Watch The Daily Show mock Rand Paul over his apparent plagiarism

(Image credit: Comedy Central)

last updated 8 January 2015

On Thursday night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart took a hard look at the plagiarism allegations against Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) In case you haven't been following the Rand Paul scandal, Stewart walked us through the highlights.

First, Paul was accused of reciting whole portions of Wikipedia articles nearly verbatim in some speeches. Stewart played the audio of one of those speeches under the apparently pilfered text from a Wikipedia entry on the movie Gattaca. "OK, I'm going to pretend here that the thing we're supposed to be concerned about is that Rand Paul is copying from Wikipedia and not that he's warning Americans about the role of government by referencing an Ethan Hawke movie," Stewart said.

Paul's initial defense was that 98 percent of his speeches are extemporaneous — or just 2 percent plagiarized, Stewart joked — and that unlike books and articles, speeches don't have footnotes. "The problem is that it doesn't just end with speeches," Stewart said, noting that whole sections of Paul's latest book appear to have been lifted verbatim from a Forbes article and reports from conservative think tanks.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

And then, yes, Stewart noted the Washington Times column where Paul borrowed heavily from an article in The Week. The allegations were enough to cost Paul his Washington Times column, but Stewart said the more troubling part was the senator's petulance at being caught. His imitation of a huffy toddler is pretty amusing. (The Week's Dan Stewart responds to apparently being plagiarized by Paul here)

After running through the disturbing ways Incognito has harassed Martin, and the NFL players' response to the allegations (essentially: Martin's being a sissy), Stewart brought out correspondents John Oliver, Jason Jones, and Al Madrigal for a new segment: T.D.S.O.S. The three members of the Best F@#king News Team Ever run through some dos and don'ts for workplace conduct. This is easily the funniest part of the show. Watch:

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox