The Spectacle Blog
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Labor Day weekend this year is to Republican panic what Haight-Ashbury in summer 1967 was to “flower power.” Here I am off on the other side of the continent to cover Joe Miller’s upset of Lisa Murkowski, while everybody back east has suddenly gone zonkers over the Delaware GOP Senate primary.
Mellow out, dudes.
Five weeks ago, I spent a couple of days shadowing Christine O’Donnell and her campaign team at the Right Online Conference and even did a brief video interview with her. She struck me as a perfectly plausible candidate. She’s much more conservative — and incomparably more telegenic — than Mike Castle. What’s not to like?
Yet behold the hysteria she’s generated among Republicans who are running amok on the Internet, shouting at the top of their lungs that O’Donnell is the worst thing to happen to the GOP since Spiro Agnew.
Really? Is she that bad? Could anyone be as bad as Mike Castle’s supporters say O’Donnell is?
The fundamental problem seems to be two-fold: First, O’Donnell has made some influential enemies over the years, and second, the Castle campaign has lots of hired guns to spread their oppo-research on O’Donnell.
Add to that two recent developments: First, the Tea Party Express, fresh from knocking off Murkowski here in Alaska, has committed serious money to defeating Castle in Delaware and, second, Republicans now think they’ve got a better-than-even shot at recapturing control of the Senate in November.
All this reminds me of something a Republican operative told me in May 2009, when I was trying to understand why John Cornyn and the NRSC had prematurely endorsed Charlie Crist in Florida. Quoth the operative: “All they care about is getting their chairmanships back, and they don’t care how they get there.” The various “ranking minority members” of the Senate GOP caucus want their power and they want it now, and they think Mike Castle is their ticket to getting it.
Ergo, to the GOP powers that be, Christine O’Donnell is a problem to be eliminated By Any Means Necessary.
One of two outcomes is possible: Mike Castle wins on Sept. 14, in which case all this psychotic raving about Christine the Dangerous Right-Wing Catastrophe will appear unseemly in retrospect; or O’Donnell wins on Sept. 14, and Democrats will then congratulate themselves that Republicans have already done their dirty work for them.
Mellow out. And stay away from the brown acid.
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Nolann Ryann| 9.3.10 @ 10:44PM
Bravo RSM. The same folks that are carping about O'donnell are the same folks that accept Lincolon Chafee, Jim Jeffords, Specter, Snowe, and Collins, because they are the only types that can be elected in the northeast. Yet they tell me O'donnell can't be elected. Castle with a 52% ACU rating does what for conservatives? He'll vote for cap and tax (he gave Pelosi his voter earlier this year) won't vote to repeal Obamacare, etc. Yet we have to pretend with Castle in the Senate we are better off? Sorry a Mike Castle in the senate with the other dunces to include Grahamnesty provide an illusion of control. It is an illusion that will vanish the minute the body has to stand as bulwark against the statist in chief. They'll fold like a cheap Mens Wearhouse suit in a downpour. Not really a recipe for success yet here we go again. Just go ahead and vote for Chafee. What is the difference?
Booger| 9.4.10 @ 1:56AM
Add to that list the late, unlamented candidacy of Murkowski and Charlie "The Whore of Babylon" Crist; both embraced by RINO Michael Steele and his winged monkeys. Murkowski is already headed to retirement, and The Florida Whore is going down in flames. Once again, why vote for the R is the R votes with the Ds?
LeonidasOfSparta| 9.4.10 @ 8:54AM
absolutely correct, you are. The people flogging Christine are all rinos; they don't seem to give a rats-gas-passing-tookus about fiscal responsibility, keeping our fed under the control of the Constitution or about protecting our individual liberty.
Bob350 | 9.4.10 @ 3:26PM
why vote for the R is the R votes with the Ds?
Perfect!
LeonidasOfSparta| 9.4.10 @ 8:51AM
Well said, NolannRyann. Thank you. You are absolutely right-on, right-on, right-on (as Rush would say with great gusto!)
Interested Conservative| 9.3.10 @ 11:02PM
I have no preference here, but recall the WFB standard of the most electable right wing candidate.
Also, keep in mind Castle as one of a majority is much different than one of a minority, particularly if the house is GOP and the senate has a solid 40 bloc filibuster wall. Both very likely this fall.
