After Christine O’Donnell knocked off Mike Castle in the Delaware GOP primary this week, there’s been a lot of focus on her long history of TV appearances in her 20’s, where she covered a wide range of topics. Much of this has been in the context of “how did this strange person manage to win a Senate primary battle?”, but that’s not what I find most interesting about all of this.
What I’m more curious about is why Christine O’Donnell was ever on television so much in the first place. A lot people in their 20s have strong personal and political views, and many of them go so far as to dedicate their lives at that time to some particular cause. But it’s exceedingly rare for any of those people to successfully get such high-profile media platforms to air their views. O’Donnell was clearly motivated in her causes, but her media ascension at the time seems oddly out of place with the actual substance of her activism. She was talking about the evils of masturbation for fuck’s sake. I was alive in the 90s, and I don’t recall that being a particularly pressing problem in our society at the time. Why was this young woman showing up on various high-profile television shows so often, when her only qualification appeared to be that she screwed around in college and later regretted it?
UDPATE: Commenter rhp6033 shines some light on this with a good comment that I’d missed from earlier this week.
Stupid is controversial and provocative and THAT sells.
O’Donnell was an attractive dingbat WINGNUT spouting stupid when it wasn’t the norm. O’Donnell was and still is a leading edge wingnut.
Watching a car crash.
Nut cases are always entertaining. It’s all about eyeballs anyway right?
Someone had to go on the TV playing the role of a fake Christian. So Bill Maher had his staff look up religious whack jobs to fill some time, and her picture looked the best. Not too complicated. He did say on Larry King that she was a very nice person.
If O’Donnell doesn’t want guys masturbating, she should fuck them! Hey Goldy, maybe you should ask her for a date? Maybe you two can talk politics while doing, you know, …
If she gets into office, she’ll masturbate the bank accounts of her rich friends, and fuck the working class.
Guns Don’t Kill People Dep’t
D.C. police shot an armed man who was roaming the Capitol Hill area and pointed a gun at officers when they confronted him, according to news sources. Fortunately, nobody except the gunman got hurt.
But hey! Protecting the God-given right of crazy yahoos to wander around in public waving guns at people is more important than cops’ lives. A few casualties is a small price to pay for our Second Amendment licentiousness.
@2
This post is partly rhetorical because I do understand that. But what I’m curious about is whether anyone in the media will explore this angle more thoroughly so that we gain a more complete view of how this process works. I think it will go a long way towards demonstrating how and why the current Tea Party movement exists.
Obama Appoints Warren To Head Consumer Affairs
President Obama has bypassed the Senate confirmation process by putting Elizabeth Warren in charge of a White House office that will oversee, among other things, whoever heads the new consumer protection agency. She’s sort of a consumer protection “czar.”
Obama also has been using recess appointments to get some of his judicial and administrative appointments past a GOP blockade. Currently, more than 100 federal judgeships are vacant because Republicans are unwilling to confirm anyone, even judges they support.
Hey wingies! Don’t like recess appointments and end-runs? Fuck you! We got the idea from you guys — your side invented it. What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander!
As I’ve been saying all along, Democrats need to behave more like Republicans. Obama just did. Suck on it.
I want the OLD SCHOOL Republicans back…the fiscal conservative literal Republicans. I’m both tired and SCARED of these religious zealot Republicans who think the Federal government should be used to enforce morality. It should be up to me to decide if I want to renounce O’Donnell’s sinful lifestyle of using electricity, colorful clothing and dancing and join the Amish…or move to Vegas and spend every evening gambling and drinking. That should be my personal choice not the governments. I know Republicans are all about protecting money, and protecting any government control over your money(property)…but how about my LIFE too? Or is just money sacred but my life is owned by the government? Here are just some of the things that modern Republicans (and too many Democrats) think are the responsibility of the government:
* The government owns your physical body. Government can imprison you, and government can kill you (death penalty). You however aren’t allowed to end your own life (suicide and euthanasia is illegal) only the government can end your life.
* The government gets to decide who you marry based on religious tradition of the majority. It does not matter if you belong to that religion or not, you’re forced to live by it’s rules for fear of angering it’s god…by law. No secular rational reason, just religious.
* The government gets to decide how you can have sex with another adult in your own home in the middle of the night. Lawrence v Texas, supported by the Republican Party, argued that its Constitutional and proper for a government bureaucrat to have a list of government approved sexual positions that citizens can engage in…in private in their own homes. And if you’re ACCIDENTALLY found to have non-governmentally approved sex (what happened in Lawrence v Texas) you can be prosecuted.
* The government will determine if you can have an abortion. This controversial practice which splits our country 50/50 isn’t up to you, your partner, priest or family. It’s not up to citizens to be free and make this choice on their own. The government will determine if you can have an abortion.
