Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
When last we pondered the Castle/O'Donnell faceoff, Sarah Palin (and Jim DeMint) had yet to endorse O'Donnell, news had not yet broken of O'Donnell's bizarre suit against conservative academic outfit Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and Chris Coons, Democrat, polled only 20 points better against O'Donnell than against Castle. Now, Coons polls 26 points better.
Of course, with all the new publicity and insurgent cred, it also so happens that O'Donnell is surging -- surging toward defeat. But the issue that's seizing the GOP at a moment of great momentum isn't whether O'Donnell meets a relative standard -- whether she's more conservative or more electable than the competition. It's whether she meets an objective standard -- that of candor and character. Mark Hemingway:
She's run an erratic and dishonest campaign. When she visited The Examiner's offices a few weeks ago, she tried to show me an old poll that had her leading the race. When asked about a more recent poll showing her losing big, she accused the pollster of dishonesty when there was nothing wrong with the poll.
Shortly after her interview with The Examiner, former O'Donnell campaign aides posted an Internet video baselessly alleging that Castle had a gay affair. She rebuked those rumors, but then on radio called Castle "unmanly" and suggested he put his "man pants" back on. Subtle. [...]
Tea Party candidate Joe Miller's stunning Republican primary upset over incumbent Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski is the only reason why anyone started mentioning the "E" word in the same sentence as O'Donnell. But Miller is a combat veteran with a law degree, a great candidate running in a much more conservative state than Delaware. If you think O'Donnell, who has a dodgy employment history, is similarly electable, you're drinking Kool-Aid, not tea.
Dismayingly, Hemingway continues, O'Donnell's critics have been accused by her supporters of "promoting the 'Ruling Class agenda' by commenting on O'Donnell's foibles." Now, it's true that some of the damaging revelations about O'Donnell have come pretty late in the game. 'News' like this doesn't just 'break.' But it's relevant information, part of a pattern of conduct, and it throws into stark relief the way that O'Donnell is becoming a one-woman litmus test. Contrary to the claims of her supporters, however, it's not the kind of litmus test Republicans can use to determine a person's conservatism.
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Jun '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
The fact that she's (maybe) a nut is kind of beside the point. If all the certifiable nuts in Congress resigned next year, how many special elections would that be? Lots. Maybe ten, maybe twenty.
The issue is, does she have any chance to win? Castle does have a chance. Does she?
May '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
I stand proudly with my fellow sellout RINOs-in-arms Charles Krauthammer, Jim Geraghty, Allahpundit and Ace of Spades. How else are we supposed to get those coveted cocktail invitations?
Also quite miffed at the Divine Sarah (it's our first fight; all couples go through it). This is damaging not just to the party and the nation, but to herself. Sure, she can get O'Donnell nominated, but so what? Winning the Delaware GOP vote is as meaningful as winning the Vermont black vote.
If O'Donnell wins, the Democrats will hold that seat in perpetuity. Not just any Democrats but (shudder) Mikulski Democrats. If Castle wins, we get somebody who will occasionally annoy us, but will agree on a lot of things.
The projections have us with a slim chance of taking the Senate. These projections are based on the premise that Delaware is a gimme. Throwing it away to "send a message" is the definition of an unforced error.
May '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
Well, etoile, she's 26 points down. The candidates for representative (also a statewide race; Delaware only has one) are both down double digits to the Democrat. In this best of all GOP climates, Delaware remains deep blue. But they know Castle, and he has a slight lead in a hypothetical match-up.
Jul '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
I, for one, am getting mightily sick of Sarah Palin's self-appointed role of "kingmaker".
Look, there's a time and place for chastising RINO's in order to bring other RINO's into line. This may be the time, but Delaware is not the place.
And in this case, as is her custom, Palin clearly didn't do her homework. She apparently just thought, "Oh, look! An attractive female citizen-legislator up against the GOP machine!. Why, why...she reminds me of..of...me!"
Increasingly, for Palin, it's all about "Me".
May '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
I can't agree with you all. I agree that she's not impressive. She has nothing LIKE what Sarah Palin had to offer voters in CV terms. She's no Marco Rubio or Pat Toomey or Joe Miller or Ovide Lamontagne. But in a big way, this is not about her. It's about getting rid of Mike Castle. And she's all we've got to do it with.
And if she can unseat him, she proves a lot, including about the wrongness of the conventional wisdom governing DE politics and Republican politics nationally.
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
I'm done with agonizing. I'd vote for O'Donnell.
Regarding her electability, how could she be anything but down in the polls with both the Republican and Democratic party establishments campaigning against her? Meanwhile the SEIU is supporting Castle, while he sends around emails decrying "extremist out-of-state groups" supporting O'Donnell.
As for the "man pants" comment, might it have something to do with the late hit personal attacks on O'Donnell, or the FEC complaint alleging O'Donnell's coordination with the Tea Party -- presumably one of those "extremist" groups?
