Rand Paul: People Who Accuse Me Of Plagiarism Are ‘Hacks And Haters’

BY CARIMAH TOWNES/Think Progress

Under fire this week for plagiarizing some of his speeches, Paul shrugged off the allegations and proclaimed that he’s being “unfairly targeted by hacks and haters.”

During a speech on the Cuccinelli campaign trail, Paul directly quoted a Wikipedia page about the movie ‘Gattaca.’ Comparing abortion to eugenics, Paul said, “In the movie ‘Gattaca’ in the not-too-distant future, eugenics is common, and DNA plays a primary role in determining your social class.” The Wikipedia article in question reads: In ‘the not-too-distant future,’ eugenics is common, and DNA plays the primary role in determining social class.

While MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow first broke the story on Monday night, additional allegations have come out this week. According to Buzzfeed author Andrew Kaczynski, an entire portion of Paul’s book, Government Bullies, was taken directly from a Heritage Foundation case study, and another Wikipedia page for the film ‘Stand and Deliver’ was quoted in an immigration speech.

On Stephanopolous’ show, Paul defended himself, arguing that he’s written “scientific papers” and knows how to quote sources. However, he admitted that he’s never footnoted thousands of his speeches, and went on to say that those accusing him, including Maddow, are “hacks and haters.”

“The spoken word shouldn’t be held to the same, sort-of, standard that you have if you’re giving a scientific paper.”

UPDATE

Paul also said he would like to challenge Rachel Maddow and other critics to a duel “if dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, you know, it would be a duel challenge. But I can’t do that, because I can’t hold office in Kentucky then.”