Palin accused of lifting article

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-09 07:55

ANCHORAGE, Alaska: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been accused of paraphrasing at length from an article co-written by Newt Gingrich when she gave a speech, but her lawyer says proper credit was provided.

Blogger Geoffrey Dunn, who is writing a book about the former vice presidential candidate, made the accusation.

Dunn compared Palin's speech Wednesday introducing conservative talk show host Michael Reagan, son of former President Ronald Reagan, to the article urging Republicans to study Reagan, written by Gingrich and Craig Shirley in 2005.

Palin twice referenced Gingrich. Toward the beginning, she said, "Recently, Newt Gingrich, he had written a good article about Reagan."

Later, she said, "What Newt had written in this article, he wrote, 'Remember how refreshing it was with his outrageous directness that Americans loved, and praised and deserved' that Reagan dealt with, with then the troublesome Soviet Union, remember this? His vision for the Cold War? We win, they lose."

In one part of her 17-minute introduction of Michael Reagan, Palin said, "We have to remember first that Ronald Reagan never won any arguments in Washington. He won the arguments by resonating with the American people."

Gingrich and Shirley wrote in their article, "Reagan never won an argument in Washington. Reagan won his arguments in the country with the American people ..."

In another part of the speech, Palin said, "We would do so well to look back on those Reagan years as he championed the cause for freedom and then he lived it out as our president, cheerfully, persistently and unapologetically."

The 2005 article says, "Cheerful persistence rather than easy victories were the keys to Reagan's career."

(China Daily 06/09/2009 page10)