Rand Paul’s ‘Gattaca’ Speech Came From Wikipedia [Video]
During a recent stump speech, Senator Rand Paul used the 1997 science fiction film Gattaca to make a point about reproductive choice, and that would have been weird enough if he hadn’t lifted chunks of his speech directly from the Wikipedia entry about the movie.
Paul appeared at Liberty College to give a boost to Ken Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial campaign which has been suffering due to interloping from Rick Santorum’s “strikeforce” fundraising campaign and bizarre claims from reality TV show star Jim Bob Duggar.
Though Cuccinelli’s opponent Terry McAuliffe is probably feeling pretty comfortable, Paul’s speech ought to seal the deal for him. The Kentucky Senator, though quite popular, seems to suffer from a strange “every-other” type flaw in that he does something amazing which draws massive bipartisan support among observers, but then shoots it all to heck with the next thing he does. Amazing, crapshoot, amazing, crapshoot, wash, rinse and repeat.
This one was a crapshoot.
During his speech, Paul said that people in favor of reproductive choice are not unlike the “evil autocratic state” portrayed in the sci-fi cult film. At some point, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow apparently noticed that chunks of Paul’s speech sounded familiar.
After Wikipedia-ing Gattaca, she understood why.
“Rand Paul’s speech today was totally ripped off of Wikipedia,” Maddow said on her program Monday. She then read the online description of the film’s plot, and played Paul’s own speech, showing a near-perfect match.
Aside from the apparent plagiarism, Maddow also took issue with Paul’s argumentation. “Seriously, that’s the argument: people who are pro-choice want to start practicing Nazi-style eugenics in America,” Maddow said. “Or, at least, Gattaca-style eugenics. So therefore, vote for Ken Cuccinelli.”
Rand Paul’s office did not respond to requests for comment, but something tells me he’s not likely to suffer any repercussions for the speech. Ken Cuccinelli, on the other hand…
[h/t – RawStory]
