Political Communication blog

I don't think it is that big of deal if candidates use parts of other speeches. I do think it would be wrong to use the same exact speech. However, if they do use parts of other speeches I believe they should tell who said it first. (like "Dr. Martin Luther King once said ...") I do find it interesting that this is being made into an issue. I think that candidates should worry about their own speeches unless their opponent is talking negatively about them and they need to clarify any lies that were said by their opponents.
 

Based on this speech-stealing claim and Julie's attack ad post, it looks like Hillary is going more negative against Obama.

As for the speech stealing claim, I tend to agree that issues are discussed by both candidates, so it is hard for me to believe that this is theft of speeches.

It seems to me that Hillary's desperation is beginning to show.
 

How many times have we heard "I have a dream...?" There are many instances of speech stealing. It seems popular, in politics, to take someone something someone else has said and try to make it yours. What Barack did, however, was to take (verbatim) a speech used by another politician recently, and try to make it his own. To me, it goes against any originality that he may have. He should have acknowledged the governor who originally gave the speech, at least! I feel that it was a bad judgement call on Obama's part.
 

You know, if they worked the first time, why not use them again. It's not wrong to capitalize on what others have said. I think it actually helps punctuate ideas...especially if the original was given by a well-respected person. Using an entire speech would be wrong, but parts, not so bad.
 

I think if he had quoted the other politician it would have been fine, but to lift a whole section and take it as your own - that's wrong, it's lying and it's what got Bill Clinton in trouble (I did not have sex with that woman), the elder George Bush (no new taxes) and Ronald Reagan (the Iran-Contra fiasco). The politicians/people we remember as truly great Abraham Lincoln (Gettysburg address), CHurchill (we have nothing to fear but fear itself) were great because they spent hours writing and re-writing thier speeches...King's "I have a dream quote" wasn't even in the original draft of the speech he made it up while he was on stage I think. The great ones capture the heart of the nation with their words, everybody else hires speech writers. Maybe what Obama is really guilty of is being an ordinary candidate who can't live up to the media hype. I would think that when you get in pressure situations to constantly be "creating" news it would look pretty darn good to just grab somebody else's stuff and go. I don't condone it, I think he just got caught without his halo on. But this probably helps the Clinton campaign by putting the question in people's head - is this guy the real deal or not.