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Palin Thrilled with Tea Party Upsets - Is Christine O'Donnell the Average American?
The National Ledger ^ | Sept 17, 2010 | Roger Simon

Posted on 09/17/2010 10:50:32 AM PDT by LibFreeUSA

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is thrilled with the upsets by some she endorsed from the Tea Party and says she is ready to lead and shake up Washington. This week, tea-party-backed Christine O'Donnell pulled off a stunning win in the Delaware Republican Senate primary, defeating nine-term U.S. Rep. Mike Castle, also a former governor. Palin Thrilled with Tea Party Upsets. Palin Thrilled with Tea Party Upsets.

That led columnist Roger Simon to note in a headline: "O'Donnell May Be the Average American."

Follow his column below, Ed.:

Rarely has the political commentariat been so unified in its opinion: Up in Delaware, the wacko candidate in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate would be easy prey for the calm and comfortable former governor, who was also a member of the U.S House.

Christine O'Donnell, 41, unemployed and portrayed pretty much as an outright thief, would be dogmeat when Mike Castle, 71, who had never lost an election, got done with her.

The deal was done, the outcome guaranteed, the cake baked.

Castle then could win the general election, running against a Democrat of no special distinction. Which would mean that Republicans could actually pick up 10 seats on Nov. 2, giving them control of the Senate.

It was an easy choice for Republicans voting in the primary: Elect Castle and possibly win the Senate or elect O'Donnell and possibly see press accounts about her get even worse.

According the published accounts, O'Donnell was spending campaign funds for half her rent and $545.98 to purchase a mattress or mattresses from Mattress Giant.

She "hasn't had a steady job in years" according to another account and had lied about being a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, which had sued for unpaid student loans. She also had failed to pay her federal taxes and defaulted on her house payments.

Which, to some, made her an average American. They found it easy to identify with her, feel her pain and vote for her.

After all, what was $545.98 for mattresses compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks Congress approved every year or the trillions of dollars it spent on wars?

But then there was the wackiness factor. O'Donnell believes in sexual abstinence for those not married (how wacky can you get?) and has denounced masturbation as a form of "lust."

Critics seized -- so to speak -- on that last one, though Democrat Paul Begala, an excellent political analyst, could not bring himself to speak the word on CNN recently, preferring "self gratification" instead (which sounds about 10 times worse to me).

O'Donnell also has called Barack Obama "anti-American," and according to The New York Times, "has taken positions against federal financing for stem cell research, is opposed to abortion even in cases of rape and favors tough penalties against businesses that hire illegal immigrants. She has also suggested in past television interviews that evolution is soft science and questioned the utility of financing AIDS programs."

In other words, she is a Republican.

But to the Beltway commentariat, she was a nut. And a nut with no chance against a proven winner like Castle, even though he was best known to most Americans via YouTube as the guy who held a town hall meeting and got screamed at by a women holding a sheaf of papers and claiming that Barack Obama had not been born in the United States.

No matter. Castle was the establishment Republican, and O'Donnell had been endorsed by Sarah Palin and the tea party people, which pretty much proved that O'Donnell had to be a head case.

"There's just a lot of nutty things she's been saying that just simply don't add up," Republican senior statesman Karl Rove said.

So what happens? The nut gets 53.1 percent of the vote (Obama got 52.9 percent in his 2008 presidential victory) and now will carry the Republican banner against Democrat Chris Coons, the county executive of New Castle County, the most populous county in Delaware.

Which means, analysts quickly decided, that she will lose, Republicans will not pick up 10 seats in the Senate, and therefore the Democrats will hang on to at least one house of Congress.

It is not an unreasonable judgment. Delaware has 292,000 registered Democrats, 182,000 registered Republicans and 146,000 registered independents.

But those are the neat little boxes that politicians and commentators place people in. People often define themselves much differently, however, and look for candidates "who understand my problems" or "is a regular person just like me."

A few voices have questioned whether O'Donnell's loss is inevitable: Neil King Jr. of The Wall Street Journal wrote an article that appeared Wednesday under the headline "Odds Are Tough, but Not Hopeless, for GOP in Delaware" and Mark Halperin of The Page referenced his Thursday appearance on "Morning Joe" under the headline: "Don't Write Off O'Donnell."

But most analysts are writing her off (or are waiting for the polls to see which way they should jump).

After all, O'Donnell really is way over on the right, and Delaware is not a way over on the right state. At least until now.

Something is clearly going on in this country. And while O'Donnell, Palin and the tea party are giggled about in Washington, they are seen as a deadly serious and potent political force by many outside. Those outside are not giggling right now. They are waiting for election night to do that.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: castle; christineodonnell; odonnell; palin; rinopurge; rogersimon
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1 posted on 09/17/2010 10:50:36 AM PDT by LibFreeUSA
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To: LibFreeUSA
Which would mean that Republicans could actually pick up 10 seats on Nov. 2, giving them control of the Senate.

Who cares? It would be better not to have control of the Senate if it takes a RINO to give Republicans control. Taking over both chambers will allow the Republicans to set an agenda that could give Obama a second term.

