We'll get to the matter of Melania Trump's apparently borrowed words, but first a few comments on other aspects of her speech last night at the Republican convention.

She would be a traditional kind of first lady, and, after eight years of a first lady who became a Mommie Dearest to all American children who have had the bad fortune to have to eat public school lunches during that time, that might not be such a bad thing.

She let us know that she is interested in children, and her first lady charity cause would probably revolve around children (but not making them eat kale).  John Hinderaker of Power Line was clearly blown away by Mrs. Trump:

The highlight of the evening was Melania Trump. Donald started it off by coming onstage to “We Are the Champions,” just to drive his enemies crazy. He introduced Melania briefly, and a star was born. Seriously. There may have been a teleprompter on the premises, but Melania knew her speech cold. English is not her first language, but she deployed it effectively. What came through was her steely immigrant temperament, the quality that brought her from Slovenia to New York City. If you are looking for a strong woman, she puts Hillary in the shade.

Is a wife’s vouching for her husband meaningless? Perhaps so, but Melania’s exotic quality and the fact that we have not previously heard much from her commanded attention. I think that in the eyes of most viewers, she gave Donald a real boost. The CNN commentators thought so too, with Anderson Cooper in awe and a couple of Clinton operatives trying desperately to find a negative, or at least neutral, spin.

The conventional wisdom is that a vice-presidential candidate rarely has any impact on an election. A candidate’s spouse, presumably, has much less. But we haven’t seen the last of Melania Trump. As I said, I think a star was born tonight, and we will see much more of her between now and November. Unless I am badly off the mark, she will be very popular, and not just with Republicans.

Melania mentioned her background in fashion several times and was quite elegant. I wish she hadn't joined her husband on the Howard Stern show earlier in their lives together for segments that were definitely for mature audiences. Maybe we should remember that the potential first spouse on the Democratic party also has a checkered past?  

Unfortunately, Melania Trump's speech was discovered to have chucks that were suspiciously similar to and appeared to have been lifted from Michelle Obama's 2008 address to the Democratic convention. Judge for yourself.

I remember thinking, at the time, that Mrs. Obama's speech represented more conservative values than I had associated with her. But I didn't expect to hear them recycled by a GOP wife! Even a shoestring staff should never have let this happen.

Reportedly, the Trump team  was worried that Donald Trump would hog the limelight, as he did in Sunday's 60 Minutes interview, purportedly to introduce running mate Mike Pence. This did not happen, but Trump did show up on stage silhouetted in blue. Oscar goes to Donald Trump for best special effects at a political convention.

The other woman who stole the show at last night's convention was Patricia Smith, whose son Sean Smith died during the Benghazi terrorist attack. She blames Hillary Clinton. Speaking only for myself (we are not monolithic at IWF and I am sure some of my colleagues have a different take), I thought she was fabulous.

In a blog this morning headlined "The Sudden, Short-Lived Objection to Political Speeches from Grieving Mothers," National Review's Jim Geraghty writes:

Hey, remember when grieving mothers of American men slain in battle had “absolute moral authority,” in the words of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd?

Why would Pat Smith, mother of Sean Smith, one of the four Americans killed in the attack in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, not have that same authority?

No doubt where Pat Smith's words were coming from–they were raw and straight from the heart:

My son Sean was one of four brave Americans killed during the 2012 terrorist attack at Benghazi. Sean was a wonderful son and father to my two amazing grandchildren, Samantha and Nathan, now 10 and 11. He was proud to serve his country with the United States Foreign Service.

The last time I talked to Sean, the night before the terrorist attack, he told me, “Mom, I am going to die.” All security had been pulled from the embassy, he explained. And when he asked why, he never received a response. Nobody listened. Nobody seemed to care. The very next day, he was murdered by radical Islamic terrorists.

To this day, I don’t even know why a computer guy like Sean was sent to Benghazi. That night, we lost sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands. We lost four brave Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for the country they chose to serve. And the American people lost the truth. For all of this loss, for all of this grief, for all of the cynicism the tragedy in Benghazi has wrought upon America, I blame Hillary Clinton.

I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. In an email to her daughter shortly after the attack, Hillary Clinton blamed it on terrorism. But when I saw Hillary Clinton at Sean’s coffin ceremony, just days later, she looked me squarely in the eye and told me a video was responsible.

Since then, I have repeatedly asked Hillary Clinton to explain to me the real reason why my son is dead. I’m still waiting. Whenever I called the State Department, no one would speak to me because they say I am “not a member of the immediate family.” Sean is my SON. Hillary Clinton is a woman, a mother and a grandmother of two. I am a woman, a mother and a grandmother of two. How could she do this to me? How could she do this to any American family?

Not unexpectedly, the media people tut-tutted Mrs. Smith's words, even noticing that she had gone off script and agreed with people on the floor who made remarks about Mrs. Clinton. It is so uncouth to bring up Benghazi.

What the media people forget is that, if President Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had come out the day after the attack and leveled with the American people and the grieving families at Andrews Air Force Base, there would not have been endless investigations and Mrs. Smith would  not have been speaking last night.  Of course, Mitt Romney may have been running for his second term, too.