Michael Gaynor
Halloween message: O'Donnell's third Senate campaign in four years is melting
By Michael Gaynor
Wicked Witch of the West to Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz": "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! You cursed brat! Look what you've done !! I'm melting, melting. Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world. ..."
An emailer who had read my ""Sad but true. Christine O'Donnell will lose to Christopher Coons" (www.renewamerica.com/columns/gaynor/101026) conceded that I had "made some valid points in [my] editorial regarding Christine O'Donnell's upcoming loss and then asserted: "Christine resonates with Evangelical Christians exactly because of her outspoken faith in God.... This is what Christine O'Donnell is saying; she trusts God for her direction, and though she may actually want to win, she understands God may have other plans for the process of her run for office.... Welcome to the world of born-again, Jesus loving, Bible reading, prayerful Christianity."
Regular readers realize that I am an orthodox Catholic conservatives who appreciates "born-again, Jesus loving, Bible reading, prayerful Christianity."
That appreciation does not blind me to Christine O'Donnell's shortcomings as a Senate candidate, to her possible adverse effect on other conservative candidates (future Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey was not entrapped) or to the terrible waste of a easy opportunity for the Republicans to win a Delaware Senate seat (not to mention millions of dollars in campaign contributions that could have been better spent elsewhere if Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Laura ingraham had picked a more worthy and electable conservative to enthusiastically support).
To be sure, my views are much more in accord with O'Donnell's positions that the positions of Mike Castle, the electable Republican she beat in Delaware's Republican Senate primary.
But Karl Rove was right: Castle would have beaten Coons and helped the Republicans control the Senate and who controls the Senate is a huge deal.
President Obama's nominees require Senate confirmation. The approval of the House of Representatives is not required.
In the next Congress Obama will try to fill the benches with activist judges who will implement his radical agenda from the bench. He will do much more damage if the Democrats control the Senate instead of the Republicans.
Those who actually think that O'Donnell really is ready for prime time even after it was reported that she claimed to have Sean Hannity in her "back pocket" should note her reaction to being videotaped by a Dekaware radio station.
Andy Barr, in "Christian O'Donnell threatened to sue radio station(www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44254.html):
"Christine O'Donnell threatened Tuesday to sue a Delaware radio station for not turning over a videotape of an interview with the Republican Senate nominee.
"A campaign official demanded that WDEL give them the tape of the interview that had just aired, and, when the station refused, the candidate told host Rick Jenson said she would sue, according to an account from WDEL.
"The radio station also contends that O'Donnell campaign manager Matt Moran called the station and threatened to 'crush WDEL' if the tape was not handed over.
"After WDEL's legal counsel conferred with O'Donnell's legal team — and showed O'Donnell's attorneys video of the interview — the campaign's lawyers apologized to the station.
"An O'Donnell spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment to POLITICO."
My sympathies to the O'Donnell campaign lawyers.
O'Donnell has sued before, but it did not work out well for her.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_O'Donnell#cite_note-tnj032010-4):
"In 2003 O'Donnell moved to Delaware to work for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), a non-profit conservative publisher of educational materials and bought a house in Wilmington. She filed a gender discrimination complaint against ISI with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2004 saying that she had been demoted because the conservative philosophy of ISI dictated that women should be subordinated to men. She was fired and then sued ISI in 2005 in federal court for $6.9 million for wrongful termination claiming gender discrimination and that she had been fired in retaliation for filing the EEOC discrimination complaint. She said ISI's actions caused her mental anguish and were a consequence of 'ISI's conservative beliefs'. She also claimed that she had lost future financial earning power because ISI's actions had delayed her education. ISI defended its action by alleging that O'Donnell had used company resources for her own media consulting work while on their time. O'Donnell dropped the suit in 2008, stating she could no longer afford an attorney."
One of the latest polls shows Coons had increased his lead from 11 to 21 points and O'Donnell has appointed her fifth campaign treasurer for her campaign to win a Senate seat this year (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101028/ap_on_el_se/us_delaware_senate_poll). (The other shows O'Donnell down by 10.)
O'Donnell's not a witch. She's a bit reminiscent of Judy Garland (Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz"), but her general election campaign is melting like Margaret Hamilton'S character in "The Wizard of Oz."
Wicked Witch of the West to Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz": "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! You cursed brat! Look what you've done !! I'm melting, melting. Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world. ..."
This is tragic, because O'Donnell did it herself and her radical opponent, Christopher Coons, will be much worse for America than his ill-prepared, inept, but conservative rival.
Things got worse for O'Donnell: Gawker published a sex story, with photos, of O'Donnell celebrating Halloween 2007 in lady bug costume that it claimed to be "intended to expose the lies and hypocrisy of a U.S. Senate candidate and prominent Tea Party conservative who uses her own purported chastity and righteousness to market herself and gain political power" (http://gawker.com/5676725/why-we-published-the-christine-odonnell-story?skyline=true&s=i). The slimy story was roundly condemned. Opponent Christopher Coons joined the O'Donnell campaign, the National Organization of Women and O'Donnell critic Meghan McCain in crying foul, while Gawker insisted that showing hypocrisy is fair.
Gawker: "[O'Donnell] has repeatedly chosen, of her own volition, to make it her business to condemn the private sexual behaviors of millions of men and women who believe, or behave, differently than she does. She's of course free to do so. But when it turns out that her own private sexual behavior doesn't measure up to her public rhetoric — that she 'push[es] the limits' without crossing the line as opposed to 'living through the power of Christ's blood' — it deserves to be noted. And the argument that someone's private life shouldn't be the object of public attention isn't really available to someone who has manufactured a political and pseudo-celebrity career out of publicly casting judgment on the private behavior of others.
It's wonderful when sinners repent or turn to or back to God, but only if it's genuine.