* The government will determine what drugs you’re allowed to take, not based on science or health concerns, but tradition and superstition. You as a citizens aren’t smart enough or free enough to make this choice. The government has determined that cigarettes (which are known to cause cancer) are allowed, alcohol (which causes 70,000+ deaths a year) is allowed, but marijuana is not. You can not choose to use the ‘safer’ drug because the government won’t let you. You can’t make this choice, the government has made it for you.
P.S. Remember, Richard Nixon backed gay marriage, not BECAUSE he liked gays or thought it was a good or bad thing, but because he thought deciding who you can marry is NOT the role of a Federal government. Go figure, and he used to be the arch evil conservative, now he’s to the left of Bill Clinton.
By the way, a quick note to rhp. I just clicked over to the Daily Hans post (because I saw that Alex Hays commented) and noticed that you raised a lot of this already in a comment over there. I’m updating the original post with a link to that comment.
Interesting points. It would be really cool if someone could construct a Christine O’Donnell social network analysis (seven degrees of Christine) to find out why she was so visible, who were her key links to the mainstream.
A project for Michael Hood?
Elizabeth Warren is a Harvard law professor, which means she’s smarter than wingnuts who can’t spell simple words like “moron” or “to” or their own names.
@8 I’m for Vegas. Blogging in the dark sucks.
In fact, I’m for taking up a collection to send Goldy to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch! He’s a good guy and deserves to get laid.
@12 Unless you can come up with a hand cranked wooden Commodore CPM then you’re out of look. And I don’t think most Amish communities have the sinful WiFi.
Remember that all you conservative folks on here…YOU are SINFUL and evil because of your lifestyle choice (using this computer right now to respond to me). Of course you don’t believe that, the Amish are just strange and wrong and YOUR lifestyle is moral and good. Just think about that as you go through you electricity using, Sabbath working, alcohol drinking, bacon eating, non-Pope accepting, sinful weekend. Be careful about pronouncing who’s religion is right and who’s living a “moral” lifestyle…it’s all pretty damn relative…and everyone (throughout history) thinks THEIR religion is right and everyone else’s is wrong. Always been that way. Nothing new there.
Christine O’Donnell’s resume on Wikipedia has just had some serious scrubbing, somebody’s gone in today and added a whole bunch of stuff under here career section. It said she attended the commencement ceremony at her college in 1993, but didn’t receive a degree because of “unpaid tuition” – reserving to the end of the section any mention of the fact that she was still a course short of graduating (which she didn’t complete until a few months ago).
It also seems to be a little confused about the dates of her employment history, having her squeeze some six years of employment at three conservative Repubican organizations into only three years, including Enough is Enough, the Republican National Committee, and Women for America, before founding “SALT” in 1996. It was as the president/spokesperson for SALT that she appeared in the now infamous media interviews.
The media, of course, seldom puts individuals on the air, unless they speak for a larger group. The SALT group seemed to fit the bill for most of the media, and the fact that she was young and attractive certainly didn’t hurt. Who doesn’t want a cute young girl on TV talking about masturbation, even if it’s in the negative sense?
But despite being listed as the “founder and president” of SALT, I’m assuming that this was an organization which was pretty much set up for her, as a vehicle for her to represent Republican and Evangelical Christian viewpoints. She was already well known within the Republican circles during the “Newt Revolution” of the mid-1990’s, having worked for the RNC and evangelical lobbying groups tied to Republican causes. My guess is that she was being groomed for a higher role.
But her falling out with the folks at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in 2004 probably shut her off from the Republican pipeline of easy jobs and good money. Apparantly she had trouble getting jobs after that, and says she worked as a “marketing consultant” between 2004 and 2006, when she first ran for office. She must have had some money troubles, despite being paid $60K a year while at the ISI before being terminated, because the ISI claims she was disciplined for working on her for-profit marketing gig while she was supposed to be working for ISI.
So what you have is a professional lobbiest/spokeswoman/party professional who got into the media spotlight early, liked the limelight, and when cut off from her gravy train provided by the Republican establishment, now tries to campaign as an “outsider”?
Sorry Lee, I already started working on my response @ 15 before I saw your update at # 9. I didn’t mean to be repetitive.
But I do think it’s interesting the extent that O’Donnell’s additional job experience which has been posted on Wikipedia overnight.
Her opponent Coons, readily admitted in his past that he is a Marxist.
This will be an interesting race, won’t it.
The only reason she has a chance is because he is a Leftist Whackjob.
One thing that Christine O’Donnel’s situation shows is that achievement in this country has far more to do with being in the right place at the right time, how you look, and who you know, than anything else. Education, intelligence, and hard work come in a poor second.
