Christine O'Donnell, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senator from Delaware has released her debut ad. I am almost certain that it will not be parodied numerous times from now until November.
I can think of no better way to settle rumors about dabbling in satanic picnics, than with a debut ad that begins with you staring into a camera and insisting, "I am not a witch."
I'm not a witch. I'm nothing you've heard. I'm you.
None of us are perfect, but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us: politicians who think spending, trading favors and back room deals are the ways to stay in office.
I'll go to Washington and do what you'd do.
I'm Christine O'Donnell and I approved this message. I'm you.
The whole speech is begging to be auto-tuned and re-mixed. And scrutinized.
I'm nothing you've heard.
Well what have I heard?
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," she said.
"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," she said. "We went to a movie and then had a midnight picnic on a satanic altar."
http://abcnews.go.com/...
I didn't hear this from her Democratic opponent Chris Coons. When you go to his ActBlue page he doesn't bring any of that up.
Instead he says:
Delaware Tea Partier Christine O’Donnell’s political beliefs and moral values are at odds with not only national progressives – but also the majority of Delaware voters.
She doesn’t believe in stem cell research to help people with debilitating diseases. She doesn’t believe in a woman’s right to choose – even for cases of rape or incest. She thinks women in uniform “cripple” our defense readiness, and she even believes that gay and lesbian Americans suffer from an “identity disorder.”
It’s just those sort of radical opinions that have Palin’s extremists from across the country flooding her campaign with money. Christine O’Donnell has raised nearly $2 million since beating Republican favorite Mike Castle in the Republican Senate primary last week. While O’Donnell floods the airwaves with misleading ads, Chris Coons is talking to Delaware voters about real American values – like how we’re going to keep fixing our economy and putting Americans back to work. But unless we can compete with Sarah Palin’s well-funded buddies, that message won’t be heard.
I heard about the witchcraft stuff from Christine O'Donnell while she was speaking with her mouth on Bill Maher's show. But now I have been informed that I was misinformed.
I'm nothing you've heard.
The crux of the new and improved, serious Christine O'Donnell is that:
None of us are perfect, but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us: politicians who think spending, trading favors and back room deals are the ways to stay in office.
But it's hard to reconcile the fiscal moralist in this debut ad, with the Christine O'Donnell featured in the Federal Election Commission reports on how she spent her campaign funds during her previously failed Senate runs.
TUCHMAN: We have documents right here that show Christine O'Donnell spent a lot of money on what appears to be personal effects, and it was not during a campaign, and it was campaign money. The spending of this money occurred three months after she lost to Joe Biden in 2008, a year before she announced she was going to run as a candidate in 2010.
Now, the FEC, the Federal Election Commission, allows you to spend money after a campaign to retire debt, but not to add to the debt. And she has lots of debt from 2008, which troubles a lot of people. They think it's hypocritical, because -- because she wants America to spend what it has. But let us show you some of these checks. You can decide for yourself if she should have written these checks from her campaign money. For example, a check for 475 bucks, she labeled it as mileage reimbursement. Remember, this is three months after the campaign is over. This means she drove hundreds of miles and she submitted this with campaign funding.
Also, $157 on a phone bill from Verizon Wireless; by all indications, this is her personal phone. Also, $28 at a gas station -- the gas station in the town where she's originally from -- Moorestown, New Jersey. She still has family there. This is campaign money. There's no campaign going on.
Six hundred dollars for her utility bill paid to Delmarva Power. Also, there are little piddly expenses, but increasing her debt. And these are very telltale. You wouldn't need to spend this for any campaign, let alone a campaign that is not going on anymore.
$19 at a place called the Pike Lanes. The Pike Lanes is a bowling alley. That would pay for about eight games of bowling.
Also $26 for a meal at Ruby Tuesday's restaurant -- campaign money once again.
And then she even used campaign money for a $2.84 charge at Staples. In addition, she paid rent money with her campaign funding.
Now, the home that she lives in right now, the townhome, doubles as her campaign headquarters; she lives there some time. So do her campaign workers. But this money for her rent was paid during a time when she was no longer in a campaign.
Now, we can tell you that her detractors say she does this because she hasn't had a real job for years. She has no source of income. She needs to live on campaign money
.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/...
That's not a bad gig for someone who reported $5800 earned income last year.
UPDATE:
Christine O'Donnell's campaign is facing yet another set of questions about her background, and this time it's on a really weird line of discussion -- whether her father was Philadelphia's local Bozo the Clown. Seriously.
As the Mark Leibovich at the New York Times reports, the O'Donnell family's past claims that her father Daniel O'Donnell had worked as Bozo sparked an uprising of online commenters who insisted that no, Daniel O'Donnell was not listed on Wikipedia as having been one of the many regionally licensed Bozo the Clown TV hosts.
But now Leibovich has sorted things out -- Daniel O'Donnell was an occasional understudy Bozo, not a full-time holder of the Bozo mantle.
snip
"To be an official Bozo, you had to go to a special school in Texas," explained Mr. O'Donnell. He never did. Instead, he was asked to fill-in for the official Bozos whenever they would have to travel out of the Philadelphia area for acting gigs.
"They would leave, I would come in and work for two or three weeks, whatever, until the regular Bozo came back," Mr. O'Donnell said. "I was the fill-in Bozo."
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
I suppose it's just a matter of time before Dad comes forward with a fireside "I am not a Bozo" speech...
Here's the thing Christine. I accept that you are not a witch. I truly do. I don't accept that this qualifies you for the Senate or lends credibility to any of your claims in your debut ad.
If I were you I would sit down with Sarah Palin and chart a more lucrative course for your life as a permanent, semi-candidate, grifter, martyr, Fox pundit. But then I am not you. I am me.