Bill Maher’s witch hunt — and the missing context for O’Donnell’s remarks; Update: O’Donnell responds

Narcissism. Blackmail. Distortion. All wrapped in his trademark smirk of pallor. Yes, it’s tired old liberal “comedian” Bill Maher trying to get Senate GOP primary candidate Christine O’Donnell to come on his show by baiting her with a brief video clip in which she mentions having “dabbled” in “witchcraft” and hung around people who practiced it.
The left-wing blogs (and a few short-sighted rightie ones) are having a field day. What they all seem to have missed is the context for the discussion. The AP says the “context of what led to the comment is not clear.”
But it is if you paid close attention to the clip:
At 1:03 in the video, one of the panelists on the show criticizes O’Donnell for criticizing Halloween — “Wait a minute, I love this, you’re a witch, you go ‘Halloween is bad,’ I’m not the witch, I mean wait a minute.” She responds by explaining that she opposes witchcraft because she has had first-hand experience with what they do.
So, she tried it. She rejected it. And she learned from it.
Somehow, this Maher-edited clip warrants a declaration from my friend John Hinderaker at Power Line that O’Donnell’s career is “RIP.”
Nonsense. She has nothing to be ashamed of — except, perhaps, for going on Maher’s show so many times. He promises to release 22 more clips until she sits down with him in front of the cameras and brags, in typical TV chauvinist fashion, that he “created her” and that she “owe[s]” him.
Ignore the Hollywood attention troll. Focus on the campaign, the voters of Delaware, and the bearded Marxist opponent who’s the real out-of-touch extremist in the race.
***
Update: Excellent comeback…
Delaware Republican Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell responded to old clips that surfaced over the weekend where she said she had once “dabbled in witchcraft,” clarifying at a GOP picnic in Delaware Sunday, “I was in high school, how many of you didn’t hang out with questionable folks in high school? But no, There’s been no witchcraft since, if there was, Karl Rove would be a supporter.”
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fly…
“Let’s discuss the Marxist who is running against me.”
Absolutely. But its not either or. Its both. She needs to address this stuff, nail it down, then bring Obama’s lousy job and Coon’s marxism to the forefront.
“Z-Z-Z-Z”
Well at least you didn’t insult Christians and the Bible this morning Phil. Well at least not yet anyway.
So Phil did you answer my question about what kind of stand you are going to make this fall? Going to act in a way that allows the left to stay in power or act in a way that has a chance to impede Obama’s agenda?
You for or against America in the voting booth this fall?
Give it up JSM. As with the late Rags and one or two others, I don’t argue with idiots. I ignore them. I am not going to contribute to obnoxious and incomprehensible threads you generate with your endless posts. Move on. You are not entitled to responses from anybody.
This is a conservative blog, not a Republican blog. If you don’t like Michelle’s work, find a blog that is more suitable to your politics.
If you don’t like my comments, spare me the personal insults. Comment around me like I’m trying to do around you and your pals.
jsmiddleton4, I was unable follow any of your reasoning or comments. It made no sense.
September 14 Christine O’Donnell wins primary election
September 18 John Hinderaker writes a hit piece 4 days AFTER the election
What is the purpose of a Republican writing a negative blog post about a Republican candidate primary WINNER just 40+ days to the general election? To discourage the Delaware people by giving the Democrats defective ammunition that was written from a Republican?
Castle ran as a liberal. Castle is NOT supporting the Republican nomination. Was John’s point to make sure the Republicans took the Senate with Castle? Thorough vetting would have killed anyone’s chance of running. Castle was finally vetted by Informed Voters thanks to the Tea Party funding. The Republican establishment intentionally ignored Delaware. The Tea Party promoted Christine’s platform of lower taxes, repeal ObamaDeathCare, pro business jobs stance, etc. by finally counteracting the Delaware liberal media and liberal establishment with Tea Party money. Castle was for the Cap-N-Trade Act and the DISCLOSE Act… Anti Capitalist and Anti First Amendment.
Heck, fly Charlie Rangel or Barney Frank to Delaware and put an (R) after their name so we can have a majority. Right? They love to lie about their records just as much as Castle.
Why didn’t these same alleged call-in Republicans, upset about Castle, find another candidate to run against him? Probably because they were not Republicans calling in. They were the typical anonymous Democrat Seminar Callers and Castle staffers.
FYI, the Tea Party is a term for small groups of localized individuals, without centralized leadership, working to restore fiscal responsibility and Constitutional law. How do you dissolve with a foundation like that? They are not grumpy conspiracy theorist. Why don’t you attend a local meeting and find out for yourself.
Rove fancies himself a ‘coach’ if you will. But he’s only a coach if his team wins. He’s like a coach whose team is down by a touchdown or two at half and says, “You can’t win, we might as well not play the rest of the game”.
Seriously, Rove’s primary complaint is a tax issue. As though nobody in Congress has ever had a tax issue. (Tim Geithner) Has he mentioned Maxine Waters? or didn’t Charlie Rangel just win his primary? Maybe I could ask Rove questions about his buddies like Abramoff and Ken Lay. Did he ever mention McCain and the Keating 5?
Anyway, if corruption was a dis qualifier, nobody in DC is qualified to hold public office – Rove included. His complaints about O’Donnell pale in comparison to the raping that the taxpayer has gotten by the federal government under his watch.
Again, you can vote for Coons or against Coons. It is your choice.
“How do you dissolve with a foundation like that?”
Some of the self proclaimed tea party folks on this forum are trying their hardest.
Maher is a loser and he knows it. He has to get more and more nasty and disgusting just to get people to listen to him. May God have mercy on him.
“Why don’t you attend a local meeting and find out for yourself.”
Have. One of the reasons I am consistent in pointing out Phil’s fraud and the damage he is doing is because I’ve seen and been with local tea party folks up close. Phil ain’t it although he pretends to be.
“a hit piece”
Your term “hit” is based on your own agenda.
“What is the purpose of a Republican writing a negative blog post about a Republican candidate primary…’
Doubtful it matters enough to him to bother to answer some dialog on MM’s site but I’d say the answer is because he’s a blogger/journalist involved with politics?
Your assumptions of sinister motivation are about your agenda and bias.
“if corruption was a dis qualifier”
I thought it was a prerequisite?
“Why didn’t these same alleged call-in Republicans, upset about Castle, find another candidate to run against him?”
So they weren’t “real” Republicans. Now that explains it…..
They sounded pretty legit to me. Had Castle’s record straight and were quite inclusive. Had a pretty good run down of the context. Feel pretty confident that a big part of the vote in Delaware was “She’s not Castle” vote.
Like JD got here in AZ. Many of his votes were “He’s not McCain” votes not really JD is THE man votes.
Amer…
Sad that your way of thinking is paralleled in how we get accused of being racist for criticizing Obama. Tell the truth about Obama and the left labels us racist.
Tell the truth about O’Donnell and a person is labeled as doing a “hit” piece, having sinister motives, etc.
Same m.o.
Powerline’s piece is reasonable, accurate and is appropriate for its purpose of existence or genre.
Blasting the author’s motives and attacking him is unproductive.
But as a strategy its well used.
JSM…Seven posts in a row? That must be some kind of record! Yikes!
Connecting….dots…Bill Maher spelled backwards is Libb Reham–which is an obtuse connection to the liberal Rahm in the White House–and an ancient satanic spelling of douchebag. His initials are BM, which is unfortunate for the national voice of excretion.
