What a difference a day makes
Posted by Richard on September 17, 2010
When Christine O'Donnell stunned the pundits of both parties by winning the Republican primary for Senate in Delaware on Tuesday, she had $50,000 in the bank and trailed Democrat Chris Coons by 16-25 percentage points, depending on the poll. A day later, she had received over $1 million in donations, and Coons' lead was 11 points.
As Ed Morrissey pointed out, the "internals" of that poll were interesting. O'Donnell leads among independents. Her biggest problems right now are liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats — both groups would have been much more supportive of primary loser Mike Castle. Delaware is clearly more liberal than the nation — 54% approve of Obama's job performance, significantly higher than the national number of 45%.
But even Delaware voters favor repeal of Obamacare (53-43%), and 62% say the way to create jobs is to cut taxes, not increase government spending. So there's certainly room for a well-run, well-financed O'Donnell campaign to gain support on the issues. Especially if it can move the focus from her "extreme" views to Coons'. After all, this is a hard-core leftist who, some years ago, described himself (with tongue perhaps slightly in cheek) as a "bearded Marxist."
Yeah, O'Donnell has at least one truly flaky view: She urged young people not to masturbate because it necessarily involves "lusting in your heart" and thus violates the 10th Commandment. Oh, my … Well, that's patently incorrect, for one thing. But is this really an important issue?
I went into work late today after a dental appointment, so I got to hear part of the Dennis Miller Show. Dennis is pretty libertarian — or what P.J. O'Rourke called a "Republican Party reptile." He's pro-choice and strongly supports gays in the military — as he puts it, anyone who's willing to put their life on the line defending us and killing jihadis deserves our thanks and support. He acknowledged that O'Donnell's anti-masturbation view is "pretty kooky." But he made a good point: What are the people who fret about this worried about — that she'll try to outlaw masturbation? Come on!
O'Donnell's other "baggage" appears to be entirely financial — she apparently went through a rough patch during which she failed to pay some taxes and mortgage payments, and she fell way behind in paying her student loans. Well, that sounds not all that different from about half of Obama's cabinet and countless members of Congress. If anything, her financial issues sound more innocent and less calculated.
No, she's not an ideal, perfect candidate. But her opponent's extreme leftist/quasi-Marxist views make him less than perfect, too, even to the average centrist. It's not at all obvious that she's unelectable — or should be. She's articulate, personable, and intelligent (judging from an interview I saw), and she is clearly and unequivocally focusing her campaign on fiscal/economic issues, and from my perspective she's 100% on those.
I think I'll help her get to the $2 million mark. I suspect she'll get there pretty quickly, with Rush Limbaugh encouraging contributions to her campaign.
Hathor said
I’m thinking a of a congress full of O’Donnells, They mouth the words but can they govern? Do they know money or even understand that hot air wont pay for jet fuel, pay the soldiers or their staff? Is a balanced budget familiar in their own lives, where they might be able to translate that knowledge to government? Is aestheticism the path to prosperity?
David Bryant said
”She urged young people not to masturbate because it necessarily involves “lusting in your heart” and thus violates the 10th Commandment. Oh, my … Well, that’s patently incorrect, for one thing.”
I’m a little puzzled by this part of your post, Richard. I watched the video that ran on MSNBC, and Ms O’Donnell did not mention the tenth Mosaic commandment. She did equate masturbation with adultery, from which one might infer that she thinks it violates the seventh Mosaic commandment. But she didn’t mention the ten commandments explicitly, at all, in the video clip.
I also don’t understand what you mean by “totally incorrect”. Exegetically, her position appears to be quite orthodox. Are you rejecting Christian teachings about sexual morality in their entirety? Just curious — thanks.
rgcombs said
I didn’t see that video of her remarks. I heard a panel discussion about her in which her views on masturbation were described and the comment about “lusting in your heart” was attributed to her.
I made the logical connection from lusting to coveting, and thus the 10th — I should have phrased that differently; I can see where it might seem like I’m attributing that connection to her. The leap to adultery didn’t occur to me.
What I meant by “totally incorrect” is that masturbation certainly doesn’t require lusting or coveting — or adultery, for that matter. For example, someone’s spouse might be away on a trip, and that someone might start thinking back to the night before they parted or looking forward to their reunion …
And have you heard of phone sex? “Hi, honey, how’s the conference?” “Well, the hotel is nice. I wish you were here… What are you wearing?”
OK, that’s enough. This isn’t Letters to Penthouse. 😉
David Bryant said
I don’t suppose Ms O’Donnell is going to get a fair shake in the mainstream media — that’s why I took the trouble to hunt down the video. Anyway, most of the commentators are taking her remarks out of context. She was talking to young single women, primarily, and her little speech was taken almost verbatim from Matthew 5:28 —
””But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.””
I don’t agree with O’Donnell’s take on masturbation, but I really think it’s incorrect to characterize it as total nonsense. It’s very much in line with centuries of orthodox Christian dogma. Can you imagine the MSM poking fun at the Pope if he said the exact same things to an audience of young single people? I can’t.
rgcombs said
”Can you imagine the MSM poking fun at the Pope if he said the exact same things to an audience of young single people? I can’t.”
David, you haven’t been paying enough attention to the MSM. The Pope and Catholics in general are one of the “unprotected groups” that are still considered fair targets these days. If the Pope said something regarding Matthew 5:28, any number of commentator/comedians would note that “he didn’t say anything about looking on a young boy with lust (yuck, yuck, yuck).”