And what about Castle's character? He's a cap-and-trade supporting, work-with-ObamaCare liberal who after forty-five years of uninterrupted "public service" somehow became a multi-millionaire. And he supports his party just over half the time. But wait, he'd vote to put the Republican establishment back in charge of the Senate, and that would return us to those halcyon days of limited government and free-market principles circa 2005.
I prefer O'Donnell's flaws to Castle's.
Jul '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
katievs: I can't agree with you all. I agree that she's not impressive. She has nothing LIKE what Sarah Palin had to offer voters in CV terms. She's no Marco Rubio or Pat Toomey or Joe Miller or Ovide Lamontagne. But in a big way, this is not about her. It's about getting rid of Mike Castle. And she's all we've got to do it with.
And if she can unseat him, she proves a lot, including about the wrongness of the conventional wisdom governing DE politics and Republican politics nationally. · Sep 14 at 9:01am
Shooting myself in the foot proves I can shoot myself in the foot. So what?
Jul '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
George Savage: I'm done with agonizing. I'd vote for O'Donnell.
Regarding her electability, how could she be anything but down in the polls with both the Republican and Democratic party establishments campaigning against her? Meanwhile the SEIU is supporting Castle, while he sends around emails decrying "extremist out-of-state groups" supporting O'Donnell.
And what about Castle's character? He's a cap-and-trade supporting, work-with-ObamaCare liberal who after forty-five years of uninterrupted "public service" somehow became a multi-millionaire. And he supports his party just over half the time. But wait, he'd vote to put the Republican establishment back in charge of the Senate, and that would return us to those halcyon days of limited government and free-market principles circa 2005.
I prefer O'Donnell's flaws to Castle's. · Sep 14 at 9:09am
Sorry, George,
But after reading her complaint against ICI, I had to shower for hours. It was the worst sort of sleazy play of the victim card.
Totally apart from her electability, I find her to be repugnant.
Edited on Sep 14, 2010 at 9:19amRe: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
Kenneth
Sorry, George,
But after reading her complaint against ICI, I had to shower for hours. It was the worst sort of sleazy play of the victim card.
Totally apart from her electability, I find her to be repugnant. · Sep 14 at 9:14am
Edited on Sep 14 at 09:19 am
Which is worse, a repugnant private lawsuit of shredding our Constitution? O'Donnell's lawsuit doesn't affect me or my family. Supporting Soviet-style industrial policy in the name of greenness and Cuban-style healthcare in the name of fairness, in my book those are the greater faults.
Jul '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
Kenneth:
Look, there's a time and place for chastising RINO's in order to bring other RINO's into line. This may be the time, but Delaware is not the place.
Ooh, the dreaded "because I said so" logical argumentation; hard to argue with that.
So someone who is polling higher than Castle in the GOP nomination will lose the general election? When has that ever happened before?
Actually Delaware may be the place.
As for Palin "selfishness," I'd take that character trait then the person who is "out to help the people" every day. Smith and Hayek were right about something.
May '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
Kenneth, coming from nowhere and defeating a pro-abortion, pro-cap and trade, anti-second amendment entrenched liberal establishment figure is not shooting myself in the foot. Showing that it can be done even in Delaware, even with practically no money and no party backing is big.
Maybe the effete Republican establishment will wake up and realize that their base is not to be taken for granted anymore.
After reading hit pieces on her, you find her repugnant. Okay. How do you find Mike Castle?
Now set all that aside for a sec. Which one's votes would match your views more?
People say she couldn't win. None of those people thought she could come close in the primary either. Nor has any of them heard her in debate, because Castle declined to meet her in debate.
Jun '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
Kenneth, "Totally apart from her electability, I find her to be repugnant."
So, how do you find Mike Castle to be? When McCain lost and the left owned the Presidency, and both houses, I thought to myself that maybe this is a good thing. The country can now see exactly what the left is all about when they are completely in charge. Had McCain won, A lot of bad stuff would have been passed, but the responsibility for that stuff would have been shared, the line blurred and confused.
A lot of very smart people from the Powerline guys to the Weekly Standard, NRO, Demint, Levin, Palin, and even Krauthammers' very unfortunate choice of words on Fox last night are mixing it up over this race. Some of them for whom I have tremendous respect have made this very ugly and personal. It is long past time to stop criticizing each other. We need a beer summit. There are many valid points on both sides of this race. I found some of the rumor like harangues against O'Donnell to be childish and unproductive. Now some of the personal comments against the anti-O'Donnell people are burning bridges. STOP.
May '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
I've finally decided I'm sick of the whole thing, that it's become a meaningless distraction, and that I'm eternally grateful I don't live in Delaware. If Delaware Republicans let the party atrophy to the point where these two are the best options they have, then Delaware Republicans deserve whatever they get. It's not worth the rest of us clawing each other's eyes out.
