In any case it seems that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and maybe also one or both of Donald Trump’s older sons were so against Christie that they signed on to Pence, but Melania never did that.
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:16 pmThis is what I feared with Manafort weeks ago, although I gave more credence to he’s just the wrong guy, too establishment, for the job and for Trump’s team.
But I think you and Patterico might be right that it’s actually a mole.
Definitely incompetent at best. It was HIS responsibility to vet this speech and he’s now blaming the candidate’s wife. Even if she did it, he should have caught it. He’s got to go.
Denver Guy (21d3a4) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:19 pmThe intrigues within the royal family will serve as prime time melodrama material for months.
What was that line from the video- “It’s down to save my marriage time”, something like that? The possibilities are endless, and most likely entertaining.
Luke Stywalker (33d1c7) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:20 pmThere was undoubtedly some plagiarism here. It was minor, barely more than a sentence of generic material lifted from a Michelle Obama speech. The Trump campaign now acknowledges that it should have been cleaned up by the speech writers before Melania Trump’s speech:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-jr-blames-speechwriters-for-melania-trumps-convention-speech/
So, yeah, time to move on. The minor error has been acknowledged with regrets.
Andrew Hyman (b12b60) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:22 pmAs far as we know he didn’t have a network in the USA, but he did have one in Germany. He was deeply involved in the international terrorist network, hosted training camps for terrorists, gave them shelter when they needed somewhere to run, and in early 2001 he put out a call for people with flight experience to volunteer for a secret mission. Shortly afterward his network in Hamburg was exposed, and the al Qaeda network in the same city started worrying that they would get caught up in the backwash. Hence the April meeting at Prague airport between Atta and the Iraqi ambassador, to brief Hussein on AQ’s plans so he didn’t inadvertently step all over them.
Milhouse (5a188d) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:28 pmExcept that Hussein was a jihad supporter.
Milhouse (5a188d) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:29 pmRe 181: The denialists must not watch TV. Yesterday the lead story on the newscasts was a simultaneous video of M. Obama and M. Trump making their speeches, repeating the same words a second or two apart. The 95% of voters who don’t follow politics much aren’t hearing the nicely contrived convoluted excuses, they are just looking up from their dinners with cynicism and disgust.
I’m watching the booing right now on live TV at the convention. We sure can thank those 44% of primary voters for this wonderful opportunity.
Luke Stywalker (33d1c7) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:30 pmI call to mind the events at the Tower of Babel, how things turned into total chaos. There wasn’t enough communication to have plots or conspiracies.
I have no idea who is trying to play who, and who is ultimately getting played, but where there is selfish ambition there will be disorder and every vile practice…
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:33 pmand Hillary and Lucifer’s cohort are worse.
Steve57, at least someone appreciates the classics, my good man.
SPQR (0cce45) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:33 pmBut they’re not making real money from it. Most are netting no more than $25 a month. That’s not a job. They’ve been recruited on the false promise that they can realistically expect to make real money by creating a “downstream” of their own.
Milhouse (5a188d) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:34 pmLikely has the nearest place that serves a terrific taco salad on speed dial.
Bill H (971e5f) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:35 pmExcept that he wasn’t killing terrorists, he was sponsoring them.
Milhouse (5a188d) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:38 pmExcept there was no excuse for an error like this at all. Trump only hires the best people- the BEST!!!, and that includes the speech writer, the campaign manager, and the wife. Considering Trump’s nomination was a fait accompli months ago, Melania has had enough time to put her words to paper with some professional help. Accidentally or not, there was no need to rip off Michelle Obama.
Bill H (971e5f) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:51 pmMilhouse (5a188d) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:28 pm
He did have a network n the United states in the 1980;s but the FBI was wtaching every one of them, and Dewey Ckaridge of teh CIA caused it to self-destruct by feeding saddam;s susopicipns so peoplewere called back to Baghdad and killed.
You may have heard of the girl called “Palestina” or “Tina” in St Louis who was murder by her father while the whole thing was being recorded by the FBI. He was one of Abu Nidal’s = Saddam Hussein’s terrorists. They never committed any terrorist acts, just crimes like food stamp fraud.
