T.ramey.
For sure you can copy and paste a complete post.
But here is the crazy part.
Maybe somebody only saw your copied/ pasted post and took exception to it and reported it but did not bother to report the original post.
Hence your post got deleted but the original stayed.
It really does not matter the content of a post,if nobody reports it, highly unlikely it would be deleted as mods do not trawl through threads without a very good reason.
As I have said I believe just the action of a post being reported can spell its end if the mod in question does not take the time to fully read the post, the thread and it's entire import and content. Which is highly unlikely to ever happen.