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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    No one to be fired after Melania Trump speech plagiarism episode

    No one to be fired after Melania Trump speech plagiarism episode



    By Gregory Krieg, Eric Bradner and Eugene Scott, CNN
    Updated 4:50 PM ET, Tue July 19, 2016

    (CNN)Donald Trump's presidential campaign doesn't plan to fire anybody or to take disciplinary action over the controversy surrounding Melania Trump's plagiarism of Michelle Obama, CNN learned Tuesday.

    Trump's campaign hopes to simply move on without further addressing questions about the speech.

    Aides to the presumptive Republican nominee are scrambling to move past the imbroglio after a passage in Melania Trump's speech Monday night, which headlined the Republican National Convention's opening night, closely mirrored a portion of Michelle Obama's address to the Democratic National Convention in 2008.


    It's set off infighting and finger-pointing within Trump's campaign, and two sources told CNN that Donald Trump himself is furious about it.


    Trump's aides chalked the controversy up to media bias and blamed Hillary Clinton's campaign -- even though the apparent plagiarism was discovered by an independent journalist and had gone viral before Clinton's allies and Democrats even weighed in.


    In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day," campaign chairman Paul Manafort denied the allegations of plagiarism.


    "To think that she would do something like that knowing how scrutinized her speech was going to be last night is just really absurd," Manafort said.




    Side-by-side of Melania Trump, Michelle Obama speeches 01:42

    Manafort said the words Melania used were not "cribbed" but are common words.

    "There's no cribbing of Michelle Obama's speech.

    These were common words and values. She cares about her family," Manafort said. "To think that she'd be cribbing Michelle Obama's words is crazy."


    Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee's chief strategist, invoked "My Little Pony" in defending the speech in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.


    "Melania Trump said, 'the strength of your dreams and willingness to work for them.' Twilight Sparkle from 'My Little Pony' said, 'This is your dream. Anything you can do in your dreams, you can do now,' " Spicer said.


    He also compared passages of Trump's speech with phrases from musicians John Legend and Kid Rock.


    "I mean if we want to take a bunch of phrases and run them through a Google and say, 'Hey, who else has said them,' I can do that in five minutes," Spicer said.

    "And that's what this is."


    However, Trump's campaign faced criticism even from allies, who largely blamed staffers -- not Melania Trump.



    Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Tuesday that whoever is responsible for writing the should be fired.

    "Whoever was the staff person who wrote this speech should be held accountable and should be fired," Lewandowski told CNN's John Berman and Kate Bolduan.


    Lewandowski, who is a CNN contributor, was fired from the Trump campaign last month.


    Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said at a Bloomberg Politics event Tuesday morning he'd "probably" fire whoever was responsible for including plagiarized quotes, though he added: "It all kinda depends on the circumstances and how these things are written."


    The controversy quickly overshadowed the speech, which was to have been her introduction to voters. It focused on her immigration to the United States and her love for her husband.


    10 times politicians have plagiarized


    The Trump campaign released a statement on the speech after the similarities were uncovered, but it did not mention the plagiarism charge.




    Photos: The Republican National Convention

    "In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking. Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success," according to Jason Miller, the senior communications adviser.

    New Jersey governor and Donald Trump ally Chris Christie defended the speech, saying, "There's no way that Melania Trump was plagiarizing Michelle Obama's speech."


    Begala: A very Trump convention -- mess, undisciplined, angry


    "I just don't see it," Christie told CNN's Jamie Gangel in an interview Tuesday, adding later, "If we're talking about 7% of a speech, that was really, universally considered to be a good performance by Melania. I know her. There's no way that Melania Trump was plagiarizing Michelle Obama's speech."


    Who wrote the speech?


    Side-by-side comparisons of the transcripts show the text in Trump's address following, nearly to the word, the would-be future first lady's own from the first night of the Democratic convention in Denver nearly eight years ago.

    There were a lot of questions about who wrote the speech -- but little clarity.


    Sources familiar with the campaign's handling of Melania Trump's speech identify top Manafort deputy Rick Gates as the person inside the campaign who oversaw the entire speech process for Melania Trump.