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/19/2016 @ 3:59 pmCBS has extended the network evening news, or switched to live convenion coverage at 7 pm EDT to broadcast the roll call vote and see Donald Trump being put over the top.
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/19/2016 @ 4:05 pmThis may just be legit.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Important-historic-WW2-British-Royal-Navy-Submarine-Storm-P-233-Captains-watch-/301845597077?hash=item4647664b95:g:rcEAAOSwwPhWlDgv
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 4:23 pmI am running across different facts, but remember something about the orgaanization in the U.S. being the Abu Nidal organization.
I was surprised to see that Dewey Claridge had died. Earlier, he was advising Ben Carson a little.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/duane-dewey-clarridge-cia-official-enmeshed-in-iran-contra-affair-dies-at-83/2016/04/11/78979470-ff90-11e5-9203-7b8670959b88_story.html
This is the story about the honor killing. The New York Times says here the father was working for the PLO.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/28/us/terror-and-death-at-home-are-caught-in-fbi-tape.html
Here is soemthing about Saddam;s support for \teh Abu Nidal organization:
http://www.cfr.org/israel/abu-nidal-organization-ano-aka-fatah-revolutionary-council-arab-revolutionary-brigades-revolutionary-organization-socialist-muslims/p9153
This would have him not under his patronage from 1983 through 1988.
When Bush the Younger began talking of an invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein apparently ordered him killed:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/AbuNidal.html
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 7/19/2016 @ 4:43 pmI only pretend to take offense.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 4:47 pmYou guys do realize that Trump is the 2016 Republican Presidential candidate, right?
Do you really find it worthwhile of your time to continue to fight a battle that has been fought, decided, and won?
fred-2 (b01c97) — 7/19/2016 @ 5:17 pm195 – Fred
Given how much garbage those of us who have renounced our GOP affiliation and declared we will not vote for DJT have taken, and will continue to take with greater intensity, yes. Yes, it is important to reinforce our decision in the hopes that others will wake the f up.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 7/19/2016 @ 5:53 pm“I moisturize… I plagiarize… Dahlings, please don’t hate me because I’m boo-teeful.”
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 5:59 pmI love how Cruz Supporter spent the last two weeks making wisecracks about the (in)ability of outside observers to determine the intent and motivation of a bunch of killers in the US and Europe, and now sits back and balks at the notion that the rest of us could determine his motivation from his actions.
Transparent double-standards. Like the candidate he supports (hint: not Cruz).
Leviticus (06eefe) — 7/19/2016 @ 6:05 pmFrom the admirable Tam
http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2016/07/new-theory.html
kishnevi (c91988) — 7/19/2016 @ 6:06 pmOnly if it upsets you. Which it clearly does.
Patterico (5c77c6) — 7/19/2016 @ 6:06 pm@200. Agreed. This is so bad for the United States. Two incredibly lousy choices.
Meanwhile, The Turtle speaks…
DCSCA (a343d5) — 7/19/2016 @ 6:12 pmWhat, like you never got caught up in a moment?
JP (c6e8e1) — 7/19/2016 @ 6:43 pmhe supported fatah formerly, informally, they had contacts with egyptian islamic jihad, at least one was in iraq before the war, hekmatyar, and at least one other group,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 6:51 pmthe gist of it,
http://www.weeklystandard.com/saddams-dangerous-friends/article/15983
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 6:53 pmGranted, it was a pretty long moment
JP (c6e8e1) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:09 pm“Do you really find it worthwhile of your time to continue to fight a battle that has been fought, decided, and won?
Only if it upsets you. Which it clearly does.”
Do you find it worthwhile to sound exactly like a jilted stalker trying to provoke an aggressive response so she can get that sweet, sweet, share of the assets?
Do you realize that it only works when the witnesses and family courts are on your side and not fully aware of how transparently insincere, disingenuous and disloyal you’ve been for the past 8 years?
Do you realize that the difference between you and, say, Pat Buchanan, Joe Sobran, or John Derbyshire is that those three were actually proven right?