Of course, once you get to the point where you achieve a high position, suddenly the lack of education, intelligence, or work ethic can really bite you in the but. George W. Bush proved that, in spades. Bush had the degrees, but obviously didn’t spend much effort in deep study – his understanding of history, business, finance, law, and government were so shallow that they were reduced to mere sound bites. The one thing he did understand is politics, having grown up in a political family.
I suspect Christine O’Donnell would be even worse.
Great Horsey cartoon out today…
Republican Party takes a ride with a stranger
@17
Her opponent Coons, readily admitted in his past that he is a Marxist.
No, he joked about it. Coons was a Republican who became more liberal as he grew older and wrote something once that joked about how he became a “bearded Marxist”.
@16
No worries. I haven’t been checking her Wikipedia page, but I noticed that Politico just put up an article talking about how her aides from 2008 don’t think very highly of her. There’s definitely a pattern with her on being completely unable to manage a budget. Of course, that makes her a “fiscally responsible” Tea Party candidate.
@8:
I have posited many times here and elsewhere that the Teahadists are really nothing new: basically Paulite and christianist wackjobs. They would be wearing sheets and lynching non-whites except that we have managed to make that socially unacceptable in America — so far.
The media narrative characterizes the Teahadists as “libertarian – fiscal conservatives”. But it is critical to note that the Teahadist supported candidates that have actually acheived R nominations so far are clearly Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell Christianists.
Markos Moulitsas is right on to call them the American Taliban.
It’s been said that she got her first big media exposure from Chris Matthews during the Lewinsky scandal. She was quite outspoken back then and was picked as the counterpart to the “anything goes” liberal college students.
@23
The Lewinsky scandal didn’t begin until 1998, but she’d been on TV a number of times before then.
Lee @ 21: That’s quite an article. It reminds me of a few people I know (unfortunately, I worked for one once, for a short time).
What is going on in the background of her shaky campaign finances in the 2008 campaign, and her grasping at straws in trying to spend money that isn’t there, is a combination of several things.
The first is that she is somewhat desperate, and is counting on the Senate win to solve her personal financial problems. It’s already well known that she was sued in 2008 by her mortgage holder who received a judgement for more than $90,000 in in back payments, interest, penalties, and attorney fees. Also at about the same time the IRS filed a lien against her for unpaid taxes. She argued in her 2004 complaint against her former employer that her termination left her with insufficient funds to go to graduate school (a novel legal theory to try to include “lost opportunity” future earnings if she ever got a degree).
Secondly, it seems that prospect of a Senate salary isn’t the only source of funds she’s hoping to receive. The article mentions that she was fixated on receiving a big contract with Fox News or CNN as a consultant/pundit, which would only happen if she didn’t win – but that seemed to escape her. This seems to follow the Sarah Palin track of being frustrated at having “plateued” politically, and believing that the lack of personal funds had limited her ability to move in the more influential circles. She seems to believe that if she makes more money, political success will also follow.
Finally, you have the Evangelical belief that faith can solve money problems. A lot of preachers say that if you have enough faith, God will solve all your problems. But then when you exercise faith by writing checks without having money in the bank to cover them, you are criticized for not being a responsible steward of God’s money. Unless, of course, God happens to provide the money into your account before the check clears, in which case you are lauded for having faith and following God’s instructions in your life. This is a source of constant conflict within Evangelical circles, and I run into it regularly with respect to the debt counseling I do at my church.
It’s pretty clear to me that O’Donnel believed that if they just went ahead and placed the orders to implement her campaign ideas, that God would provide the means to pay for them – if not next week, then the week afterwards. Unfortunately, this is also very close to the same mental process which a gambler goes through to try to make back the money they’ve lost – they keep doubling down, figuring that since they are already losing it can’t get any worse, and their luck is bound to change.
Of course, when you look at it, it’s not that much different from the Republican belief that cutting taxes for the wealthy will result in more jobs and more tax revenues. When it’s proven that it doesn’t work, they just keep doubling down, insisting that they just need to cut some more, and somehow things will all work out in the end.
@ 12
Um, try this.
Once upon a time, a young and much furrier frogg was living in the hills outside of a shitty little town called Willits. It was almost an hour to town from the little one room house he shared with his Uncle. There was no available electrical service, solar panels were VERY expensive, so everything was done with a small generator and a pair of large 48 volt batteries out of a Cessna airplane.