    Gates is denying he oversaw the process of putting together the speech.

    When CNN's Jim Acosta asked Gates if he oversaw the Melania Trump speech process, he said "absolutely not."


    Miller also denied Gates' involvement.


    "Rick's not a speechwriter and he doesn't have a role in the campaign's speechwriting process -- we have other people for that," he said. "Anybody saying differently is being intentionally misleading."




    Manafort: Plagiarism accusations are crazy01:30

    Democrats' role

    Manafort, on CNN's "New Day," said the scrutiny over Melania Trump's speech was the work of Clinton's campaign.

    "This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, she seeks out to demean her and take her down. It's not going to work," he said.


    However, Trump's aides haven't pointed to any evidence of Democrats' involvement in fanning the controversy.


    The Clinton campaign's communications director Jennifer Palmieri said Manafort's comments about Clinton's involvement were untrue.


    "Nice try, not true. @PaulManafort, blaming Hillary Clinton isn't the answer for ever Trump campaign problem," Palmieri tweeted.


    Clinton's campaign on Tuesday focused instead on bashing Republicans for other speeches Monday night, including the mother of a Benghazi attack victim saying she'd like to see Clinton imprisoned and the crowd chanting at another point, "Lock her up!" In a fundraising email to supporters, Clinton's campaign said "there's a difference between drawing a contrast and baselessly saying your opponent belongs in jail."



    Melania Trump's unexpected moment


    White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday that President Barack Obama did not watch Monday night's speeches.

    "As it relates to Mrs. Trump's speech, I'll let all of you weigh in on all of that and try to learn more about how exactly it was written," Earnest said. "What I can say that in 2008, when Mrs. Obama spoke, she received an enthusiastic reception and strong reviews because of her words, her life story, and the values that she and her husband deeply believe in and try to instill in their kids."


    Fact checking the speeches




    Christie on Melania plagiarism: 'I just don't see it' 01:05


    Earlier in the day, Melania Trump told NBC's Matt Lauer: "I read once over it, that's all, because I wrote it ... with (as) little help as possible."

    A viewer's guide to the RNC


    Here is Trump, on Monday:


    "From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son," Trump said.
    And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."

    And here is Obama, on August 25, 2008:


    "And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.

    And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and to pass them on to the next generation.

    Because we want our children -- and all children in this nation -- to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."


    The reaction:


    "(To be honest), I was more offended by just about every other speech than Melania's plagiarized paragraphs," former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau jokingly tweeted as the accusations went viral hours after Trump's address.

    Follow

    Jon Favreau
    @jonfavs

    Tbh, I was more offended by just about every other speech than Melania's plagiarized paragraphs.
    9:15 PM - 18 Jul 2016



    Journalist Jarrett Hill seems to have been one of the first to notice the similarities on Twitter.

    View image on Twitter
    Follow
    Jarrett Hill @JarrettHill

    Melania must’ve liked Michelle Obama’s 2008 Convention speech, since she plagiarized it.#GOPConvention #RNCinCLE
    7:40 PM - 18 Jul 2016


    He's a big fan of the Obamas, and told CNN over the phone that one particular line from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech really spoke to him: "To know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."

    When he heard Melania Trump start saying "the only limit to your achievements," he knew something was wrong.


    Hill said he then Googled Michelle Obama's speech and saw the similar lines.


    "It was kind of a total recall moment," he said.

    After he posted the comparison on Twitter, his tweet garnered 16,000 retweets.

    View image on Twitter

    "Um. This is becoming a thing," he later tweeted.

    Never gonna let you down?



    In an even stranger twist, some on social media posited that Trump surreptitiously Rickrolled -- a common Internet meme involving singer Rick Astley -- everyone in the middle of her speech.

    "He will never give up," she said of her husband.

    "And most importantly, he will never, ever let you down."


    The chorus of the 80s classic sounds very similar:

    "Never gonna give you up/ Never gonna let you down/ Never gonna run around and desert you."


