Christine O'Donnell In Oct. 1999: `I Dabbled Into
Witchcraft'
By Faiz Shakir
Think Progress
September 18, 2010
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/18/christine-odonnell-witchcraft/

[moderator: sorry, but I couldn't resist]

Before she stole the hearts of tea party activists,
Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell was
best known for her regular and bizarre punditry on 22
different episodes of Politically Incorrect. The host of
that show, Bill Maher, now has an HBO show called Real
Time.

Last night, Real Time aired its first show of the
current season. Maher began by mocking O'Donnell,
calling her "an uemployed, anti-masturbation activist
and a close friend of mine." "I created her," Maher told
the audience, turning to the camera and stating, "You
owe me Christine O'Donnell." Maher said that he has
great fondness for O'Donnell, adding, "She does not have
a mean bone in her body, or any other bone in her body."

Later in the show, Maher played a previously-unaired
Oct. 29, 1999 clip of O'Donnell on Politically
Incorrect, in which O'Donnell said she once "practiced
witchcraft":

    O'DONNELL: I dabbled into witchcraft - I never
    joined a coven. But I did, I did. . I dabbled into
    witchcraft. I hung around people who were doing
    these things. I'm not making this stuff up. I know
    what they told me they do. [...]

    One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic
    altar, and I didn't know it. I mean, there's little
    blood there and stuff like that. . We went to a
    movie and then had a midnight picnic on a satanic
    altar.

Watch it:

[moderator: click here for the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nECxQUi_pr0]

Maher joked that he's going to show a fresh clip of
O'Donnell every week on his show until O'Donnell agrees
to appear again on his show. "I'm just saying,
Christine, it's like a hostage crisis," he said, "every
week you don't show up, I'm going to throw another body
out."


Media Matters: DE-jà vu
Simon Maloy
Media Matters
September 17, 2010
http://mediamatters.org/columns/201009170044

In a stunning turn of events, a little-known, hyper-
conservative congressional candidate became the darling
of the tea party movement, earned the surprise
endorsement of former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Twitter), and
made a last-minute push in the polls, overtaking the
moderate GOP frontrunner who up to that point had been
considered a shoo-in to win the seat. After emerging as
the preferred GOP pick, the tea party candidate's
extreme positions made clear that a race that had once
been considered a GOP-lock had turned into a potential
win for the Democrats. As such, the conservative media
were fractured: some complained that Republicans
sacrificed electability in favor of ideology, and were
quickly cannibalized by the bloggers and commentators
who insisted either that their new extremist could win
in a general election, or that it was better to lose
with a "real" conservative on the ballot than to win
with a "RINO."

I'm talking, of course, about Conservative Party
candidate Doug Hoffman and the 2009 special election for
New York's 23rd Congressional district. Early polling in
the race showed moderate Republican candidate Dede
Scozzafava with a comfortable lead over Hoffman and
Democrat Bill Owens, before the still-nascent tea party
machinery lined up behind Hoffman and Palin lent him her
imprimatur. As more Republicans defected from their
party's candidate to back Hoffman, former House Speaker
Newt Gingrich held fast, endorsing Scozzafava and
explaining that it was a question of winning: "If your
interest is taking power back from the Left, and your
interest is winning the necessary elections, then there
are times when you have to put together a coalition that
has disagreement within it." As a reward for his tent-
building efforts, Gingrich was excoriated by right-wing
bloggers, who said he had lost all credibility and
didn't support true conservatism. (He's since made
amends by attacking President Obama's "Kenyan, anti-
colonial behavior.")

In the end, Scozzafava dropped out of the race and the
seat that had once been considered hers went instead to
Bill Owens, who defeated Hoffman 48-46 percent. After
the election, Rush Limbaugh endorsed the view of
RedState.com blogger Erick Erickson, saying: "It would
have been great if Hoffman won, but the real victory was
making sure that a Republican-in-name-only did not win."

Fast forward one year to the Delaware Republican Senate
primary and, though the races aren't completely
identical, it starts to feel like déjà vu all over
again. Republican Christine O'Donnell, who got thumped
by Joe Biden in Delaware's 2008 Senate race, decided to
give it another shot in 2010 and for a long time
languished far behind Rep. Mike Castle in the Republican
primary race. That, of course, changed very rapidly when
Sarah Palin decided that O'Donnell was one of her "Mama
Grizzlies" and the tea party dumped a pile of cash in
her lap. Right-wing bloggers quickly aligned with Queen
Bee Palin and ripped into Castle, hysterically claiming
that he had voted to impeach George W. Bush. The same
series of events played out: polling showed O'Donnell
overtaking Castle late in the game, and when the dust
settled, O'Donnell emerged as the unlikely Republican
candidate.