Maher and his cohort, the flatulent Mikey Moore, are often rumored to be hanging out in Maher’s smoky,darkened room burning incense,while playing old LP’s backwards on turntables in their search for backmasked satanic messages from the great beyond (the Beatle’s White Album is their favorite as they still believe Paul is dead). The incense is needed for both ambiance and to counter Moore’s bio-hazard strength B.O. [Moore takes his B.O. seriously as those are the initials of his Dear Leader; he also believes these initials are a subliminal code to the unwashed masses to release their toxins into the air, thereby countering global warming in a big cloud of stink] The dynamic duo often imbibe in smoking nutmeg and eating bags of Doritos and canned bean dip (hence Moore’s thunderous reputation).
Sadly, Maher’s most recent Tarot card reading, Ouija board experiment, as well as his daily horoscope, all point to an enormous sanitation for his species on November 2nd by the evil radical right.
WOT but I like the banner beneath Obama featured on Drudge at the moment: “Guard the Change”. I see a good bumper stick here: “Change the Guard”.
That is probably better/more acceptable than my first choice:
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS
It might upset some of the more delicate among us.
Did Obama promote witchcraft by reading all seven of the Harry Potter books to his daughters?
Only liberals are allowed the room to briefly run with the Devil.
May I recommend decapitation by iron skillet?
I’m on it!
I was hoping you were paying attention. This is your specialty.
Gee happy…. your noticing my post count is touching.
Busy day. Drive by posting….
Yes…I have an old skillet that belonged to my Mother. They made them a lot stronger and heavier back then! I lift weights so that I will be able to control the aim. I am only 5’2″ but I can lift it up and bean a man over 6 feet tall. I am serious…you never know when you might need such a weapon!!
I’ve got a couple of iron skillets that I am trying to season but it takes years. I’m not sure using them to behead people won’t strip off the nice patina I have working.
“made them a lot stronger and heavier back then!”
Mothers or skillets?
Back to work now happ… Let me know what my post count was. I’ll see if I can impress you inbetween my next patients.
Ha! Both.
I have to go now also. I am going through my fourth pneumonia this year….trying to get into the Guiness Book of Records. I need a nap.
I don’t care for Maher, but I think this is fair … poetry (figuratively, and literally).
We all have to answer for our past, and O’Donnell’s no exception. I hope she responds without prevarication … as we already have a Kenyan-size load of that in the White House, and the stench is smothering the country.
“I am going through my fourth pneumonia
this year”
Sorry you are having that battle.
Please get it checked thoroughly. My dad keep messing with same thing, was glad his doctor didn’t make him come into the office but just called in antibiotics. In the end he had leukemia and the reason he kept getting pneumoia was he had not immunse system.
Doctor should have seen him after the seond time and done complete workup.
Don’t mess with something like this. Its not “normal” to keep getting it over and over.
Careful there taz… you might be accused of being a robot of John Cornyn and attacking O’Donnell unfairly.
Answer to her past: “I have, like everyone done and said things that were lest than the best choices. However, I have grown beyond it.”
You start answering in detail in any fashion all you will get is more questions framed in the “Do you still beat your wife?” format.
The relevant pieces of the campaign disappear in the clutter and the Marxist gets to a) hide and b) win.
I refuse to play defense any longer and allow the Progressives to play “Whack a Mole” with us.
If the press wants details on unanswered questions about politicians’ past then lets do it in chronological order. Before we get to O’Donnell’s past decisions and qualifications we can answer the same questions about Frank, Dodd, Feinstein, Kerry, Reid, Pelosi, Boxer, Franken, and Obama.
If the media wants to have a double standard then we aren’t cooperating. It’s time we grew a pair and fought for a $$$$ change.
If the people of Deleware are satisfied, those of us who don’t live there count. The citizens of Deleware are the judges, not us.
Thanks Phil.
This is a classic case of blowing nothing up into a major flap. She was a teenager and who expects common sense then.
Thanks for the advice. I was actually going to ask you if you had any ideas why I keep getting this! I have gone in and had CT scans for all of them except this time. Today the doctor in the emergency room listened to my chest, heard reduced lung sounds on the same side as my pain, and took my very learned and educated diagnosis as to what it is. I know how I feel and this is definitely pneumonia again. I plan to get into my family Dr. this week. I want to get to the bottom of this!! On the internet it says something about a problem with immune system, so I will be checking on that. Thanks!