    A bit of background -- Rickrolling is where you get someone to unwittingly click on a link to the video of the Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up."


    So, for example, if someone were to tell you to click here, saying it's another article about Melania Trump, and you click on that link, you would be taken to an Astley video and thus have been Rickrolled.

    http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/19/politi...ech/index.html

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  2. #2
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Social media explodes with more Trump plagiarism allegations

    9:03 PM Javier Panzar

    Social media explodes with more Trump plagiarism allegations

    Donald Trump Jr., son of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, speaks during the second day session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Tuesday, July 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

    Another day, another speech by a member of the Trump family — and another round of plagiarism charges coursing through social media.


    "The Daily Show's" Twitter account seemed to pounce first when it pointed out lines from Donald Trump Jr.'s speech that seemed to be identical to words first used in a May article by F.H. Buckley in The American Conservative called "Trump vs. the New Class."


    Within 45 minutes The Daily Show's tweet had been retweeted 9,900 times.


    In his speech, Donald Trump's son said:

    "Our schools used to be an elevator to the middle class, now they're stalled on the ground floor.

    They're like Soviet-era department stores that are run for the benefit of the clerks and not the customers, for the teachers and the administrators and not the students."


    From Buckley's article:

    "What should be an elevator to the upper class is stalled on the ground floor. Part of the fault for this may be laid at the feet of the system’s entrenched interests: the teachers’ unions and the higher-education professoriate. Our schools and universities are like the old Soviet department stores whose mission was to serve the interests of the sales clerks and not the customers. "

    The relevant part of Trump's speech begins at the eight-minute mark here:


    In response, Buckley took to Twitter to defend the younger Donald Trump, saying the speech "wasn't stealing." He later told Business Insider he was, in fact, a writer for the convention speech.

    Follow

    Brett LoGiurato @BrettLoGiurato

    F.H. Buckley tells @businessinsider: "I was a speechwriter for this speech. So I'm afraid there's no issue here."
    8:38 PM - 19 Jul 2016


    http://www.latimes.com/nation/politi...htmlstory.html
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  3. #3
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Does the LA Times have rights to reproduce copyrighted material? I think the media needs to take care of its own infringements of others speech and writings. Speeches by public figures including wanna be first lady speeches are public domain. Otherwise, Trump could sue every media outlet that's replayed and reprinted Melania's speech for copyright infringement.
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  4. #4
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    pla·gia·rism
    ˈplājəˌrizəm/
    noun


    • the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.
      synonyms: copying, infringement of copyright, piracy, theft, stealing;informalcribbing
      "accusations of plagiarism"





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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    What the plagiarism controversy tells us about Trump's campaign

    By Maeve Reston, CNN
    Updated 11:36 AM ET, Wed July 20, 2016

    Cleveland (CNN)Donald Trump claimed the Republican nomination Tuesday after flattening the establishment with his unorthodox campaign -- but his convention is also exposing the downside of his freewheeling approach.


    The Trump campaign descended into a familiar messiness after Melania Trump delivered a convention speech Monday echoing lines from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention address.

    On the tumultuous day that followed, Donald Trump was furious. Melania Trump was humiliated. And the campaign, which had appeared to be on the path to becoming a more organized, disciplined operation, was back on its heels, dealing with swirling accusations and internal finger-pointing that yielded no real answers about what happened.


    No one to be fired after Melania Trump speech plagiarism


    There was no immediate sign of a campaign shakeup Wednesday and it remains unclear whether the incident will have a lasting effect.


    Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort continued to refuse to acknowledge Wednesday morning that parts of Melania Trump's convention speech were lifted lines, saying the controversy is "not meaningful at all."


    "The speech was very effective and communicated those feelings," Manafort told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day." "The controversy you're talking about is not meaningful at all. She's not a candidate for office.

    She was expressing her personal feelings about her country and her husband and why he's best for the United States."


    It is yet another unsettling episode for the Trump campaign at a time when many top donors are closely watching Trump and his operation to determine whether it is worth their investment this fall.



    Side-by-side of Melania Trump, Michelle Obama speeches 01:42


    Melania Trump's convention speech was billed as one of the highlights of this week, one that could help humanize him and appeal to female voters concerned about his temperament. In the moment, it seemed like an elegant triumph for the Republican nominee, who proudly escorted his wife off stage after a kiss. But soon side-by-side comparisons of Melania Trump's remarks and Michelle Obama's 2008 speech were playing non-stop on the networks.

    The trouble seemed to subside for the time being Tuesday when Trump won the roll call vote that officially made him the Republican nominee and a series of speakers -- most notably New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie -- forcefully argued against Hillary Clinton's candidacy.


    It is clear that Trump's children, who are new to politics, are a driving force guiding their father, but sometimes appear out of their depth when it comes to the necessary infrastructure of a general election campaign — particularly when the candidate has insisted that it stay lean and mean.


    Donald Trump claims GOP mantle


    Manafort's team has brought depth and experience to the team — and he pulled off an impressive feat last week by squelching a rebellion in the rules committee with a team of 100 lawyers. They have also worked effectively to sway Republican delegates who had once been hesitant to support Trump.


    Skeletal communications staff


    But the campaign's skeletal communications staff is still struggling to drive a daily message or even control the candidate's insatiable appetite for media attention. Trump, for example, inexplicably called in to give an interview with Fox Monday night -- missing a poignant speech by two survivors of the Benghazi attack.

    On Tuesday, Trump aides and allies were at a loss to explain who wrote Melania's speech and how the plagiarism had occurred. The campaign's spokesman produced an incoherent statement at nearly 2 a.m. Tuesday that referred to "Melania's team of writers" without identifying any of them. That directly conflicted with Melania Trump's comment earlier to Matt Lauer on "Today" that she wrote her speech with "as little help as possible."




    When Manafort appeared on CNN Tuesday morning, he called the accusation of plagiarism "just really absurd." He insisted Melania had used "common words" and not "cribbed" from Michelle Obama's speech. Around the same time, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told reporters at a Bloomberg Politics breakfast he'd "probably" fire whoever was responsible for the plagiarized quotes.

    In the next dramatic twist, Trump's recently fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Manafort, his former rival on the Trump campaign, should take responsibility for the controversy, noting that Manafort was brought on to have oversight of every aspect of the convention.


    Bob Dole reflects on Trump


    "The buck stops at the top," Lewandowski, a CNN contributor, said.


    "I think it's shameful that Melania Trump, who is such a great person, who represents her husband and would represent this country amazingly as first lady, is under this controversy because the staff didn't do her well," Lewandowski said.


    Of Manafort, he said, "Whoever signed off, with the final sign off, and allowed this to go forward, should be held accountable," he said. "I think if it was Paul Manafort, he'd do the right thing and resign."




    Manafort: Media should 'move on' from Melania's speech 02:20


    The Trump campaign then said no one would be fired or disciplined over the incident.

    Multiple sources with knowledge of the speech writing process within the campaign said Trump's son-in-law and trusted confidante, Jared Kushner, got the ball rolling in June when he enlisted two pre-eminent speechwriters, Matthew Scully, a speechwriter for George W. Bush, and his partner John McConnell, to draft Melania's speech.


    Melania Trump's unexpected moment


    They delivered a prospective speech to the campaign that incorporated humor, some light teasing of the real estate magnate and a focus on her upbringing in Slovenia and efforts to become an American citizen, according to several sources who read the original draft.


    The draft was well received by the Trump campaign mid-June. But somewhat mysteriously, Scully and McConnell were not consulted again.


    The speech Melania Trump delivered on Monday night was an entirely different speech than what they had drafted, with the exception of a half-dozen lines.

    The controversial lines echoing Michelle Obama's speech were not in Scully and McConnell's original draft.


    No clarity about who was responsible


    Trump advisers said Tuesday that Melania had been guided by a number of different people throughout the process, but offered no clarity about who was responsible for the paragraph and phrases in question.

    Donald Trump Jr. defended both Melania and Manafort during an interview with CBS This Morning Co-host Norah O'Donnell -- batting away Lewandowski's comments.