© Michael Gaynor
October 31, 2010
Wicked Witch of the West to Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz": "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! You cursed brat! Look what you've done !! I'm melting, melting. Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world. ..."
An emailer who had read my ""Sad but true. Christine O'Donnell will lose to Christopher Coons" (www.renewamerica.com/columns/gaynor/101026) conceded that I had "made some valid points in [my] editorial regarding Christine O'Donnell's upcoming loss and then asserted: "Christine resonates with Evangelical Christians exactly because of her outspoken faith in God.... This is what Christine O'Donnell is saying; she trusts God for her direction, and though she may actually want to win, she understands God may have other plans for the process of her run for office.... Welcome to the world of born-again, Jesus loving, Bible reading, prayerful Christianity."
Regular readers realize that I am an orthodox Catholic conservatives who appreciates "born-again, Jesus loving, Bible reading, prayerful Christianity."
That appreciation does not blind me to Christine O'Donnell's shortcomings as a Senate candidate, to her possible adverse effect on other conservative candidates (future Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey was not entrapped) or to the terrible waste of a easy opportunity for the Republicans to win a Delaware Senate seat (not to mention millions of dollars in campaign contributions that could have been better spent elsewhere if Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Laura ingraham had picked a more worthy and electable conservative to enthusiastically support).
To be sure, my views are much more in accord with O'Donnell's positions that the positions of Mike Castle, the electable Republican she beat in Delaware's Republican Senate primary.
But Karl Rove was right: Castle would have beaten Coons and helped the Republicans control the Senate and who controls the Senate is a huge deal.
President Obama's nominees require Senate confirmation. The approval of the House of Representatives is not required.
In the next Congress Obama will try to fill the benches with activist judges who will implement his radical agenda from the bench. He will do much more damage if the Democrats control the Senate instead of the Republicans.
Those who actually think that O'Donnell really is ready for prime time even after it was reported that she claimed to have Sean Hannity in her "back pocket" should note her reaction to being videotaped by a Dekaware radio station.
Andy Barr, in "Christian O'Donnell threatened to sue radio station(www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44254.html):
"Christine O'Donnell threatened Tuesday to sue a Delaware radio station for not turning over a videotape of an interview with the Republican Senate nominee.
"A campaign official demanded that WDEL give them the tape of the interview that had just aired, and, when the station refused, the candidate told host Rick Jenson said she would sue, according to an account from WDEL.
"The radio station also contends that O'Donnell campaign manager Matt Moran called the station and threatened to 'crush WDEL' if the tape was not handed over.
"After WDEL's legal counsel conferred with O'Donnell's legal team — and showed O'Donnell's attorneys video of the interview — the campaign's lawyers apologized to the station.
"An O'Donnell spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment to POLITICO."
My sympathies to the O'Donnell campaign lawyers.
O'Donnell has sued before, but it did not work out well for her.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_O'Donnell#cite_note-tnj032010-4):
"In 2003 O'Donnell moved to Delaware to work for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), a non-profit conservative publisher of educational materials and bought a house in Wilmington. She filed a gender discrimination complaint against ISI with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2004 saying that she had been demoted because the conservative philosophy of ISI dictated that women should be subordinated to men. She was fired and then sued ISI in 2005 in federal court for $6.9 million for wrongful termination claiming gender discrimination and that she had been fired in retaliation for filing the EEOC discrimination complaint. She said ISI's actions caused her mental anguish and were a consequence of 'ISI's conservative beliefs'. She also claimed that she had lost future financial earning power because ISI's actions had delayed her education. ISI defended its action by alleging that O'Donnell had used company resources for her own media consulting work while on their time. O'Donnell dropped the suit in 2008, stating she could no longer afford an attorney."
One of the latest polls shows Coons had increased his lead from 11 to 21 points and O'Donnell has appointed her fifth campaign treasurer for her campaign to win a Senate seat this year (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101028/ap_on_el_se/us_delaware_senate_poll). (The other shows O'Donnell down by 10.)
O'Donnell's not a witch. She's a bit reminiscent of Judy Garland (Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz"), but her general election campaign is melting like Margaret Hamilton'S character in "The Wizard of Oz."
Wicked Witch of the West to Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz": "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! You cursed brat! Look what you've done !! I'm melting, melting. Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world. ..."
This is tragic, because O'Donnell did it herself and her radical opponent, Christopher Coons, will be much worse for America than his ill-prepared, inept, but conservative rival.
Things got worse for O'Donnell: Gawker published a sex story, with photos, of O'Donnell celebrating Halloween 2007 in lady bug costume that it claimed to be "intended to expose the lies and hypocrisy of a U.S. Senate candidate and prominent Tea Party conservative who uses her own purported chastity and righteousness to market herself and gain political power" (http://gawker.com/5676725/why-we-published-the-christine-odonnell-story?skyline=true&s=i). The slimy story was roundly condemned. Opponent Christopher Coons joined the O'Donnell campaign, the National Organization of Women and O'Donnell critic Meghan McCain in crying foul, while Gawker insisted that showing hypocrisy is fair.
Gawker: "[O'Donnell] has repeatedly chosen, of her own volition, to make it her business to condemn the private sexual behaviors of millions of men and women who believe, or behave, differently than she does. She's of course free to do so. But when it turns out that her own private sexual behavior doesn't measure up to her public rhetoric — that she 'push[es] the limits' without crossing the line as opposed to 'living through the power of Christ's blood' — it deserves to be noted. And the argument that someone's private life shouldn't be the object of public attention isn't really available to someone who has manufactured a political and pseudo-celebrity career out of publicly casting judgment on the private behavior of others.
It's wonderful when sinners repent or turn to or back to God, but only if it's genuine.
© Michael Gaynor
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
