Trump campaign won't admit truth, Plagiarized GOP enemy Michelle Obama's speech. Who's lying Now?

So, it was plagiarized.

Melania Trump may not be running for office, but her role in the presidential campaign is important, especially to Donald Trump. What his campaign does is therefore important and a reflection of what a Trump presidency might be like in office. Lying and stealing just got a pass by Republican voters.

Plagiarism is a big deal to the right wing, who have made it their business to remind every Democrat of the time they lifted comments without attribution. Scott Walker trashed his Democratic opponent Mary Burke for supposed plagiarism when the person writing her jobs plan copied his own previous work.

Walker: “She’s not the candidate, so I’ll give her deference and let them explain staff or otherwise. Donald Trump is the candidate."

Eric Trump claims Time Travel: My head hurts now....

Stolen Passages: Imagine Melania giving attribution to Michelle Obama at the convention. Not happening. Melania's speech turned up 23 matches according to "TurnitIn." Only 16 are needed to create the likelihood that a match is coincidental is less than 1 in a trillion. Yikes.

But now we know Michelle Obama was a major influence to Melania, word for word. Politico:

The Trump campaign emails: "Meredith McIver, an in-house staff writer from the Trump Organization, has released a statement ... McIver's statement, which says the Trump family "rejected" her offer (to resign) ...

The statement reads: "My name is Meredith McIver and I’m an in-house staff writer ... "In working with Melania Trump on her recent First Lady speech, we discussed many people who inspired her ... A person she has always liked is Michelle Obama. "Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama's speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech. I did not check Mrs. Obama's speeches. That was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant. Mr. Trump told me that people make innocent mistakes and that we learn and grow from these experiences.

But the Trump campaign's cover up just made it worse, showing voters how a little rephrasing can avoid ever taking any responsibility.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo grilled Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort aboutthe undeniable plagiarism in Melania Trump’s RNC speech. But instead of simply acknowledging that part of Melania’s speech was lifted from Michelle Obama and moving on, Manafort repeatedly refused to admit any impropriety had occurred.

“As far as we’re concerned, there are similar words that were used. But the feelings of those words and the commonality of those words do not create a situation where we feel we have to agree [that plagiarism occurred]. You want to have that opinion, fine.”

Walker Plagiarizes old Madison Joke to nation!!!

Our presidential wannabee Scott Walker just ripped off, plagiarized,  the old Gov. Lee Dreyfus dig at Madison, "77 square miles surrounded by reality."

Likely presidential contender Scott Walker came to Washington on Friday, then proceeded to dismiss the nation’s capital as “68 square miles surrounded by reality.”

Will this make "stand with Walker" voters get out the old Mary Burke "plagiarized" signs again?

Walker plagiarizes Gov. Rick Snyder's Right-to-Work "distraction" ploy.

After a massive campaign by outraged conservative voters to portray Scott Walker's challenger Mary Burke as a plagiarist, our clueless governor came out swinging with a wonderfully plagiarized talking point used by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. "Right-to-work is not a priority..." is even getting major media attention, an oddity to say the least. Pic from the WSJ.

Our incidental governor will probably sign a bill into law in a heartbeat out of shear frustration, just to get it off the table so he can continue to focus on jobs, jobs, and his job to become president.

And when you hear Sen. Scott Fitzgerald talk about how much he's asked about right-to-work from voters, like Diane Hendricks below, it's easy who he's rubbing shoulders with:

William Jones, a UW-Madison history professor, cited comments Walker made to Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, a prominent GOP donor, in January 2011. Hendricks had asked Walker whether lawmakers could make Wisconsin a “completely red state” and “become a right-to-work (state).” Walker replied that the “first step” was public employee unions, “because you use divide and conquer.”

“I think it’s clear that he supports this type of thing,” Jones said.

The MO is the same too, as GOP governors basically retaliate against their opponents when huge crowds of protesters turn out. A kind of "lesson" they're trying to teach us, the rabble and uninformed.

Gov. Snyder had repeatedly said right-to-work legislation was a divisive issue, wasn’t a priority for him, and was not on his agenda. Then he signed the Michigan bill in December 2012, the same day the measure passed in the GOP-controlled statehouse, which was filled with protesters.

Walker sponsored a right-to-work bill as a freshman Assembly member in 1993. But he has said in recent months, and repeated Friday, that he would prefer lawmakers focus on his priorities, such as cutting taxes, expanding school choice, and passing a state budget.

Walker/Kleefisch Plagiarism Scandal!!! "Open for Business" lifted from a big campaign supporter.