A year hence, will Patterico have any hits, traffic, or impact at all?
Dystopia Max (76803a) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:26 pmIf we #NeverTrumpers don’t make no difference, then why do you care, Max? Just go on your way and elect Trump. What, are you trying to save our souls from Error or something?
nk (dbc370) — 7/19/2016 @ 7:53 pmIt will be interesting to hear Senator Cruz’s speech. Tonight, Paul Ryan asked: “What do you say that we unify this party? What do you say that we unify this party at this crucial moment when unity is everything?” Maybe if Cruz and Trump can unify, then maybe there is hope to pull Patterico back into the two-party system? 🐴🐘
Andrew Hyman (54e6d2) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:11 pmMelania Trump gives one speech and suddenly the Hillary Clinton voters are all about honesty, ethics and integrity.”
Now that is some kind of power!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:20 pmInstead of discussing the revelation of Barack’s secret side deal with Iran which enables them to develop nukes much earlier than “expected,” we should continue to obsess over Melania’s speech.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:35 pmWinning!
well I did my part and put up as many excerpts from speeches, I could find, ‘would you like to know more?
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:36 pmMelania Trump gives one speech and suddenly the Hillary Clinton voters are all about honesty, ethics and integrity.”
No, they probably are just angry that said it more convincingly.
kishnevi (c91988) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:37 pmit’s gotten very silly, indeed,
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3033103/london-celebrates-the-monty-python-reunion-by-putting-a-50-foot-dead-parrot-in-potters-field
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:38 pmThis takes Scully off the hook, if true:
Seems plausible.
Clown car campaign.
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:41 pmsounds to me like a self-serving narrative on the part of the Matthew Scully and the John McConnell
what a sad way to make a living
happyfeet (28a91b) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:45 pmI don’t care that the Dems are all over this. This is no more than another drop in the ocean of negative material they have to point to when it comes to Trump.
My criticism is that this kind of blunder shows that he’s incompetent to campaign effectively, even on his own bizarre terms.
He might win anyway; I doubt it. But this kind of stuff is also a disturbing preview of what we could expect from a Trump Administration.
Accordingly, this does the opposite of his #1 goal for the convention, which was to persuade nervous Republicans who might be persuadable that they ought, in fact, to vote against Hillary by instead voting for him. He’s getting negative publicity out of his own coronation amongst the very people he should be consolidating behind him — since, after all, he’s the weakest nominee to limp into the nomination in the modern (primary-driven) political era, and he’s actively despised by a great many Republicans.
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:48 pmWhen you get emotionally involved, that’s when you start making mistakes.
Steve57 (193d96) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:54 pmthat line about not knowing ‘my word is my bond’ of course that would be foreign to favreau, the speeech writer, not the guy from iron man,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:56 pmremember that favreau’s client, plagiarized deval patrick for reasons passing understanding,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 8:59 pmif the truth has no import,
https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/755578828114759680
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:09 pmthe highlight of this night,
http://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2016/07/19/prepare-the-fainting-couches-chris-christie-hits-hillary-clinton-hard-as-rnc-chants-lock-her-up/
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:13 pmznd a followup:
http://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2016/07/19/really-journo-is-christies-call-for-jailing-political-opponents-like-hillary-unprecedented/
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:17 pmEff Twitter and the horse they rode in on. Same goes for Facebook, Instagram, all of the social media icons.
WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-RUN INSTITUTIONS SUCH RAMPANT CESSPITS OF ANTI-FREE SPEECH HOMOPHOBIA? Milo Yiannopoulos Suspended Permanently by Twitter Minutes Before ‘Gays For Trump’ Party At RNC. “In a comment, Milo said ‘With the cowardly suspension of my account, Twitter has confirmed itself as a safe space for Muslim terrorists and Black Lives Matter extremists, but a no-go zone for conservatives.’”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/239163/
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:17 pmI only use twitter for the embedded links,
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:24 pmR.I.P. Garry Marshall, creator of Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, et al
Icy (416737) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:24 pmMelania Trump was born in 1970, so in 1987 — when she was age 17, and when Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” was released — she might have bought the CD and memorized the lyrics.
I don’t hold it against her if she’s a Rick Astley fan.
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:33 pm(He was a bigger hit in Europe than here, by the way.)
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:34 pmprobably so, it’s not as severe an ear wig as dancing queen, that violates both geneva and vienna conventions
http://polling.reuters.com/#!poll/TM651Y15_13
narciso (732bc0) — 7/19/2016 @ 9:57 pm“The deed is done.
The fat’s in the fire.
The fat lady’s sung.
The bird’s on the wire.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
gives you the finger.”
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/19/2016 @ 10:09 pmBeldar, at 215:
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
So this lady’s husband hires two top-notch speechwriters to write a speech for her, but God forbid that she should agree with anything her husband recommends. I think every married man here can relate.
nk (dbc370) — 7/20/2016 @ 7:06 am— Abdullah Alsyd, how many wives can a man have in your country?
nk (dbc370) — 7/20/2016 @ 7:11 am— Well, how many women can you live with?
— It’s been my considerable experience that it’s fewer than one.
— That is also the consensus among the married men in our country.
— We’re not so different after all.
— No, THEY are not so different after all.
Since Melania Trump didn’t hire these two speechwriters, but Jared Kushner did, and she maybe didn’t even know who these people were, or anything about where it came from, it probably never occured to her to get back in touch with the speechwriters, who had never spoken to her and didn’t know what she thought, to tell them they had her saying things she did not agree with, or that just weren’t her, or that the speech took a basic approach she didn’t like.
And since essentially the whole speech was rejected by Melania Trump, and/or the responsibility for that speech was taken away from Jared Kushner, who had been very satisfied with it, nobody ever got back to the two original speechwriters, who remained under the impression that their speech was going to be used. They were paid, maybe, and that was it.
Melania turned to Meredith McIver, who had helped ghostwrite some of Donald Trump’s books, including “Think Like a Billionairre” and “Trump 101: The Way to Success.”
The New York Times was not clear on what role she played in writing or revising the speech, or how big it was, and she did not respond to an e-mail from the New York Times. The Trump campaign would not say who had read or reviewed the speech.
The old speech was just cribbed a bit little from, just the introduction and the passage that included the words “a national campaign like no other.”
The Repubican National Committee is now trying to find prior sources for the words used by both Michelle Obama and Melania Trump, as if this was a copyright infringement lawsuit. So far they’ve found “My Little Pony” and songs by John Legend and Kid Rock, but I think I read there’s something written by a Mormon years ago that is a much better match.
Every Congressional office nowadays apparently checks speeches for plagiarism, and there are free programs online like DupliChecker, but it would seem nobody thought to use it.
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/20/2016 @ 8:16 amIronic sidelight
More people are paying attention to Michelle’s speech now than (probably) paid attention to it in 2008.
kishnevi (ceb37f) — 7/20/2016 @ 8:24 amI bet if we did a “plagiarism check” of the Valedictorian speeches at recent college and high school graudations, we’d find a lot of passages which sound an awful lot like Valedictorian speeches given in 2015. And 1985. And 1955.
We should also mic football lockerrooms this autumn, so we can catch coaches giving motivational speeches which may borrow inspiration from other lockerroom speeches.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 7/20/2016 @ 8:27 amA few thoughts I had:
1) At least she did not say “your word is your bond” applied to Donald Trump, but rather, described it as among the values taught her by her parents.
2) I noticed that she said she “been with Donald for 18 years” glossing over the fact that they lived together for 7 years before getting married. That was the wedding that Donald Trump claimed he’d paid Hillary Clinton to attend.
3) She rather abruptly jumps from arriving in New York City “20 years ago” to becoming a citizen on July 28th, 2006. I thought she was going to say that’s when she gave birth, but she never mentioned it, and she almost didn’t mention her son, maybe not wanting to say that she had only one child.
