Republican caught plagiarising Barack Obama speech

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 26 (ANI): A Republican candidate in rural Idaho has been accused of plagiarizing one of President Barack Obama’s famous speeches.

Vaughn Ward, a former US Marine Corps officer and CIA operative who served in Iraq, is seeking the GOP Congressional nomination.

According to The Telegraph, his campaign biography states that he “spent most of his years on the family farm in Shoshone, Idaho” and had “developed his strong work ethic and learned the value of dependability” from that time.

But Lucas Baumbach, a local party activist, produced a YouTube video that suggested Ward derived greater influence from Obama, the Harvard-educated Democrat currently occupying the White House.

The video shows Obama addressing the 2004 Democratic National Convention with the words: “We stand on the crossroads of history. We can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us.”

It then cuts to Ward speaking in January and saying: “As we stand on the crossroads of history, I know we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that lay before us.”

There were several other close similarities between the two speeches.

A spokesman for Ward said the furore over the video was much ado about nothing. (ANI)

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US politician caught plagiarising Obama speech

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 26 (IANS) A Republican congressional candidate has been accused of plagiarising US President Barack Obama’s speech on ‘the crossroads of history’.

Vaughn Ward, a former US Marine Corps officer and CIA operative, was running for the Republican congressional nomination in an election held Tuesday in Idaho.

The Telegraph reported Wednesday that Lucas Baumbach, a local party activist, tracked down a YouTube video that showed a strong similarity between Ward’s speech in January and Obama’s address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Obama said: ‘We stand on the crossroads of history. We can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us.’

Ward said: ‘As we stand on the crossroads of history, I know we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that lay before us.’

There were a few more striking similarities between the two speeches.

Ward’s spokesperson, however, said: ‘Folks are getting desperate-they’re saying anything to get Vaughn to go after him. If anyone thinks he’s anything like Obama, they’re dead wrong.’

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Two polls suggest conservative Tea Party going mainstream

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, Apr.7 (ANI): Two new polls suggest that the conservative ‘Tea Party’ movement might be going mainstream.

A Rasmussen poll released Monday found more Americans identify with the Tea Party groups than with President Obama, Fox News reports.

According to the survey, 48 percent of voters said the average Tea Party activist is more aligned with their views on major issues than the president.

Forty-four percent said Obama’s views are closer to theirs.

That came on top of a USA Today/Gallup poll that found more than a quarter of Americans affiliate themselves with the Tea Party movement.

The poll of 1,033 adults, conducted March 26-28, found 28 percent of people call themselves Tea Party supporters, while 26 percent call themselves opponents.

The survey also found that any one demographic group does not disproportionately dominate Tea Party supporters.

The characteristics of Tea Party supporters-in age, education, income and race-roughly follow the characteristics of the nation as a whole.

The Gallup poll had a margin of error of four percentage points, while the Rasmussen poll of 1,000 voters had a margin of error of three percentage points. (ANI)

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Ashok Chavan defends Civil Supplies Minister Sattar involved in brawl

March 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Mar 22 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Monday defended Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Abdul Sattar terming the brawl by him on a Congress party worker as a matter of no national importance.

“This is not a national issue. It”s not important,” said Chavan.

Chavan, however, said he would seek a report on the incident when the opposition raised the issue in the state assembly.

Maharashtra leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse criticized the act and demanded an apology from Sattar.

Abdul Sattar had on Sunday bashed up Mohammed Mushtaq, a Congress party activist during a meeting of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Pragati Aghadi for the Aurangabad municipal polls.

Mushtaq was not just assaulted by Sattar, but by his personal assistant as well when he confronted the minister on being denied a party ticket.

Sattar, however, did not tender an apology for his act.

“He threatened and abused me. Even if I am a minister, there is a limit to tolerating such behaviour. I am human after all. I do not know him at all. He suddenly attacked me demanding a ticket. I haven”t even decided yet,” said Sattar. (ANI)

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