2 posted on 09/17/2010 10:54:19 AM PDT by Ol' Sparky (Liberal Republicans are the greater of two evils)
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To: LibFreeUSA
The daily attempt to trash O'Donnell by the GOP Establishment drones in order to “discredit Palin and Demint” is really stupid tactics.

If she loses, EVERYONE on our side is going to point at Rove and his propaganda drones as who is to blame

If she wins, everyone is going to remember that the GOP Establishment did their best to sabotage her.

They GOP Establishment mouthpieces face either ostracism from the Conservative base of the GOP as traitors or ostracism from the Conservative base of the GOP as irrelevant, non-credible cretins.

So either way the Roveites here are creating a lose-lose position for themselves with their daily trash talking about O’Donnel

3 posted on 09/17/2010 10:54:18 AM PDT by MNJohnnie (The problem with Socialism is sooner or later you run out of other people's money. Lady Thatcher)
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To: LibFreeUSA

You may be right
She may be crazy
but it just may be a lunatic we’re looking for...


4 posted on 09/17/2010 10:54:37 AM PDT by griswold3 ('Regulation and law without enforcement is no law at all)
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To: LibFreeUSA; Clyde5445

Strange, but I don’t see an exact quote or any quote from Sarah Palin in the entire article, do you?

Anyone?


5 posted on 09/17/2010 10:58:36 AM PDT by onyx (If you support Sarah and want on her Ping List, let me know!)
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To: LibFreeUSA

Christine now at $1.557m on her web site and 15,256 Facebook members.


6 posted on 09/17/2010 10:59:02 AM PDT by techno
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To: griswold3

The Punditocracy is mad that nobody is listening to their sage advice.

Pray for America


7 posted on 09/17/2010 11:02:20 AM PDT by bray (The Tea Party Manual: http://www.brayincandy.com/id239.html)
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To: onyx
-"Strange, but I don’t see an exact quote or any quote from Sarah Palin in the entire article, do you?"

No. No direct quotes from Palin in the article. Just the wirter's words..."Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is thrilled with the upsets by some she endorsed from the Tea Party and says she is ready to lead and shake up Washington."

So, I guess we'll just have to take his word on this.

8 posted on 09/17/2010 11:02:52 AM PDT by LibFreeUSA (Show me what Obama brought that was new and there you will find things only radical and destructive.)
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To: LibFreeUSA

She needs to frame her campaign as a run against both parties (which is true). And campaign for the people.

She will win in a landslide.


9 posted on 09/17/2010 11:03:09 AM PDT by nhwingut (Palin/Bachmann '12)
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To: LibFreeUSA

that antimasturbatioin thing does it.

i shall now become a rat, warts and all.


10 posted on 09/17/2010 11:06:33 AM PDT by mmercier
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To: LibFreeUSA

that antimasturbatioin thing does it.

i shall now become a rat, warts and all.


11 posted on 09/17/2010 11:06:38 AM PDT by mmercier
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To: mmercier

tis what happens, one hand on kb, other on...


12 posted on 09/17/2010 11:07:52 AM PDT by mmercier
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To: techno

Christine O’Donnell is called unelectable because she is an anachronism. She has not accepted the prevailing hedonistic lifestyle. She probably supports the Boy Scouts who a Federal Judge has declared “at odds with values requiring tolerance and inclusion in the public realm.” The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that they are infected with the “cancer of discrimination.” The Republican voters of Delaware have spoken. The only question is, are there enough onanists in Delaware to defeat her. Castle has revealed his character in defeat. He could quite possibly pull an Arlen Specter and switch parties after the election.


13 posted on 09/17/2010 11:13:34 AM PDT by Vehmgericht
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To: mmercier
i shall now become a rat, warts and all.

You can get your seeing eye dog to help you shave the hair on your palms.

14 posted on 09/17/2010 11:13:52 AM PDT by Ole Okie
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To: LibFreeUSA

One thing about O’Donnell - she hasn’t let little baggage in her past, the loss of three elections prior to this one, and the scorn of many Republicans, sap her motivation.


15 posted on 09/17/2010 11:14:59 AM PDT by frposty (I'm a simpleton)
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To: LibFreeUSA

He’s just another journ0list trying to get readers by using Sarah’s name and it worked.


16 posted on 09/17/2010 11:16:06 AM PDT by onyx (If you support Sarah and want on her Ping List, let me know!)
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To: griswold3

excellent.


17 posted on 09/17/2010 11:16:38 AM PDT by raygunfan
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To: LibFreeUSA

She’s not near as crooked,stupid,dihonest as the man she beat


18 posted on 09/17/2010 11:17:13 AM PDT by ontap
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To: Ol' Sparky
Who cares? It would be better not to have control of the Senate if it takes a RINO to give Republicans control. Taking over both chambers will allow the Republicans to set an agenda that could give Obama a second term. - Agreed!
19 posted on 09/17/2010 11:20:59 AM PDT by Free_at_last_-2001 (A country can survive its fools, but it cannot survive treason from within.)
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To: Ol' Sparky

Mark Davis (in for Rush) just skewered Krauthammer on his take of O’Donnell. O’Donnell is in the same boat as Scott Brown and Gov. Christie. “Impossible”. BWAHAHAHA!


20 posted on 09/17/2010 11:21:31 AM PDT by albie
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