Joe Biden:
Joe Biden: The vice president was forced to withdraw from the 1988 presidential race over allegations of plagiarism. Many parts of Biden’s speeches on the trail, as Maureen Dowd of the New York Times reported, were lifted from the unsuccessful run of British politician Neil Kinnock of the Labor Party against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Revelations followed that Biden took parts of his speeches from Robert Kennedy, JFK and Hubert Humphrey.
Former Republican contender Ben Carson got off scott-free:
BuzzFeed found that Carson lifted from other works without up-front attribution in his 2012 book "America the Beautiful": In one instance, Carson cites wholesale from an old website that has been online since at least 2002, Socialismsucks.net.
In another example, he plagiarizes from two authors whose works he mentions in passing at earlier points in the book: Cleon Skousen, a conservative historian who died in 2006, and Bill Federer, another conservative historian, who Carson thanks in the acknowledgements for helping get his book published.
Nor is Donald free of such accusations. But in his alternate universe, he doesn't recognize that's what not okay for others is not okay for him.
On the campaign trail, Trump once touted his record of not plagiarizing material. Last summer, when Vice President Joe Biden was considering a presidential bid, Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that he liked his chances against the veteran Democrat.
"I think I'd match up great," Trump said. "I'm a job producer. I've had a great record. I haven't been involved in plagiarism. I think I would match up very well against him."
In the grand scheme of things, Melania's oops may be a grain of sand. There are many other reasons Americans won't be impressed by her, not the least of which is that who could possibly identify with her or relate to her? Her life bears no resemblance to the life of other American women.
