Senator Rand Paul Plagiarized from Wikipedia

Sistrin said:

Try actually reading my post before you comment on them.

And I could say the same to...

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That you're trying to deflect? I agree.

SummerMadness said:

First you resorted to ad hominem against Rachel Maddow, then you denied any plagiarism took despite mischaracterizing what plagiarism is. Afterward, you started correcting the spelling of other posters. Now you're attempting to deflect by attacking "the left" as supportive of murder and pedophilia. Is this all to justify plagiarism by Rand Paul?

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Reminds me of a book by Stephen King.

SummerMadness said:

It does not work that way, you made the accusation. Go look through the edit history of Gattaca and Stand and Deliver to support your claim that the text was written without attribution.

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I offered it. The wikipedia link is there, the attribution is not

I just wanted to chime in that I'm not a "liberal hater", nor am I trying to "destroy Rand Paul". If the 2016 election ends up being Rand Paul vs. Joe Biden, I might be voting Republican. (depending on their platforms).

I work in higher education and have quite a bit of experience with detecting plagiarized materials. This material was definitely plagiarized. I doubt there was malicious intent - it was probably accidental plagiarism and it was probably a staff member who made this mistake. Rand Paul has a post-graduate degree, so I'm pretty sure he knows how to cite his sources.

Rand Paul, plagiarism, and the dangers of employing inexperienced true-believers | Haire of the Dog | Charleston City Paper
Rand Paul's Office: Staff Mix-Up Responsible for Plagiarism in Op-ed - US News and World Report
Paul pledges 'new approval process' amid plagiarism charges - First Read

AirPo said:

That you're trying to deflect? I agree.

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This is why responding here is so tedious, because most absolutely refuse to address anything actually said. Instead the use of dismissive snarky comments rule.

SummerMadness said:

First you resorted to ad hominem against Rachel Maddow...

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This is how you characterize my comment. But I stand by it. If this is all Maddow has, she should apologize to her small viewing audience and find some other line of work.

SummerMadness said:

...then you denied any plagiarism took despite mischaracterizing what plagiarism is.

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I understand this issue is more important to you than someone being accused of insider trading or abuse of government funds or sexual harassment or any number of actual crimes. But those of us living in reality can have perspective.

No, I don't believe Rand is guilty of plagiarism. If anything, one of his staff writers is guilty of plagiarism. But even if, as you seem to believe, Rand sat down and viciously and purposefully and with glee and malice copied and pasted a line or two from wiki about a crappy movie to use in a speech, it hardly rises to a the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. At worst it is a lapse in judgement, and as I have pointed out, the liberal Democrat establishment is profuse with elected members continually displaying far worse "lapses in judgement" free of the manufactured outrage on display here.

And what idiot would believe someone would want to promote themselves by use of a few lines from wiki? Anyone can edit wiki, it isn't considered a primary source by anyone who understands the meaning of the term.

I understand you guys want to act all indignant and offended and toss out terms like character and integrity, I simply understand and am pointing out why you are doing it. The left at large, and Maddow in particular, see this as an opportunity to destroy a member of the opposition, to destroy someone with a different viewpoint, and that opportunity will not be wasted.

You insist on integrity, fess up to the truth.

SummerMadness said:

Afterward, you started correcting the spelling of other posters.

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If someone here is going to insist Rand Paul is guilty of plagiarism they should at least be able to spell it.

SummerMadness said:

Now you're attempting to deflect by attacking "the left" as supportive of murder and pedophilia. Is this all to justify plagiarism by Rand Paul?

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And here again you keep twisting my words. I have not said liberals are supportive of murder and pedophilia. I said liberals are only too willing to overlook such behavior if it was committed by a prominent or elected liberal/progressive/democrat. In other words, one of their own.

If this exact same charge were or had been made against Hillary Clinton, the very same people here who are attacking Rand Paul would be defending Hillary and deriding any member here who tried to hold her accountable.

Sistrin said:

This is why responding here is so tedious, because most absolutely refuse to address anything actually said. Instead the use of dismissive snarky comments rule.

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Deflection is dismissive, calling posters out on it is not.

SummerMadness said:

If you make an accusation, you are supposed to provide support for your claim. There is an edit history page with annotations and citations; if you claim there was plagiarism, then you need to provide the evidence of this using the edit history. Otherwise you are making baseless accusations without support.

Now if you will, please corroborate your accusation of plagiarism for Gattaca and Stand and Deliver on the Wikipedia pages. You are the one making the accusation, so it is up to you to corroborate this accusation with evidence.

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Again, you can't produce something that doesn't exist.

AirPo said:

Deflection is dismissive, calling posters out on it is not.

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There is no deflection, that is simply the charge you are hiding behind.

I am pointing out why the left at large is making such a big deal of this, and it isn't because they care about plagiarism. I am also pointing out how ridiculous that stance is in light of the plethora of actual crimes committed by and charge to prominent democrats, most or all of which have been summarily dismissed for inane and self serving reasons.

AirPo said:

Deflection is dismissive, calling posters out on it is not.

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The point of this thread would seem to be deflection from the current administration's failures

SummerMadness said:

You are free to start another thread highlighting these crimes if you wish. No one is stopping you.

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Ok, once the thread-derail whining begins the debate is over.

Sistrin said:

Try actually reading my post before you comment on them.

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I did. I read all your posts.

First post - attack Maddow
2- says left is desperate to destroy Paul
3- tries to defend Paul, insults the left, attacks spelling then calls Christian fundamentalists stupid
4- claims a poster has PDS,
5- talks about Biden/Limbaugh/Fluke and Bill Clinton
6-calls this a witch hunt
7-calls Paul's description as coincidence, not plagariasm.
8- calls my comments petty and childish
9-cheerleading for machzer0
10-reiterates same comments, attacks spelling again
11-says something about Paul too stupid for Congress when nobody said he wasn't
12-claims the left has a psychotic desire to destroy Paul
13-more personal attacks
14-says your claims about others except for Paul, are indisputable, accuses another member of dishonesty, then talks about pedophilia
15-tells me I don't read your posts.


LOL

MachZer0 said:

The point of this thread would seem to be deflection from the current administration's failures

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Since this thread has nothing to do with Obama or his administration, we can conclude that you have no idea what is being discussed here in this thread.

Sistrin said:

There is no deflection, that is simply the charge you are hiding behind.

I am pointing out why the left at large is making such a big deal of this, and it isn't because they care about plagiarism. I am also pointing out how ridiculous that stance is in light of the plethora of actual crimes committed by and charge to prominent democrats, most or all of which have been summarily dismissed for inane and self serving reasons.

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In other words, you are attempting to minimize Paul's cheating behavior by minimizing the actions by saying it is petty compared to other issues, and deflecting criticism back to others on the left.

We must conclude that you have consistently tried to derail the thread.

Sistrin said:

There is no deflection, that is simply the charge you are hiding behind.

I am pointing out why the left at large is making such a big deal of this, and it isn't because they care about plagiarism.

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Which is deflection.

I am also pointing out how ridiculous that stance is in light of the plethora of actual crimes committed by and charge to prominent democrats, most or all of which have been summarily dismissed for inane and self serving reasons.

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Which is more deflection.