Still, O'Donnell is much less a risk in a wave year such as this.
LeonidasOfSparta| 9.4.10 @ 8:59AM
IntCons-- there's a serious and dangerous flaw in your argument which I feel duty-bound to point out: If the Dems in either side of the House, after the election, are short only a few votes on any issue they will have their handfull of "Wormtongues"-- Snowjob, Sphincter, Brown, Collins, McCain and , if elected, CASTLE. We are all sick of this. NO MORE RINOs.
Interested Conservative| 9.4.10 @ 6:26PM
Maybe I was unclear. I agree that is not so much a flaw as the set of circumstances where this strategy doesn't work. The split cannot be so close in BOTH houses that just a few rinos can make deals.
The GOP should take the house comfortably, and individual rinos are weaker there anyway. If the house is safe, then even a Sen. Castle as the 51st vote is not a huge drawback.
The Rino problem only arises when the deals are made in a close senate - either 50-50 close or 60-40 close. Then, one rino has enormous clout. If the GOP holds the house, senate rinos are much less a problem.
Given all that, if Castle is a 80-20 favorite to win, and O'Donnell is a 50-50 or worse, it's pretty easy to accept Castle.
Selfcenter| 9.3.10 @ 11:28PM
Mike Castle is a post Constitutional Era progressive, that has placed a combination of leftist ideology and self serving interests above what is best for Delaware and our country. Like an old rotten log at the bottom of a polluted swamp, Mike Castle has absorbed the poisons of a life time of political dealing and has become part and parcel of our current political malaise. The web of favors owed has extracted a price on his judgement, with the rest of US paying the bill... Christine O'Donnell is a Constitutional conservative, and enters the political fray as a citizen politician who would use the Constitution as her litmus test for legislation and fulfilling her roles of advise and consent. She brings with her a fresh perspective on governance, one that exemplifies the founding of our nation and a belief in American exceptionalism. There has never been a clearer choice.
LeonidasOfSparta| 9.4.10 @ 9:05AM
Selfcenter-- Absolutely correct. He is a rotten old log from the swamp. He slimes around, filling his pockets with loads of offal and gratuitous back slapping, part of the "ruling elite" as long as he tows the line of "Mordor," pushes the agenda of Sauron! He has not had a passing relationship with Moral Principles for decades. Any compass he once may have had has had the guts ripped out of it, replaced by a clockwork compass that follows the Socialist agenda, lockstep.
Selfcenter| 9.3.10 @ 11:29PM
Mike Castle is a post Constitutional Era progressive, that has placed a combination of leftist ideology and self serving interests above what is best for Delaware and our country. Like an old rotten log at the bottom of a polluted swamp, Mike Castle has absorbed the poisons of a life time of political dealing and has become part and parcel of our current political malaise. The web of favors owed has extracted a price on his judgement, with the rest of US paying the bill... Christine O'Donnell is a Constitutional conservative, and enters the political fray as a citizen politician who would use the Constitution as her litmus test for legislation and fulfilling her roles of advise and consent. She brings with her a fresh perspective on governance, one that exemplifies the founding of our nation and a belief in American exceptionalism. There has never been a clearer choice.
Keating Willcox | 9.3.10 @ 11:40PM
What to do and to whom should we donate? I care less about Delaware's GOP primary because either choice has flaws, the more electable pol is too liberal and the conservative will have a hard time winning. Before the primary, I will focus my energies on races like Rubio where there is a very good chance of a true conservative victory. After the Delaware primary, we go full bore for whomever is nominated.
We need to realize how popular liberalism is, and if unemployment was 5%, the Dems would be gaining seats in congress. A liberal repub is better than any dem.
chris| 9.4.10 @ 3:24AM
'A liberal repub is better than any dem.'
I disagree.
neomom| 9.4.10 @ 9:21AM
Then stay out of Delaware. Support conservative candidates in other states with a good shot for a pickup. Buck in CO, Johnson in WI, Rubio in FL, Miller in AK, Angle in NV
Phineas | 9.4.10 @ 12:17AM
Fair enough, Stacey, but how do you deal with this quote:
"They’re following me. They follow me home at night. I make sure that I come back to the townhouse and then we have our team come out and check all the bushes and check all the cars to make sure that—they follow me.