4) She paaised veterans, and then called attention to Bob Dole, who was actually at the convention, and stood up. Bob Dole looks kind of shaky. I guess that was a way of pointing out that if George Bush 41 (GHWB) wasn’t there, and George Bush 43 (W) wasn’t there, and John McCain wasn’t there, and Mitt Romney wasn’t there, at least Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican nominee, was there. Bob Dole even showed, sort of, his wounded arm.
5) She said he was loyal to his friends, family, employee and country, and had been concerned about been concerned about our country for as long as she had known him – which is now getting close to 20 years, I guess. When she met him he was beginning to think of tunning for president, that’s true, and in factt he tried to become George Bush 41’s vice presidential nominee in 1988, before he began his peregrinations through membership in various political parties.
6) She used the present tense to describe Donald Trump’s respect for his parents, but at the end of the list that followed in the same sentence, she referred to “the memory of his late brother Fred.”
7) She delivered a kind of standard political speech about Donald Trump.”Donald gets things done.” ” Everyone wants change. Donald is the only one that can deliver it.” “We need new programs to help the poor and opportunities to challenge the young.”
Oh, and this:
“Donald intends to represent all the people, not just some of the people. That includes Christians and Jews and Muslims, it includes Hispanics and African-Americans and Asians, and the poor and the middle class.”
8) She saids that as First Lady, the cause dear to hher would be helping women and children.
9) She said: “I have seen him fight for years to get a project done – or even started – and he does not give up!”
Like on September 11, 2001, maybe?
From the TIME Almanac of 2006 (section about skyscrapers, page 443)
¯The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, was eventually completed in 2009 at 1,389 feet. The building is now about number 16 in the world.
It was completed, although not without a lawsuit in 2008 for $40 million by Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas because he had defaulted on the loan Nov. 7 by not paying off the remaining $334.2 million due in November, 2007. Trump had anticipated the lawsuit by suing them for wrongly refusing to extend the Nov. 7 maturity date, claiming the world financial crisis was an extraordinary event that permits a loan extension and and also accused them of hindering his ability to sell condo-hotel units. He eventually paid off the loan, and Trump’s lawyer at the time said this was legal stupidity because he’d pay when the project gets completed and sold out.
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/20/2016 @ 8:58 amIt is Donald Trump whom Melania Trump said was loyal to his friends, family, employee and country.
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/20/2016 @ 9:00 amHere is the speech Melania Trump gave, with the place where it looks copied mentioned separately first, together with that part of Michelle Obama;s speech:
http://www.people.com/article/melania-trump-michelle-obama-similar-convention-speeches
She may have reheared also to limit her accent. It was not at all like Eva Gabor.
Sammy Finkelman (372aad) — 7/20/2016 @ 9:07 amWhether or not Melania Trump (or speech writer) plagiarized a specific speech, to express a rather common philosophy, is not even worth of writing a single article about.
It’s not as if the words were copyrighted, or as if the plagiarized words were used in a PhD dissertation. Jesus, variations of “my word is my bond” are said all the time.
What is really cringe-worthy is the fact that this petty issue is getting so much attention.
Some Dude (53806b) — 7/20/2016 @ 9:46 amWho can forget the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate, Herr Oberst?
Bill H (576c5e) — 7/20/2016 @ 11:22 amWhat I read was that a man named Covey (who was later labeled a Mormon) wrote about the habits of successful people, and that both Obama’s and Trump’s speech were clearly based on his writing.
gahrie (12cc0f) — 7/20/2016 @ 11:26 amSo you want Hillary to get elected.
We had to destroy the country to save the party.
gahrie (12cc0f) — 7/20/2016 @ 11:30 amWell ,hell, the Utah delegation has been the most pissy, it is indeed ironic that the mantras of Stephen Covey has caused this much agita.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 7/20/2016 @ 11:32 am“New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former prosecutor, brushed off the controversy surrounding Melania Trump’s convention speech, saying he wouldn’t be able to make the case for plagiarism, “not when 93 percent of the speech is completely different.””
A graduate of the John Mitchell School of Law no doubt.
The campaign has admitted it was, Governor Soprano.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/20/2016 @ 3:29 pm