Illinois state senator plagiarizes JFK blatantly, uses no-one-would-be-this-dumb defense

Behold the comparisons between President Kennedy’s famous June 11, 1963 speech on civil rights and a recent floor speech by Illinois State Senator John Noland, in support of civil unions.

Noland, or whatever aide crafted this asinine attempt pull one over—at wakes, do they deliver the Gettysburg Address?—apparently had a sense of humor to go along with his gall.

What else can explain how Kennedy’s conclusion, “we are confronted primarily with a moral issue” became Noland’s claim 47 years later, “we are at long last confronted with a moral issue.”

More than one, I’d say.

“Admittedly, there are similarities between the two speeches and in retrospect it obviously would have been better for me to acknowledge the Kennedy speech when I delivered my own speech on the floor of the Senate,” Noland said.

But he added that, “I did not copy the speech and claim it as my own work. No one could expect to do that successfully with such a famous speech.”

Ah, the old, no-one-would-do-something-this-dumb defense. An oldie, but a goodie—kind of like Kennedy’s speech, on civil rights.

—DM