That’s what’s disgusting, as you can see from the YouTube videos. They knock on the door at all hours of the night. They’re hiding in the bushes when I’m at candidate forums. In 2008 they broke into my home. They vandalized my home. They wrote nasty notes on my front door, on my front porch. They jeopardized my safety. They did the same thing to our campaign office. They broke into our campaign office. They vandalized our campaign office. They stole files. My campaign signs that had my picture—they put a spear in my mouth poked out my eyes, and cut out the part of my heart, and wrote nasty names all over those campaign signs. "
Source: http://is.gd/eUcmb
I don't like Castle any more than any conservative does, but how does one answer a quote like that above, which makes O'Donnell look like a fruitcake with extra nuts?
JKell| 9.4.10 @ 6:22AM
Forget petty politics and vote for the candidate that will help save America, not the one that has the good old boy support that is destroying America. Vote for O'Donnell. We only have one shot at saving this Country. Do not waste it.
Jack Bauer| 9.4.10 @ 7:22AM
I don't understand your point.
Are you saying she's lying? Or are you saying she's telling the truth but should just shut the eff up because that's all normal politics?
The important point is that Castle has said HE WON'T VOTE TO REPEAL OBAMACARE.
Then WHAT'S THE POINT of conservatives voting for him?
Reaganaut| 9.4.10 @ 7:47AM
He's saying she's a paranoid nutcase. And he's correct. It's interesting how all you folks from outside Delaware who don't have know anything about her think O'Donnell is a credible candidate. She's not. She's a more of a politician than Castle. She has no other income than her candidacy, she's stiffed creditors and probably made false filings regarding her finances. If she wasn't a good looking woman she'd be laughed out of the race.
LSD visitor| 9.4.10 @ 9:38AM
That's you John Cornyn, isn't it.
'Fess up!
RJ Olson| 9.4.10 @ 1:02PM
If we do not break the establishment Republican chain, what is the point of all this? Castle is KNOWN to be a liberal in "moderate" clothing.
O' Donnell may suck, but she is not an insider who will be preserving the power base for its (and their) own sake. We have to wrest control of this juggernaut away from the ruling class if only to send them a message-POLITICS AS USUAL IS DEAD AND WE ARE THEIR BOSSES AND THEY ARE NOT OUR RULERS. If O' Donnell can't cut it, throw her out on her ass next time around. We are also going to have to give up this "our guy is ok" mentality and start demanding that these guys and gals step down after two or three terms in office. Career politicians who have spent 30 to 40 years in office are at the heart of this country's problems and that means both sides of the aisle.
Nick| 9.4.10 @ 2:30PM
Reaganaut,
You don't have to be from Delaware to know anything about Miss O'Donnell. She has made many appearances on many television programs since the mid to late 90's.
Stop your smears against her, political hack.
Patriot| 9.4.10 @ 8:41PM
Must be Castle's thugs smearing O'Donnell; hope the creeper gets his butt kicked.
Siegfried X| 9.4.10 @ 8:44AM
Her story is very believable. Unfortunately many women are victims of harassment and stalking. Also, candidates, especially Republican ones, are frequent targets of vandalism and violence. After ObamaCare passed, politicians in both parties reported vandalism and threats of violence, including a bullet shot into one candidate's window.
RJ Olson| 9.4.10 @ 1:16PM
Yeah, when there is power and money at stake, none of this could happen. Complete whako psycobabe...
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and getting the same negative results.
Ok, elect Castle, then what? He stabs us in the back when we need him most-Great! What kind of political strategy is that? Do you feel more comfortable with rulers with an "R" instead of a "D" next to their name? They are all still rulers. Bad politicians are bad no matter what party they serve, get out of this rut already! -These people have to be part of the establishment, how can you not understand the nature of what we are up against and the mood of our countrymen and support the same power-hungry morons that got us here?
J. V. Fitzpatrick| 9.4.10 @ 9:14PM
Not one thing that O'Donnell says in your quote sounds the least bit implausible. The Democrats do all that stuff routinely everywhere. Especially in states where they've ruled for decades.
Siegfried X| 9.4.10 @ 4:56AM
If a Democrat said she was being stalked and harassed, everyone would support her.