One more look at "not" plagiarism, the mindless reason why "stand with Walker" voters hate Mary Burke.

It appears the biggest most important slogan used by Scott Walker was plagiarized from one of his biggest supporters and a former Democratic governor:

WSJ: On her campaign website, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch says she is “widely credited” with coming up with the phrase, “Wisconsin is Open for Business.” So did Kleefisch engage in “plagiarism,” the same tag that Republicans have hung on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke over her jobs plan? Kleefisch sidestepped the question, saying you can find “open for business” signs in any home-improvement store. “I don’t think the idea of ‘open for business’ ... is something that any politician would ever have claimed to have invented,” she said. But the biography section of her campaign website reads: “Widely credited for coining the phrase, ‘Wisconsin is Open for Business.’

Oops. Both Kleefisch and Walker appear to have plagiarized others, including super villain and the guy Walker can’t stop blaming for everything, former Gov. Jim Doyle:

But her boss, Gov. Scott Walker, used the exact phrase in his inaugural address Jan. 3, 2011: “And as your governor, I make this pledge: Wisconsin is open for business. Even earlier, former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle was quoted using the precise phrasing in 2005. And Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, a major backer of the campaign of Kleefisch and Walker, used the identical phrase in an advertising campaign more than a decade ago. Moreover, variations on the phrase have been used by politicians and states — including New Jersey, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia — to describe their own pro-business policies for at least two decades.

The article went on to say the debate was silly, quoting a few university professors, but isn't that what should have been said before Republicans got so much mileage out it? 

The College Republicans target women with stylish "Tim Scott" dress, made from new ideas!!!

The following surreal College Republican ad campaign inadvertently plays off the current controversy over the supposed plagiarized elements of Democratic governor candidate Mary Burke. It touts all the "new ideas" pouring out of the GOP governors nationwide. The GOP would never think of using the same add everywhere. Oops...see pic to right.

You might say they're "dressing up" an aging agenda that isn't working. It's a humorous attempt to save endangered GOP governors who've failed miserably with their "new ideas," like Scott Walker.

It appears there was a "Yes to the Dress"-themed ad planned for Gov. Scott Walker, but the public may not get to see it.

Ironic too is the fact that no one has asked Scott Walker to point out the new ideas he's brought to the table that won't break the budget and will create jobs and new businesses. 

Gov. Sam Brownback was asked that very question. You'll be shocked at his honesty and fairly redundant answer:

This is jaw dropping fantasy that more than anything challenges the media to ask Republican candidates what unique new ideas are in their plans. Trolls, any help? We'll be fact checking:

jsonline: The College Republican National Committee cut ads for a number of GOP candidates for governor that plays off the TLC reality show. In the ads — which some critics have panned as bizarre and sexist — a young woman tries on a dress that has the same name as a GOP candidate, saying it is perfect because the candidate "has new ideas that don't break your budget."

Walker Troll disproves Burke's Plagiarism, inadvertently points out Walker's own implementation failure.

Thanks to one conservative troll, I was able to finally shoo her back into her cave-like "stand with Walker" bubble.

The pictured tweets from LizSchmidt3 attempts to make the ridiculous claim Mary Burke said she wrote the whole thing. And to prove her point, she gave me a link to a Marquette University interview Burke had with Mike Gousha.

Apparently LizSchmidt3 didn't watch even the first 5 minutes, because Burke not only didn't say she wrote the plan herself, but time after time gave credit to all the people that contributed ideas to the plan. It doesn't just prove the plan wasn't plagiarized, but it shows Burke justifying the use of so many other great ideas.

Burke: "You know I don't believe that just because someone else or another group did a report that I need to start from scratch, and not build on some of the good ideas that have already been developed.

Burke also owns the plan, since she paid individuals for their contributions. But like my conservative friend in Milwaukee, LizSchmidt3 can't mentally get past the easy but phony disproven talking point.

EVEN BIGGER: Burke also criticized Walker for his failed implementation, an idea we just saw repeated in the Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States list, where they wrote this about Wisconsin's dismal 46th place ranking:

We generally find a governor with a significant lack of concern, business knowledge, or an inability to manage their economic development efforts. Rhetoric alone does not make a governor pro-business and pro-jobs. Among these bottom-ranked states are some that have such weak or non-existent programs, or are so inept in their procedures that they are pushing jobs out of their states.

Scott Walker set the divisive condescending tone even before he was governor. Think about it; if you had a decent economic plan, would you turn it into a massively unfunny joke to bash your opponent DPW wrote: 

Scott Walker’s (4 page)“job plan” was a 68-page joke written in 100-point font, meant to mock Tom Barrett’s very serious and very thoughtful plan to restore economic security to working Wisconsin families. 

I looked through the "plan." See if you can spot any thoughtful, original idea’s here that aren't part of the party platform and are not already enacted in other Republican states. I couldn't. I've added my comments in quotes:

Six things we must do to make Wisconsin economically competitive with other states: Lower Taxes (Repealing job-killing tax increases-GOP platform-plagiarized)   …   Eliminate Red Tape (streamline the permitting process-plagiarized)   …   End Frivolous Lawsuits That Kill Jobs (cliché much-plagiarized)   …   Improve the Education of Tomorrow’s Workforce-(plagiarized)   …   Make Health Care Affordable-(privatization-plagiarized) … Invest in Infrastructure-(a common GOP lie-plagiarized)   …   Lift Wisconsin’s nuclear moratorium-(failed, prohibitively expensive and a plant closed down due to no interested buyers-still pushing bad plagiarized nuke idea).

That’s it folks. It’s a plagiarized 4 pager taken from the party platform written by other people presented as the state economic plan 4 pages long that Walker expanded into 68 pages...as a joke. You can't make this stuff up?

By the way, I watched Upfront with Mike Gousha and didn't hear John Nichols say what Burke did wasn't plagiarism, a simple message Democrats are so bad at delivering.

In reaction to this story, the troll trash hit the twittersphere with what they oddly refer to as "debate?" Never once do they address the issues presented here, and never once do they show us they have a clue about business strategies and owning what you pay for, like advice that beats the pants of Walker's partisan political ramblings:
 

Walker Campaign's "Wisconsin Comeback" plagiarizes not just Gov. Brownback's phony Kansas Comeback, but so many others!!!

Mary Burke has a few of the same economic proposals that other Democratic candidates have endorsed as a party platform...and that's bad.

Scott Walker has the same economic proposals that other Republican candidates have endorsed as a party platform...and that's good.

So the media is going after Burke. Got it. (UPDATE at bottom)

I'm simply amazed at how much life the jsonline reporters are giving these non-plagiarized sections of Mary Burke's proposed economic model. They have not held Walker's most unoriginal tax cut, corporate welfare, supply side agenda to the same standard. The Borg-like Republican politicians are never asked why their plans always mirror so many other candidates in states everywhere.

And never mind Burke's economic plan, Burke used the same words, end of story.

1. Fact: Scott Walker and his one party authority haven't had an original idea in 4 decades.

2. Fact: Scott Walker and the Republicans simply reworded the same old ideas they've pushed for 4 decades, something they're bashing Burke for not doing herself.

The thing is, it never occurred to Democrats to beat up opponents for their cut and paste plagiarism for vouchers, private insurance markets, tort reform, deregulation, think tank legislation, ALEC, identical red state agendas, same restrictive Planned Parenthood legislation, same tax cuts, same voter ID legislation like Indiana's because it passed Supreme Court muster, etc. It's just so much phony outrage.

Ironically, it was Journal Sentinel's Jason Stein that alerted me to the most blatant plagiarism yet, and the center of Walker's whole last minute campaign. See if the this sounds vaguely familiar:

Oops, how did that bottom picture get in there? Sorry about that, we were talking about "comebacks," right? As you can see below, Scott Walker plagiarized Gov. Sam Brownback's Kansas Comeback campaign.

WALKER'S PLAGIARISM WORD FOR WORD

Isn't it time Walker admits his mistake, and announces that he will not "comeback" for a second term?











From Walker's infamous "hole" ad:

My opponent criticizes the Wisconsin Comeback - she wants to undo our reforms and create another hole. Instead let's keep moving Wisconsin forward.

Heck, Walker and Brownback weren't the only one's plagiarizing the "comeback" campaign. Behold the long list of plagiarists:

UPDATE: Tues-The news media is catching up, but not before the Republicans got the mileage they wanted. The following should force Walker to resign, and voters should note former Gov. Tommy Thompson came right out and admitted he would (rewrite) ALEC legislation as a way to disguise what we're now calling plagiarism (policy isn't plagiarism):

Walker argued (in 2010) that a sign of his frugality was that he eats his lunch out of a brown paper bag every day. But Ohio Republican George Voinovich, being advised by the same New Hampshire consulting firm as Walker, tried the same approach in a Senate race 12 years earlier.

Shortly after he left office, former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson in 2002 spoke to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative group that proposes model legislation for state lawmakers to push back home. “I always loved going to these meetings because I always found new ideas,” Thompson said. “Then I’d take them back to Wisconsin, disguise them a little bit, and declare that ‘It’s mine.’”