    "There's a reason Paul is in the position that he is today and Corey is not, and it is not because Paul is amateur hour," Donald Trump Jr. said. "I think it is nonsense. I heard that other people ask 'Oh, is the family on the outs with Paul?' Total nonsense."




    Lewandowski: Staffer behind speech should resign 01:21


    Perhaps because of the possible backlash effect of speaking negatively about a Republican candidate's wife who has been reluctant to seek the spotlight, Democrats largely avoided commenting on the controversy on Tuesday.

    While the Trump campaign released talking points on how to respond, most surrogates did not appear to take the campaign's lead.


    Perhaps the most unusual response on the controversy came from former 2016 candidate Ben Carson, when he was asked about the plagiarism charge after addressing the Florida delegation breakfast.


    Nightcap: The latest news and political buzz from CNN Politics | Sign up


    "I think what we should be thinking about is if Melania's speech is similar to Michelle Obama's speech, that should make us all very happy because we should be saying whether we're Democrats or Republicans, we share the same values," Carson said.

    "That's what we should be talking about. Not trying to make it controversy."


    http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/20/politi...ion/index.html
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  6. #6
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Melania gave a beautiful speech and did a great job. She stressed important issues, important topics, spoke highly and rightly about Donald Trump, and the dribble about future generations and values is the same dribble everyone talks about using basically the same words. The crucial difference between Melania's speech and Michelle Obama's speech is that Melania's husband is actually going to fix our country and make it a better place for future generations where Michelle's husband proved he was just another all talk, no action politician who made things much worse for them.

    Everyone needs to keep their eye on the ball and not be distracted by the Trump Haters in the Media.
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  7. #7
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    9:34 A.M.

    Melania Trump's speechwriter releases statement taking responsibility for 'innocent mistake'

    View image on Twitter

    Follow

    Zeke Miller
    @ZekeJMiller

    NEW: Melania staffer falls on sword, says campaign rejected her resignation
    9:30 AM - 20 Jul 2016




    http://www.latimes.com/nation/politi...htmlstory.html
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  8. #8
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Trump’s Veterans Adviser: ‘Tell the Liberal Media to Kiss Off’



    by ALEX SWOYER
    20 Jul 2016
    Cleveland, OH
    567 comments

    CLEVELAND, Ohio — New Hampshire state representative Al Baldasaro, an adviser on veterans issues for Donald Trump’s campaign, is now defending Melania Trump against mainstream media allegations that she plagiarized her speech at the GOP National Convention.

    “Tell the liberal media to kiss off because it’s a shame what’s going on. This is a disgrace,” Baldasaro told Breitbart News outside the Quicken Loans Arena.

    He continued:

    "Here’s a mother, here’s a model, here’s a business woman — why can’t they praise her accomplishments and try to pick and choose certain words? Irregardless of who wrote the speech…the bottom line is she presented herself as a professional — God’s gift to the Republicans."

    “Get over it and stop being jealous of the future first lady,” he concluded.

    Earlier in the election cycle, Baldasaro famously defended the Republican nominee during a combative press conference on Trump’s fundraising for veterans.

    http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presid...t-republicans/
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  9. #9
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Ann Coulter: Michelle’s Speech Was Trite, Too

    by ANN COULTER
    20 Jul 2016

    When MSNBC signed off at 3 a.m. the first night of the Republican National Convention, they were still talking about Melania’s speech.

    For five solid hours, MSNBC had been obsessing over two paragraphs of Melania Trump’s speech that were nearly identical to Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech.

    The similar passages were:

    — The only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams!

    — Your word is your bond!

    — May your tomorrows be brighter than your yesterdays!

    — From tiny acorns great oaks grow!

    MSNBC covered the banal sayings as if Melania had been caught selling secrets to the Soviets. All night, commentators somberly intoned, It’s essential that the campaign get out in front of this. Trump needs to apologize … Now is the time for him to demonstrate crisis management skills — and this IS a bona fide crisis.

    The network presented a split screen presentation of the two paragraphs next to each other, with a color-coded bar showing when the plagiarism becomes more intense. Hosts read the corresponding parts of the speeches over and over again. Lawrence O’Donnell pronounced: “This is serious.”

    If you’re on MSNBC and traffic in outrage and sanctimony every day, you can lose your bearings and not even realize what an idiot you’ve become.

    MSNBC called in experts from various fields — a linguist from MIT, a psychiatrist specializing in pathological self-destructive impulses — and now, let’s go to Jacques Truffaut in Paris! Well, Brian, the French here are just getting a translation of the speech as we speak, and I can tell you they are shocked.

    (Yes, the moderator for MSNBC’s hysterical coverage of Melania’s “plagiarism” was Brian Williams, who must have been trying to quietly excuse himself from someone else’s embarrassing verbal blunders.)

    Not one single person on MSNBC said, “Yeah, um, can we talk about something else because this is so lame and trivial, we risk looking like sissies.”

    Huffington Post, Gawker and Jezebel pulled all-nighters to hoot and sneer at the prospective first lady’s speech. The following day, Andrea Mitchell devoted half her show to Melania’s “plagiarism.”

    In a few days, we’ll be seeing, DAY 5: NO APOLOGY FOR PLAGIARIZED PARAGRAPH!

    Listen to yourselves, MSNBC! Your obsession with the “theft” of these saccharine sentiments only reminds people how trite Michelle Obama’s speech was. (Which you adored.)

    More shocking than the fact that Melania used some of the same expressions from Michelle’s speech is that someone heard these hackneyed phrases and said, “I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE I’VE HEARD THAT BEFORE!” Haven’t you heard these platitudes a thousand times before?

    Kids spend half the day affirming how special they are. I am somebody! I can do anything! The world is my oyster!

    Personally, I think it’s a creepy and cynical thing to do. We ought to be honest with people. You can do some things and have a happy life, but there are other things you probably can’t do. Most of you are never going to be a nuclear scientist, an NFL quarterback or a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet.

    No one wants to state the obvious because it involves making fun of both Melania and Michelle, but the fact is: It’s impossible to “plagiarize” meaningless twaddle.

    Obviously, Melania’s speechwriter didn’t think up those words — and neither did Michelle’s. You can hear the same thing at any third-rate college commencement, at Orientation Day at Excel academies, at motivational speakers’ corporate events, and right now, in the greeting card aisle of your local Rite Aid.

    Not even Hallmark cards could claim authorship because there were probably caveman drawings with rainbows that said, “You can achieve anything you set your mind to!”

    If I were giving a speech and suddenly burst into, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets …” you’d have a right to say, “Um — Ann, did you write that part about fighting on the beaches yourself?

    But if I say: “The only limit to your achievement is your dreams!” no one can claim the rights to those words because they’re insipid nothings.

    No one invented “the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams,” anymore than I invented “Hey — how you doing?” There’s nothing there! These are phrases designed to allow you to make sounds while moving your mouth.

    People who wanted to hate Melania thought her speech was godawful, and the ones who like her thought it was awesome and are now requesting copies of the speech to use at the office.

    But all that actually happened was: Melania Trump gave a typical first lady speech.

    I can’t remember a first lady speech that was memorable. In fact, it would take me a week to think of any convention speech that was memorable. I’ll see your “the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams” and raise you, “I LOVE YOU, WOMEN!” (Ann Romney, 2012 Republican Convention.)

    Some people like this stuff. There’s a reason we have a greeting card business.

    The media wanted a catastrophe the first night of the Republican National Convention because they’d already written the chyrons for it. Unfortunately, the fact that Melania gave a typically banal first lady speech was the best they got, so MSNBC just powered through with “an attitude of gratitude” realizing that “satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment.” I wrote those myself.

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-journal...-speech-trite/
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  10. #10
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    To me the worst part of her speech was those three or four sentences they claim were similar to Michelle Obama's. My advice to Trumps, stay as far away from anything "Obama" as you possibly can. It's all poison.

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