O'Donnell: 'I'm you.' And I'm creeped out.

[kpete]

O'Donnell: 'I'm you.' And I'm creeped out.

A key rule in public relations, especially in crisis PR, is don't repeat a negative. Christine O'Donnell, the erstwhile witchcraft-dabbling Republican candidate for Senate in Delaware, has broken this edict big time with her first campaign ad. But leave aside her out-of-the-gate "I am not a witch" declaration. What creeped me out was her other pronouncement: "I am you." If you're me, then I'm in serious trouble.

If O'Donnell is me, that means I've been sued five times by my university since 1994 for unpaid tuition. It means the IRS placed a lien against me for unpaid taxes and penalties. It means the mortgage company sued me and won a judgment of more than $90,000 against me after I stopped making payments on my house in 2008. It means that the Federal Elections Commission has cited me eight times for not reporting contributions between 2007 and 2009. It means a campaign watchdog group has filed a complaint against me for using campaign funds to pay my bills. And this is just the financial stuff.

If O'Donnell is me, then that means I question evolution; I think masturbation goes against God's teaching in the Bible; I mislead people into thinking I studied at Oxford; I believe that American scientists have made mice with fully functioning human brains, and I believe that the Chinese are trying to take over the United States based on "classified information that I am privy to...."

People have money troubles. People pad their resumes. People might even live on the grassy knoll of conspiracy theories. But when one person is a roiling mix of all three, you better watch out. By saying she's not perfect, O'Donnell is not only stating the obvious, she's also trying to make a virtue of her many troubles without talking about serious issues. Voters send people to Washington because they believe the person they've pulled the lever for has the judgment, temperament and smarts to make the right decisions for their state and for the country. If I lived in Delaware, and if, as O'Donnell says, she's me, I wouldn't want me anywhere near Washington.

more:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/10/odonnell_im_you_and_im_creeped.html

[WillParkinson]

1. Love it...

And very much so.

[roesch]

2. Me?

I think what she means to say is I am so into you thanks to all my media experience, because that is all that I have.

[The Uncola]

3. Those words ..

.. express my thoughts, almost exactly. Thanks.