There you go again. This was a phrase used by Ronald Reagan during his 1980 debate with Walter Mondale. It was humorous and effective. So did I just plagiarize Regan in my headline? How about quoting statistics from the CBO or making a speech written by a staffer in which he/she cut and pasted something from the Internet?
Is it really as big a deal as the media is making it that Rand Paul is accused of lifting phrases, imagery or other words from various sources in public speeches? Article after article is trying to make this to be the undoing of Rand Paul, suggesting that he is not ready for the national campaign for the presidency.
In reality this is not much different than the "patent trolls" who are suing everybody they can for using technology everybody else is already using.
In fact, it has gotten so bad in the litigation circus that a lawyer for Office Depot has threatened Reddit over the use of an Office Depot logo in a satirical piece.
This trend is being fueled not only by powerful lobbyists who sometimes seem like they control both Congress and the White House but law firms that have made this a virtual cottage industry. There are a large number of law firms on retainer to bring these actions and artists and companies that do little to limit them. The latest example was brought to light by the good people at Techdirt which posted a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) letter to Reddit informing them that they had violated copyright laws with a posting of an individual known as heisenberg69 with this image satirizing Office Depot. [Turley]
The real test for Rand is how successfully he lets this phony outrage roll off his back. As he steps up into the tougher class of competition he can expect far more eye gouging, ball busting and dirty underhanded tactics from all sides, particularly now that New Jersey Fats is in the race.
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