US Democratic Senator and presidential hopeful Joe Biden has recently managed to attract quite a bit of attention online thanks to the speech he delivered upon accepting his party's nomination for the upcoming election.
“Let us begin you and I together, one nation under God. United in our love for America. United in our love for each other," HuffPost quotes Biden as saying. "For love is more powerful than hate, hope is more powerful than fear and light is more powerful than dark."
The media outlet points out, however, that the presidential candidate's words appeared quite similar to those of the late Jack Layton, former leader of Canada's New Democratic Party.
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world", Layton wrote in the final part of an open letter he penned mere days before his death, which was later released by his family.
Judge for yourself. Keep in mind these are Jack Layton’s famous last words... Did #JoeBiden plagiarize?#Biden Vs. #JackLayton @ #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/49rbeOxXDO
— 𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔩 (@AngelWest) August 22, 2020
Many social media users did not seem to appreciate this apparent similarity, some of them openly accusing Biden of plagiarism.
He’s an known plagiarist . Disgusting new low this .
— CaliRebe🇺🇸 (@CaliRebelRebe) August 22, 2020
Yeah Biden plagiarizing Layton's speech and regurgitating his own speech... I'm done with the left.#WalkAway #WalkAwayFromDemocrats
— PhillieCheesie (@philliechan) August 23, 2020
Hahahahahaha Joe is good at plagiarizing. He’s had a lot of practice 🤣
— Mike G 🇺🇸 (@TheRealMikeGi) August 22, 2020
There were also those, however, who argued that Biden's move was intentional, as the anniversary of Layton's death (22 August) was this weekend.
I thought it was intentional and really appreciated the message. Also, I believe yesterday was the 9th anniversary of Jack Layton's death. pic.twitter.com/MyEYH18m6g
— Doug Hall (@DougHallPhD) August 23, 2020
