Plagiarism or a 'wink'? Le Pen lifts conservative's speech

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Lori Hinnant and Angela Charlton, Associated Press Updated 3:56 pm, Tuesday, May 2, 2017


PARIS (AP) — Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen lifted verbatim parts of a speech by a former rival in what her critics called plagiarism and she said was a deliberate "wink" to him to woo his conservative voters in France's presidential runoff Sunday.

The stolen words and casual reaction by Le Pen and her team marked the latest shocking development in a French presidential campaign like no other. Perhaps more surprisingly, there was little sign it would seriously damage Le Pen.
 
Polls consider her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron the front-runner in the vote, seen as a test of global populism and decisive moment for the European Union.

Le Pen borrowed from a speech delivered last month by Francois Fillon, the former Republicans party candidate, about France's important role in Europe and the world.





Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/France-s-Macron-promises-to-pass-ethics-bill-if-11113928.php

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. These types, her, Trump, Putin, Pence, Ryan and so on, are all liars

and thieves so when caught stealing they wont respond the way an honest person does.

[rurallib]

2. I would think she would have wanted to publicly credit Fillon to get his voters

rather than steal it and then try to justify it afterwards.

guilty, guilty, guilty.

[Hortensis]

3. And, "Far-left former French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mlenchon

told his supporters not to vote for far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen."

She's winking that direction also, of course, and some who reject Le Pen's liberal opponent's moderation are obviously winking back.

Foreign Policy:

Mélenchon's team urge 'not one vote for Le Pen' but stop short of backing Macron
Defeated hard-left candidate will consult with supporters on whether they should abstain, cast a blank vote or vote for Macron on 7 May.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/26/melenchons-team-urge-not-one-vote-for-le-pen-but-stop-short-of-backing-macron?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MB%205-1&utm_term=%2AMorning%20Brief

Hard-core left-wing extremists tend to reject moderates across the spectrum, but let's hope enough of the less extreme on both left and right take a lesson from what happened in the U.S. and help their nation say a big no to the rough beast.