Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during the Values Voter Summit held by the Family Research Council Action in Washington.NASHVILLE – For days now, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has sought to dismiss criticism over similarities between his speeches and material on Wikipedia, accusing “footnote police” and “hacks and haters” of unfairly criticizing him.
There are reasons he’s been speaking out: in the long run, allegations of plagiarism could be used against him in a presidential campaign, and, in the short term, castigating his critics, particularly on the left, could fire up his loyal backers – and donors.
It all began last week when MSNBC host Rachel Maddow accused the senator of lifting passages about the 1997 science fiction film “Gattaca” from the movie’s Wikipedia entry when he made a speech on Oct. 28 supporting Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli. The passages are similar, with only a few words changed here and there.
Then the website Buzzfeed reported that a Paul speech in June describing the movie “Stand and Deliver” also included substantial similarities to its Wikipedia entry, and late-night comics – such as Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” – poked at him.
Questioned last week about the matter, Paul initially downplayed the allegations. He told the Fusion television network that he had given proper credit to the film’s writers.