Katrina vanden Heuvel: Christine O'Donnell's Witchcraft

[marmar]

from The Nation:



Anyone want to ask Christine O’Donnell how many stars there are on the American flag? Because as a “2 + 2 = 5”-believing officer of the Thought Police, she just might insist that there are fifty-one—and keep you locked up in a chastity belt till you agree.

O’Donnell claims to know what’s going on in your brain and your heart when you’re at your most intimate, and it’s not Al Green-style love and happiness. O’Donnell instead equates sexual pleasure with impurity and lust, two demons that she wants excised from the American mind. It’s anyone’s guess, really, as to why she cares so much about what (or who) goes down in beds that she’s not sleeping in, but the senatorial candidate certainly has—pardon me—a hard-on for the sexual motives of her neighbors.

"You can’t masturbate without lust,” she says, equating self-pleasure with adultery. (Who knew?) And she wrote in 1998, “I know many physical virgins who are not sexually pure. I know many virgins who are into pornography or who are 'doing everything but' with their boyfriends. On the flip side, I know many non-virgins who live beautiful, holy, pure lives through the power of Christ's blood.” Aside from the creepiness of O'Donnell's ability to channel the thoughts of a masturbating teenager’s mind, there’s also the logical conundrum of how someone who perceives the world in such a black-and-white, positive-or-negative fashion, can imagine such a vast gray area concerning sexuality and virginity. No hymen examinations for her, no ma’am—not intrusive enough. What’s more, it’s certainly a sick individual who brings Christ’s blood into a discussion about pornography, but then again, what besides an offensive mishmash of imagery should one expect from an ideologue who also suggests that the medical bills accrued by an AIDS patient are embodiments of God’s wrath? ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blog/155161/christine-odonnells-witchcraft

[saltpoint]

1. We'd be a lot better country if there were many more

Katrina vanden Heuvels and far fewer Christine O'Donnells.

Also, I've been struggling of late with the question of whetherthose mice with human brains masturbate. Someone in the O'Donnell campaign should look into that.

[CTyankee]

3. I don't know about you, Saltpoint, but I have never seen such a plainly crazy

time in politics and I'm pretty old. Growing up I remember the good gray Republicans of Eisenhower's administration, serious looking men in somber suits, not doing anything more radical than amending the Pledge of Allegiance to put God in. Even Joe McCarthy was kind of an isolated case (in terms of nuttiness). And even in the 60s, no serious person was truly upset about hippies.

It seems that the nuttiness is stranger today, more surreal...but maybe that's just me. What do you think?

[saltpoint]

4. Good morning, CTyankee.

I hear ya.

It's on the surreal side out there. The O'Donnell campaign in particular would give Salvador Dali a case of the willies. He'd probably need therapy for years after following her public comments during this campaign.

There was a time when the GOP included people like Brooke of Massachusetts and Percy of Illinois and John Chafee of Rhode Island -- and the Senate was a far more civil place. My god, the thugs the Republicans have become these days is blood-curling. A pack of dimwits.

I think you've called it right. I'm not sure yet how the mid-terms will turn out, but even in picking up seats the Republicans may wind up losing their soul, or what's left of it.

[CTyankee]

5. This is why I am turning more and more to research in art history.

Seriously. I am finding refuge just now in the 14th century...

[saltpoint]

7. I don't blame you one bit. T.S. Eliot would heartily

endorse your strategy and philsophy. And he was no dummy. It's always a find when a banker can write poetry.

I think the discovery by four teenagers and their dog of the cave paintings at Lascaux is one of the most religious (small 'r') events of human history, but still second to the men and women who painted those animals in those caves to begin with some many thousands of years ago.

[spanone]

2. ms o'donnell is one sick puppy

[LynneSin]

6. Honestly we need to stop working about her sex life and witchcraft and instead...

harp on the illegal scamming of her campaign funds and her absolute lack of any work history whatsoever.

These video clips from her past and her whackadoo comments about crazy stuff are all fun for goofing her on the internets. But those are absolutely positively NOT the reasons why this woman should not hold a public office.

I'll be the first to admit I had some laughs over Christine's goofiness but the reason I won't vote for her is simple - she has a history of defrauding donations with her campaign pilfering. If she can't follow the rules when it comes to your campaign funds how can I trust her to go to DC and spend our tax dollars wisely? And O'Donnell has no serious work history whatsoever. That doesn't mean the unemployed can't run for public office but with Christine, it's almost like she didn't even try to get a job and instead used her campaign funds to keep her bills paid. These are the things we should focus on and the reason 110% why she is not qualified to be an elected official.

[Orsino]

8. Someone has hurt her terribly...

...or there is otherwise something important missing from her psyche. I think she is not just one of those politicians who play pinheaded on TV.

But under national scrutiny, she's started telling perfectly ordinary wingnut lies as cover, and is pimping standard-issue hate, so my sympathy is nearing its limits.