Siegfried X| 9.4.10 @ 6:37AM
They also said that Rubio could never beat Crist, and we could only win in Florida by supporting RINO Crist. No matter how many times the Republican establishment's candidates lose or betray us by changing parties, the Republican leadership keeps saying "Only RINOs can win".
Drider| 9.4.10 @ 6:38AM
IMHO, any Republican who will not stand and fight to repeal and/or defund Obamacare out of existence should be voted out of office, their 70/30 0r 25/75 voting records mean nothing if this terrible, open ended policy is left in place.
Ryan| 9.4.10 @ 9:36AM
Right on. Smartest post I've read here!
Rule 1. In the primary, vote for the most conservative candidate. Rule 2. In the general vote for the most conservative candidate.
Tim*| 9.4.10 @ 7:26AM
The Delaware Republican Primary is September 14th and The Castle Lesser Evilist Agendists are tryin' to sell ya Their RINO-CINO .
Castle Is Delaware's Arlen Specter .
PCC| 9.4.10 @ 7:49AM
Just when the Dems have formed the perfect circular firing squad, this thread suggests that the conservative fruitcakes are on the verge of doing the same.
Let's keep it simple: Provide positive support to the most conservative candidates in the primaries without going negative on their less-conservative opponents. Afterwards, support the GOP candidate, whomever it is, in the general.
People who'd rather lose on conservative principles than win with a few moderates in the GOP tent are exactly that: losers.
DrTomVoter| 9.4.10 @ 8:13AM
1. Castle wins the primary and the seat. 2. Castle loses the primary, pulls a Crist (c'mon you know these people), and wins the seat. 3. The Dem wins. We lose with any of these options, so draw another card on 17, and support O'Donnell. This may be our last shot to execute a hostile takeover of the Republican Party.
Bill Lawrence | 9.4.10 @ 8:44AM
Could anyone be as bad as Mike Castle's supporters say O'Donnell is? Yeah, Mike Castle.
Vote Christine.
Howard| 9.4.10 @ 9:45AM
I would rather be a strong minority than a weak majority.
JP| 9.4.10 @ 10:09AM
If Castle wins, he will join Senators McCain, Snowe, Graham, Collins, Lugar, Brown, and Chambliss. Those 7 Senators will form a block, which will stall any legislation within the Senate or the House. This is how the game has always been played. If you ever wondered what happened to most of the Contract with America, it died a quite death because of a half dozen or so GOP Senators (different Senators, same result).
These 7 Senators will prevent ObamaCare from being repealed; they will join thier Democratic brethren in ensuring that Earmarks survive. They will make sure that the excesses of Obama are given protection. They will "work" with Obama and the Dems to ensure that tax and spending reform will just be window dressing - Obama will get the adulation for the few success, and the GOP will get the blame for the many warts.
A Senator Mike Castle will join these other 6 Senators to ensure that some form of Cap and Trade gets passed; they will work with the Dems to ensure some form of Card Check gets passed. What will give the GOP imprimatuer on all of these Progressive laws. And they will work hard to get Obama re-elected. That's how the game is played.
Finally, if all of these things come to pass, thier actions will lead to the destruction of the GOP. It will go the same way as the Whigs.
dude| 9.4.10 @ 10:11AM
The first time in my life that I pulled the lever for all democrats was the year that the republican party continued to try and paint Ross Perot as some sort of whacko instead of engaging him on the issues.
I pulled a D all of the above. The republican party had better watch out how they play this, if they play it like liberals play politics...I will pull the lever for T all of the above.
Not to mention where my dollars will go.
No Rubio| 9.4.10 @ 11:28AM
Two major problems with the comparisons being levied here:
1) Delaware is no Alaska and no Florida, both of which are conservative or center-right states (respectively). Delaware voters still approve of Obama's job performance. A conservative firebrand, especially one with the staggeringly high amount of personal problems as O'Donnell, is simply not a viable candidate. We don't decrease our chances of winning with O'Donnell, we eliminate them.
2) O'Donnell is no Rubio, or Miller. Joe Miller is a former judge and won a Bronze Star. Rubio is the former Speaker of the House of Reps in Florida. O'Donnell is a social conservative nutjob who has no discernible job, founded an organization to prevent masturbating, only morphed to the Tea Party's virtues to gain support, and has been soundly rejected by Delaware voters every time she's ran.