And as nasty as the race between Castle and O'Donnell
was, the internecine warfare between conservative
bloggers and journalists over the race was incomparably
vicious. The Weekly Standard, Powerline, Mark Levin, and
other bloggers got into a massive twist regarding the
Standard's long-form takedown of O'Donnell. Here's a
sampling from the back-and-forth: "I think you're an
ass," "a disgrace," "mouthpieces for the Republican
establishment," "lazy and unfair," "smear tactics
against O'Donnell," "elitist and arrogant attitude,"
"jackass," "what an idiot."

But no figure better represents the O'Donnell-inspired
clash between ideology and electability than Karl Rove,
who appeared on Fox News' Hannity the night of
O'Donnell's win to attack her "checkered background"
adding: "It does conservatives little good to support
candidates who, at the end of the day, while they may be
conservative in their public statements, do not evince
the characteristics of rectitude and truthfulness and
sincerity and character that the voters are looking
for." The right-wing reaction was swift and brutal.
Michelle Malkin said Rove was "an effete sore loser."
Dan Riehl called for Fox News to "suspend and
investigate" Rove. Erickson said Rove was "in full
meltdown," while Levin accused the former Bush adviser
of declaring "war against the Tea Party movement and
conservatives." Rove, after initially defending his
stance, folded like a lawn chair during a particularly
aggrieved Fox News appearance, insisting that he
endorsed O'Donnell and was going to help her.

As for the growing consensus that O'Donnell's primary
victory has torpedoed the GOP's once-excellent chances
of capturing the Senate seat (polls show Democrat Chris
Coons trailed Castle by about 10 points, but leads
O'Donnell by double-digits), conservatives again fell
back to winning-isn't-everything justifications. "If we
lose it, fine. It's better to have a genuine Marxist in
the US Senate rather than a phony, pretend conservative
who's gonna vote often like a Marxist and just confuse
everybody and water down the entire identification of
what a conservative or what a Republican is," said Rush,
whose attitude was enthusiastically cheered by Erickson.

So what can be drawn from these two scenarios? One is
led to the unavoidable conclusion that the right-wing
media's commitment to ideological purity transcends not
just partisan loyalty, but logic and common sense. They
want "real" conservatives in power, but when the "real"
conservative politicians they support lose to Democrats,
they convince themselves not only that this doesn't
matter, but that it's a good thing. They want
Republicans to control Congress, and they're willing to
sacrifice as many Republicans in Congress as is
necessary to achieve that goal.

A network of their very own

Christine O'Donnell's rise to electoral prominence has
also helped to reveal just how integral Fox News has
become in modern Republican politics.

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
released a survey this week detailing Americans' news-
gathering habits. Of particular note was their partisan
breakdown of cable news audiences over the past decade.
In 2000, 18 percent of Republicans and 18 percent of
Democrats said they regularly get their news from Fox.
In 2010, the percentage of Democratic regular viewers
has dipped to 15, while regular Republican viewers
skyrocketed to 40 percent. Moreover, 41 percent of
Republicans believe "all or most" of what Fox News says.
It is the network of and for the GOP. Kevin Drum
observed: "As Fox has steadily amped up its conservative
branding, conservatives have decided that's all they
want to hear. The echo chamber must be getting pretty
deafening over there."

But this transcends mere epistemic closure. Fox News'
viewers aren't just looking for pro-conservative
bromides and limited-government chalkboard diagrams --
they're looking for candidates. And Fox News is also
meeting that demand. Christine O'Donnell's rapid rise
was due in part to the big assist she got from Fox News
-- and not just from Sarah Palin, but from their entire
stable of conservative hosts and contributors. But don't
take my word for it. O'Donnell made sure to thank her
FNC cheering squad in her victory speech, from Palin to
the Beck-created 9-12 movement to the Tea Party Express,
which benefits hugely from Fox News' generous attention.
Like all newly-minted Republican candidates, her first
post-primary stop was with the sycophantic crew of Fox &
Friends.

And if O'Donnell follows Sarah Palin's advice -- and why
wouldn't she? -- Fox will continue to play an integral
role in her campaign. "Speak through Fox News,"
counseled Palin during an appearance on The O'Reilly
Factor, who explained that her vice-presidential run
should serve as a cautionary tale against dealing with
the legitimate media, who will occasionally do things
like ask non-softball questions and point out when
you've said something crazy. Fox News will let O'Donnell
get her message out and make an end-run around the
media's uncomfortable questions (as well as provide a
ready-made venue for some quickie fund-raising).

And when you consider that the network boasts among its
contributors people like Karl Rove, who heads a multi-
million-dollar "shadow RNC" tasked with electing
Republicans, and Dick Morris, who works diligently to
elect any Republican willing to pay his exorbitant
consulting fees, one can't escape the realization that
Fox News has moved beyond simply cheerleading for
Republicans. Right now, the network is one of the most
important cogs in the national Republican electoral
machine.

_____________________________________________

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