The generator (actually an alternator) was out of some big piece of heavy equipment, a D-9 Caterpillar bulldozer or something. It was hooked up to an old 10-speed bicycle frame, that was welded to a square tubular A-frame deal that my Uncle hade a friend weld up. The rear wheel had no tire on it, it was just the wheel with a large industrial v-belt that went to a heavy flywheel on the back end of the frame. You got that flywheel spinning with the pedals, then popped a spring loaded lever that engaged a small clutch out of a volkswagen, that engaged the pulley that went to the alternator.
I think the final drive ratio was something like 30-1. It was hard work, it made you sweat like hell. But if you wanted to watch a movie on the TV or listen to the Radio, you had to do at least a half hour a night on the generator to charge the batteries. It was enough to run a VCR, a really nice car stereo, a couple of fans and have a charger for the flashlights. Everything ran on 12 volts.
This was all freely aquired. No expense except for the steel tubing that made up the frame, and the v-belts. The rest was junkyard stuff.
We had the best and loudest stereo in the valley, and we could crank that sucker all day long.
@25
You’ve nailed it in a lot of ways. And I think that the ease with which her financial matters were handled for her via her RNC connections early on in her “career” has cemented this belief and the resultant behavior.
@ 25
Of course, when you look at it, it’s not that much different from the Republican belief that cutting taxes for the wealthy will result in more jobs and more tax revenues. When it’s proven that it doesn’t work, they just keep doubling down, insisting that they just need to cut some more, and somehow things will all work out in the end.
I keep waiting for the “Don’t tax but still spend Republicans” epithet to crop up in broader circles.
@28 Don Joe
It’s tax and spend Democrats
~vs~
Borrow and spend twice as much Republicans
BULLSHITTIUM ALERT Star Trek Klaxon Sounds
Moronic Dumb BUNNY!
Chris Dodd told Odumba not to appoint her in a recess appointment because DUMMOCRAPTS didn’t want her.
When Odumba reccess appointed Craig Becker it was Senator Ben Nelson (DUMMOCRAPT) who warned Odumba not to do it. Puddy placed the link on HA. Just ask TEH DATABAZE KEEPA ylb for the original date and time. He started his search just now as he read this cuz he’s a good Pavlov’s Doggie.
And when Odumba uses the word unprecedented he knows most sheeple are uninformed and forget the stonewalling done by DUMMOCRAPTS for Bush’s nominees as well as his own party for some of his nominees. Butt that’s A-OK to the HA Moronic class when DUMMOCRAPTS are OBSTRUCTIONISTS right Dumb BUNNY?
BULLSHITTIUM ALERT Star Trek Klaxon Over
“My friends now joke that something about Kenya, maybe the strange diet, or the tropical sun, changed my personality; Africa to them seems a catalytic converter that takes in clean-shaven, clear-thinking Americans and sends back bearded Marxists” – Chris Coons.
Well Lee will drink Dave Hoffman’s kook-aid about Coons since Hoffman is one of the Coon’s campaign officials. Puddy smells coverup. He wrote what he meant in the Amherst paper. He took that article seriously. Even when his mother warned him of it he didn’t write a followup later. There wasn’t any “This is a joke commentary” Lee. It’s typical 2010 DUMMOCRAPT electoral backtracking.
Coons’ recent appearance on Daily Kook-Aid sez it all for Puddy.
Amazing how Christine O’Donnell has raised about $1MM from the common folk. Let’s see how much the DNC sends Coons’ way. Oh yeah you all called the Tea Party a bunch of racists except there are now at least 5 Black and a Latino Republican in their US candidate list! There goes that useless HA Moronic argument into the toilet!
A gentle reminder to stay on topic Puddybud.
TO TEH HA DATADAZE TROLL@32,
Where oh where did Puddy venture off moron?
#30 is in response to #7
#31 is in response to this thread and #20 in particular.
Why are you still dumber than dirt? Good to see your pink-haired avatar again. Did you buy that for your chillen or was that a gift from your parents? Either way it says something about your family!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Oh my mistake!
How about a gentle reminder to set an example and not be distracted by others going off topic.
And naughty, naughty about denigrating other’s choice of avatars and wasting keystrokes when people change browsers with different e-mail addresses saved..
It’s amusing that your friend faela was so “glamored” by such “intelligence”.
Gentle reminder my butt. Yep it is your mistake. Every day it’s your mistake reading leftwing libtardo garbage!
If you used that mind for something constructive ylb, you’d figger out the trail. Butt yours is a lesson in progressive futility!
Puddy asked where did you get your avatar from? What? Left brown eye from te web porn guy bothers you? How is that denigration? Only in your mind ylb.
So the Right has O’Donnell and the Left has Kucinich and DelBene.
“Amazing how Christine O’Donnell has raised about $1MM from the common folk.”
heh- Not bad for a slut who lost her virginity on the Devil’s own alter.