May '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
Sorry, I feel this year we have to go for broke. O'Donnell certainly has flaws but to me, Mike Castle is the kind of Republican that has a lot of responsibility for bringing us to this point in our history. He voted for Crap & Tax, has an F rating from NRA,100% rating from NARAL & only agreed to vote to repeal Obamacare early last week when his polls tanked. He's also a huge spender and pork provider.
The stakes are incredibly high. Many of our fellow citizens are looking to Republicans and/or conservatives for the first time ever for solutions. I think the worst thing we could do is to return to business as usual. Christine may be a wacko (as a sometimes member of the Tea Party I've been accused of that too) but unless there's a danger of her shooting up the Senate, I'd rather take a chance with a conservative than with someone I believe is a liberal. As to her electability, I live in a bluish state contiguous to Delaware that is next to blue state that elected a totally unknown red Governor last year.
Jul '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
I loathe Mike Castle. But I know Delaware.
It went 62% Obama in 2008, 54% Kerry in 2004, 55% Gore in 2000.
It made Biden Senator-for-Life and dumped its last statewide sort-of-conservative Republican (Bill Roth) in 2000.
It's not gonna elect Christine O'Donnell.
So instead, we'll get Democrat Senator-for-Life Chris Coons, Mr. "How I became a Bearded Marxist."
Principle matters. It matters a lot.
But so does 50 seats in the Senate.
I am thrilled that the Tea Party garroted Bob Bennett and Lisa Murkowski.
But every election is different. And every candidate is different. The Tea Party did us no favors by coming up with a fatally-flawed candidate like O'Donnell.
Or Sharron Angle, for that matter.
Jul '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
George Savage
Kenneth
Sorry, George,
But after reading her complaint against ICI, I had to shower for hours. It was the worst sort of sleazy play of the victim card.
Totally apart from her electability, I find her to be repugnant. · Sep 14 at 9:14am
Edited on Sep 14 at 09:19 am
Which is worse, a repugnant private lawsuit of shredding our Constitution? O'Donnell's lawsuit doesn't affect me or my family.
So character doesn't count, so long as we punish Mike Castle?
Read the lawsuit. On an empty stomach.
May '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
What this race has proven is that:
1) Mark Levin, whose style irritated me, but with whom I usually agreed, has gone from confrontational blusterer to outright thug in the war he picked with Powerline. The bit about Castle voting to impeach my own hero, GWB, is a flat out lie. I think I'd vote for Castle just to protest against that kind of nonsense.
2) It is clear that Tea Party litmus tests are trumping sensible politics. I heard a guy call Dennis Miller, saying that he wanted the Dems to take 80 Senate seats so that the US would be destroyed and the revolution could create a new pure country.
Whatever happened to the center-right? How do you win elections at all to at least arrest the headlong flight left? You have to win independent voters (even if we hate lukewarm mush). Levin and Stacy McCain are consciously throwing away Senate seats in favor of ideological purity that 80% of the country won't buy.
Don't promote a truth-challenged nut- O'Donnell- to prove a point. In 1998 we were taught a lesson by the center; we are asking for it again.
May '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
I submit that post-Scott Brown nothing we thought we knew stands for much. I submit that we're all in for surprises. I don't think we realized how much of America had been demoralized by a feeling of helplessness in front of creeping statism.
"The Tea Party did us no favors by coming up with a fatally-flawed candidate like O'Donnell."
I was at an early fund-raising event for her--before her public announcement. Here's why the Tea Party people said they would support her: 1) She shares all their positions, 2) She's telegenic and has an articulate grasp of our nation's founding principles, 3) A poll showed that, thanks to her run against Biden last cycle, she had great name recognition throughout the state, 4) Only a small number of votes are needed to win in Delaware, 5) She was willing and unafraid to take on the establishment.
All that still stands.
When conservatives make this about her personal problems rather than about the issues at stake, whose template are we following?
Jul '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
Duane Oyen: What this race has proven is that:
1) Mark Levin, whose style irritated me, but with whom I usually agreed, has gone from confrontational blusterer to outright thug in the war he picked with Powerline. The bit about Castle voting to impeach my own hero, GWB, is a flat out lie. I think I'd vote for Castle just to protest against that kind of nonsense.
That really needed to be said about Levin. The guy is consumed with hatred of Glenn Beck and wanted to prove he could out-Tea-Party him by promoting O'Donnell..
Now, as it becomes clear he didn't do his homework on the sainted Christine, he's become positively unhinged.
Jul '10
Re: Christine O'Donnell, Litmus Test
katievs:
When conservatives make this about her personal problems rather than about the issues at stake, whose template are we following? · Sep 14 at 10:13am
Oh, I am so sorry, but that bit about "...whose template..." is just way beyond the pale.
So you're implying, insidiously, that by frankly examining clear evidence of flaws in O'Donnell's character, some of us are engaging in smear politics?
Listen, Democrats have long-since proven they don't care about the character of their candidates.
Conservatives still do.