National conservatives like Mark Levin may not care about the litany of reasons why O'Donnell is a joke of a candidacy, but the voters of Delaware do. O'Donnell isn't worth conservative support, and she can't win anyways. Let's move on.
Nick| 9.4.10 @ 2:17PM
Miss O'Donnell is only a "nutjob" to stinking liberals like yourself and Castle.
Go away, political hack.
Patriot| 9.4.10 @ 8:43PM
Castle Thug Alert!
J.C.Eaton| 9.4.10 @ 11:30AM
I happen to think this election is the LAST chance the Republican party will be given to redeem itself. Yes, redeem, because they sure as hell crapped the bed post-94. If RINO leaders truly care about reclaiming only their individual chairmanship powers they finish off this weakkneed excuse of a political force. Whether guys like Rush like it or not, the RINOS pussilanimousness will force the creation of a conservative third party which may take decades to claim power.Assuming we have decades left to us. Someone should, in the event a strongly conservative Repub majority wins in november, be delegated the task of playing the Court Fool for them. Sitting under the desk of the new Rep. chairs and laughing violently when they say or do something tending to Liberalism. . Anyway, I don't know siccum about Delaware, but a good general rule seems to me : You don't reward jello, iow, if a candidate has behaved as a go along get along RINO, WHY TRUST THEM ABOUT ANYTHING? If they'd betray the coonservative words and principles they got elected on, why wouldn't they lie about an opponent? Best,
Selfcenter| 9.4.10 @ 1:08PM
In two of the three counties in Delaware, Coons is a clear looser. In New Castle county his popularity has plummeted because of the huge increase in the property tax bills that arrived in the mail three weeks ago. He will be defeated in November and Christine O'Donnell will be the next US senator from the state of Delaware.
Tim*| 9.4.10 @ 2:02PM
" O'Donnell has told her supporters Castle is afraid to debate her, saying he is hiding his record of voting in favor of cap-and-trade bills and stem cell research.
"My opponent has a sense of entitlement, and assumes Delaware voters are just going to hand him a U.S. Senate seat, but I prefer to hand him a pink slip."
Tim*| 9.4.10 @ 2:14PM
Interesting :
" If Mike Castle becomes the next United States Senator from Delaware he is going to get sworn in, serve a bit, then become a Democrat, resign, and let Beau Biden get an appointment.
It’s a done deal. The deal has been made already. I’m hearing this not just from Christine O’Donnell people, but party regulars in Delaware, some of whom support Castle. It is insane.
Maybe that is why Mike Castle is running from Christine O’Donnell. He is afraid to have to answer questions about this. The man will not debate her to save his life."
http://www.redstate.com/erick/.....-odonnell/
Cris Worth| 9.4.10 @ 8:58PM
Congrats to the Tea Party, at long last a political entity that has gotten it right. They have identified the true political enemy...liberal Republicans in the mode of anti-Goldwater forces in '64, No more Bushes, no more Doles, no more Rockefellers and no more Romneys. God Bless the Tea Party.
Derek Leaberry| 9.7.10 @ 11:11AM
John Fund of the Wall Street Journal has come out strongly against Christine O'Donnell so that must mean she's a pretty good person. Fund's private life is similar to Bill Clinton's, having long affairs with a mother and daughter surnamed Pillsbury, the youngest of whom aborted Fund's child, apparently to the delight of Fund. John Fund is not fit to clean Miss O'Donnell's shoes.
yrebc| 9.10.10 @ 1:53PM
I think just about everyone has missed a very important point. Even if O'donnell wins the primary only to loose the general election to a Democrat, it will be better for real conservatives. This is why: I have been an activist since Barry Goldwater; I know from experience that the RINOs, by allying themselves, over and over again, with the Democrats, have made it much harder for conservatives to achieve their goals of limited government, etc. RINOs muddy the philosophical waters, confuse voters and sabotage conservatives. We need to remover every RINO from the Republican Party if the Party is ever going to fight for real freedom. Then the voters will understand that they have a real choice. We must break the cycle of "voting for the lesser of two evils" which has only resulted in socialism on the installment plan.