Opinion: Blogger claims Palin pilfered a line from Gingrich -- her replacement as keynote speaker at tonight’s House-Senate GOP dinner

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The question on seemingly every blogger’s mind today: Will Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin attend tonight’s House-Senate Republican Dinner in Washington?

(UPDATE: She did attend. She didn’t speak. The crowd cheered. Gingrich graciously acknowledged her and Todd. At the same time he spoke, Fox News broadcast a taped interview with Palin. They raised nearly $15 million.)

Palin, as you may recall, was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the dinner, a joint fundraiser for the Senate and House Republican campaign committees, until she dropped out and was replaced by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

At the time, Palin said she could not commit to speaking at the dinner because of her duties as governor in Juneau.

But last week, according to the Associated Press, Palin’s advisors told organizers that the former Republican vice presidential candidate would be in Washington today – and would like to attend the dinner. The festivities are scheduled to start soon on the East Coast.

Palin was offered a seat at the head table at the event but not a speaking role -- an arrangement that Palin, a probable 2012 presidential contender, was apparently not pleased with. After a week of speculation about whether she would attend, it’s now looking likely that she will, according to the AP.

But the brouhaha isn’t finished. Over the weekend, a blogger accused Palin of plagiarizing in a recent speech.

Geoffrey Dunn, who is working on a book about Palin, wrote in the Huffington Post that in a recent speech she lifted language from a 2005 article written by – wait for it – Gingrich.

Dunn cites several similarities between Gingrich’s article and the speech, which Palin gave....

...at an Alaska event as an introduction for Michael Reagan, former President Ronald Reagan’s son.

For example, at one point in the speech, Palin said: ‘We have to remember first that Ronald Reagan never won any arguments in Washington. He won the arguments by resonating with the American people.’

That sounds an awful lot like what Gingrich (and his co-author Craig Shirley) wrote in their article: ‘Reagan never won an argument in Washington. Reagan won his arguments in the country with the American people .... ‘

A lawyer for Palin today denied the charges, saying the speech gave proper credit to the former House speaker. Palin referenced Gingrich -- another possible 2012 presidential contender -- twice during the speech. At one point, near the beginning she said that Gingrich ‘had written a good article about Reagan.’

And a spokesman for Gingrich told Politico that the former speaker had no problem with the language of Palin’s speech. “I’m thrilled if Sarah Palin used a Newt Gingrich idea from an op-ed, or speech, or column or whatever,” Rick Tyler said.

Meanwhile, you can read our colleague Elizabeth Snead’s take at The Dish Rag.

-- Kate Linthicum

Register for Twitter alerts to each new Ticket item by clicking here. Or follow us @latimestot