Marty: Abe, Mark, Obama, & Vaughn

Ward’s problem — with proper credit to author Sebastian Junger — was he faced a perfect storm. He’d been tagged plagiarizing material from other Republican congressional offices and campaigns for his website issue positions. Next, he was caught echoing Obama, hardly a popular figure among the Republican electorate who would decide the congressional primary election. Had the video shown him stealing Reagan’s words and had it been an isolated event, it would have been laughed off. Don’t forget the medium beyond this message. In years past, putting together a clever video that resonated with voters required someone with technical expertise and access to expensive equipment to produce it. Plus you needed money to get the spot on television. Baumbach’s effort represented the antithesis of that scenario. Video technology has become democratized. The Internet offered a free, independent means of delivering that message/ Marty Trillhaase , Lewiston Tribune . More here .

Question: Do you think most politicians crib from the speech of others?