"Plagiary" by Rand Paul

In a strange turn of events for Senator Rand Paul, several of his speeches, it turns out, have large portions plagiarized from Wikipedia and other people's speeches and articles, all without crediting the sources. He has copied and pasted long passages with minimal efforts to paraphrase or otherwise change the language. And when caught plagiarizing, Rand Paul challenged MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who first reported the Wikipedia pilfer, to a duel, yes, a duel; he'd better hope it's not a battle of wits............................... Over the next day or two, others have reported several new instances of Rand Paul plagiarism from speeches. When asked what his concept of plagiarism was Rand Paul responded, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." He went on to say,"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."................................... Later in the day, yesterday, Rand Paul issued a press release in which he maintained that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." When reporters pointed out the phrase was from FDR"s inauguration speech in 1933, Rand Paul took out a dueling pistol and shot them................................... Senator Rand Paul today again addressed the plagiarism scandal: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Meanwhile, Rachel Maddow is taking fencing lessons........................... In further developments, Rand Paul now claims he wrote The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit, Gone with the Wind, Around the World in Eighty Days, Huckleberry Finn, Pride and Prejudice, and that he wrote the screenplays for all the Walt Disney movies, Twelve Angry Men, Jaws, The Andromeda Strain, and The Empire Strikes Back..................................... In a long and rambling speech on the Senate floor today, he said, "Call me Ishmael. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents - except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." And in a bizarre scene, Rand Paul delivered the Gettysburg Address in the men's room of the US Senate and claimed he wrote it........................................ Fellow Republican Senator Ted Cruz, when asked for a comment on the plagiarism charges surrounding Rand Paul, said, "Hey, when I read Green Eggs and Ham to the Senate's empty chamber at least I said who wrote it."........................................ Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid says Kentucky Senator Rand Paul will be required to submit all his senate speeches to Turnitin.com, a monitoring service for detecting student plagiarism at colleges and universities across the country, for verification. Senator Paul was heard to respond: If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?