# The Republican national Convention **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 18, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729 "2016-06-18T21:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/261 "2016-07-19T05:27:04Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Then you should have no trouble finding speeches from other presidential candidate wives that have the same boiler plate word for word. We’ll wait while you find those. > [@splatterpunk](#): > > Then you should have no problem whatsoever citing other convention speakers who have used these same words. > > Cite? > > ETA: Wow! Ninja’d. Two posters, expressing the same sentiment, yet they managed to use different words(except for the first five words - that’s just shameless plagiarizing) How can this be possible? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/262 "2016-07-19T05:27:28Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > …I’m still pretty sure a speechwriter is going to end up in a metal barrel at the bottom of the Cuyahoga. Hard to get stuff to sink into the Cuyahoga. May have to dig. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/263 "2016-07-19T05:27:33Z")
[Split-screen video of the two speeches.](https://twitter.com/mikehearn/status/755260215021432832/video/1) Damn. But sure, it’s just boilerplate that anybody would have come up with. Mmhmm. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/264 "2016-07-19T05:28:28Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Then you should have no trouble finding speeches from other presidential candidate wives that have the same boiler plate word for word. 1. I didn’t say other candidate wives have said the same thing. And… 2. Melania’s comments, while admittedly quite similar, were not word for word. Excerpts in this very thread demonstrate that. To wit, from **Lord Feldon’s** post: > [@](#): > > Melania Trump, 2016 convention speech: “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.” > > Michelle Obama, 2008 convention speech: “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.” > > Good job GOP. > > Edit: More. > > Melania: “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.” > > Michelle: "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. " However, in going back over the similarities as I was posting them, I now think that Melania may well have used Michelle’s comments as a starting point with idea being to improve upon them. Which to my mind, she did. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/265 "2016-07-19T05:29:42Z")
To improve a thing by not changing it any! Wow, that is so Zen! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/266 "2016-07-19T05:31:38Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > However, in going back over the similarities as I was posting them, I now think that Melania may well have used Michelle’s comments as a starting point with idea being to improve upon them. Which to my mind, she did. 😃 Good fucking God, if I tried that sort of shit in college, I’d be slapped back to high school. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/267 "2016-07-19T05:33:41Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Good fucking God, if I tried that sort of shit in college, I’d be slapped back to high school. You obviously didn’t attend Trump University. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/268 "2016-07-19T05:35:07Z")
Wait. You had to graduate high school to go to Trump University? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/269 "2016-07-19T05:35:33Z")
I have to say…I’m not a conspiratorial type of person, but all this just seems too obvious to me. It was going to be found out. If you don’t wanna get caught, you don’t plagiarize stuff like that. But I can’t figure out who or why they are doing this. ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/270 "2016-07-19T05:37:59Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > 1. I didn’t say other candidate wives have said the same thing. And… > > 2. Melania’s comments, while admittedly quite similar, were not word for word. Excerpts in this very thread demonstrate that. To wit, from **Lord Feldon’s** post: > > However, in going back over the similarities as I was posting them, I now think that Melania may well have used Michelle’s comments as a starting point with idea being to improve upon them. Which to my mind, she did. 😃 Yeah, she improved upon them by dropping the part about respecting people you disagree with. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/271 "2016-07-19T05:38:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Good fucking God, if I tried that sort of shit in college, I’d be slapped back to high school. If i found the same level of similarity between a student’s essay and another source, the student would fail the paper, and would be reported to the Dean for academic dishonesty. And the Dean would have absolutely no problem upholding the penalty. I’ve failed student papers for considerably less. I’m not especially surprised, though, that **Starving Artist** has about the same cavalier attitude to plagiarism as he does to evidence. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/272 "2016-07-19T05:39:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It was going to be found out. If you don’t wanna get caught, you don’t plagiarize stuff like that. But I can’t figure out who or why they are doing this. Professional speech writers would never plagiarize like that. But the Trump team is made up of amateurs with no experience that Ivanka happens to like. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/273 "2016-07-19T05:43:47Z")
If they recycled some of Nancy Reagan’s lines they could have somehow spun it as some kind of tribute. But plagiarizing a speech from Obama’s wife is an out and out disaster any way you slice it. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/274 "2016-07-19T05:45:18Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > MSNBC is now reporting that a source is saying that Melania wrote her own speech or at least had a heavy hand in it. I have no idea if this is true. Melania told Matt Lauer in an interview that she wrote the speech herself so she only had to practice it once. The entire interview hasn’t aired yet but the speech part was an advance clip and is available online: > **[WATCH: Melania Trump Said She Mostly Wrote RNC Speech Herself](https://heavy.com/news/2016/07/melania-trump-plagiarized-plagiarism-speech-rnc-michelle-obama-republican-national-convention-wrote-herself-video-watch/)** > > After charges of plagiarism surfaced on social media, a video emerged of Melania Trump saying she wrote her RNC speech mostly herself. Watch. Sorry for the clumsy link, I’m on a tablet. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/275 "2016-07-19T05:50:05Z")
You know Donald had to approve of this speech lifting. Poor Melania, I actually thought she did rather well with the delivery. But what really amazes me about her is her ability to keep her lunch down when Donald gets amorous. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/276 "2016-07-19T05:51:28Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Hard to get stuff to sink into the Cuyahoga. May have to dig. Never know. The river may just burn it up. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/277 "2016-07-19T05:51:56Z")
So, they just left that whole rules fight right there? Colorado walks out, and now, here’s Scott Baio? Is there a line on tomorrow’s program “Fix Yesterday’s Clusterfuck”? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/278 "2016-07-19T05:52:46Z")
> [@rock\_party](#): > > You know Donald had to approve of this speech lifting. Poor Melania, I actually thought she did rather well with the delivery. But what really amazes me about her is her ability to keep her lunch down when Donald gets amorous. She just lies back and thinks of the pre-nup. Not realizing that Donald will stiff her like he’s never stiffed her before. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/279 "2016-07-19T05:53:05Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > Professional speech writers would never plagiarize like that. But the Trump team is made up of amateurs with no experience that Ivanka happens to like. I want to think that, but somehow, I almost feel like he really wants to prove his “I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and the poll numbers won’t change” (or whatever it was exactly he said) right. Like he’s purposely antagonizing. I suppose I must be overthinking it, but it just all feels off to me. I mean, it could also be an insider in his campaign wanting to sabotage it, or, hell, maybe he himself wanting to sabotage his own campaign (unlikely), but I’m just having difficulty believing that someone on a presidential campaign would have that much hubris to pass off a plagiarized speech. It sincerely feels like trolling and seeing what you can get away with. I’m not saying my thoughts are logical, but that’s the feeling I get, like when I was a kid seeing how much shit I can get away with that people said I couldn’t get away with. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/280 "2016-07-19T05:53:53Z")
> [@rock\_party](#): > > You know Donald had to approve of this speech lifting. Poor Melania, I actually thought she did rather well with the delivery. But what really amazes me about her is her ability to keep her lunch down when Donald gets amorous. She grits her teeth and thinks about Slovenia. And potato. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729.md?page=15)