Rand Paul Blames ‘Haters’ for Plagiarism Claims
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says reports that he plagiarized recent speeches from Wikipedia are part of an attack from “people who are political enemies and have an ax to grind.”
“This is about information and attacks coming from ‘haters,’” Paul said in an interview with Fusion’s Jorge Ramos on Wednesday. “She’s been spreading hate on me for three years.”
The “she” in question is MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, the liberal anchor who pointed out the similarity between several lines in the senator’s speeches and the text of Wikipedia entries during her show Monday night.
Paul, who was in Virginia stumping for gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, referred to the 1997 film “Gattaca,” the Uma Thurman flick that depicts a future driven by eugenics, to criticize pro-abortion rights advocates.
“We borrowed the plot lines from Gattaca. It’s a movie,” Paul said. “I gave credit to the people who wrote the movie…Nothing I said was not given attribution to where it came from.”
The side-by-side comparison between Paul’s speech and the Wikipedia page is strikingly similar:
