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Editorial
No great artists among Mrs. Trump's speech writers
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
The quote "good artists imitate; great artists steal" has been widely attributed to Pablo Picasso.
It's also been credited to everyone from Steve Jobs to T.S. Eliot and Igor Stravinsky.
When it comes to speech writing, however, Melania Trump's scribes are not being praised as great artists following her speech Monday night to the Republican National Convention.
A side-by-side comparison of transcripts of Mrs. Trump's speech and Michelle Obama's 2008 address to the Democratic National Convention show a number of passages apparently lifted directly.
We wouldn't be surprised, however, to find the same or similar passages in previous speeches by other dignitaries, should enough time be spent Googling the words.
In light of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's credibility issues, it's doubtful Mrs. Trump's talk will qualify for the "speechgate" label.
Plus, Mrs. Obama's husband's second in command might have been elected president in 1988, had he not lifted almost an entire speech of an unsuccessful British politician.
It's not surprising to see Trump speech writers cutting corners, given the small size of his staff.
Let's hope the name-calling and scandal searches that have marked the 2016 campaign soon shift to serious discussions of substantive issues.