As you probably have determined by now, I am definitely not “normal”!
By 2016 GOP candidates who have had overdue library books in Junior High will be considered unfit for public office. The Marxist, pedophile, child rapist will be lauded by the Democrats and we won’t say a word, nor will anyone in the media.
I would say that O’Donnell is quite an over-achiever wouldn’t you? Appearing regularly on Bill Maher while in high school? How old is she anyway? If she were a man, she would be described favorably as a “young man in a hurry”. What is the female version. Slutty nutcase?
Happy have you ever have a pneumonia shot? I am not sure in your situation it would be effective or advised, but the vaccine lasts 10 years.
Unnecessary, a little back and forth is to be expected, but lately you’ve taken being an antagonistic putz to an art form. No need to respond. I call them as I see them.
Carl Rove and his Witches of Beltway.
BTW, that picture of Maher, he looks like Millhouse Van Houten without his glasses on.
I had a pneumona shot a couple years ago. Apparently, it doesn’t work for everyone!
That was in her late 20s. She was recounting an experience from high school.
I agree there’s a sense of overachieving. When she was on the panel, she had to deal with being outnumbered four against one, being ganged up on and constantly mocked. She acquitted herself as well as anyone could in that situation.
Well that’s not good. Sorry.
I admire the fact that O’Donnell did not go to an Ivy League college and was not on her high school debate team. What I can not abide by is how so many of my fellow conservatives are willing to look the other way or excuse the fact that she filed a frivolous lawsuit, using all the techniques and strategies that the trial lawyers and the left wing use to redistribute income. She used all the standard phrases of the Left: “Gender equity”, “sexual equality”, all the rest of the grabbag of left wing and feminist ideology. Yet many conservatives simply say: “tut tut, it was in the past”. If you are against tort reform by words or action, then you are not a conservative. Tort reform should be the number one issue to judge candidates by.
That explains how she could be running for the senate at her age, were she just 30 or less.
Okay, so she got away with devil worship. But I heard that during her pre-school years, she constructed something very disturbing with popsicle sticks at the arts and crafts table at the local park. It’s never too early for mental illness with these nutty, slutty conservative females. Maybe they should be killed in the crib. But then you’d be talking about complete-birth abortions.
I love her comeback remarks that Michelle just updated. Christine is taking Sarah Palin’s lead by going on the offensive as Sarah did with child sexual pervert David Letterman. Rove went beyond being a commentator by attempting to negotiate Christine’s failure before the primaries began. These RINO establishment guys think they are invincible within the Republican party. Time to put these pit bull puppies on the newspaper training pad so they don’t make a bigger mess when confronted by a Conservative Woman.
B.S. instantly flies off the tongues of these Republican men when rumors swirl and none of the accusations are verified. When we get details from the accused, Christine, it’s nothing near the frightening disaster some of these chauvinists slobs have been complaining about.
That kind of reasoning is why John McCain is going back to the Senate and is already campaigning for amnesty. Focus. O’Donnell is THE candidate. She won fair and square. Do you want Republicans to win or not?
Now you know how we conservatives feel always having to hold our noses to vote for Democrats running as Republicans.
Nah, I think I’ll stick with abortion, illegal immigration, Islamic terrorism, and the economy as top prorities, not saying tort reform ain’t important though.
FIFY
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36726.html
Every time I hear more from O’Donnell, as well as more from sub-human vermin like Maher, the more adamantly I want her to win.
I saw her 20 minute talk to the FRC on C-Span earlier today; superb speechwriting, delivered by a charming, genuine, principles-based, non-party-machine human being.
Sure hope the citizens of Delaware are smart enough to put her in (particularly if the citizens of Alaska end up being gulliable enough to permit Murkowski to let a Democrat take her place).
Very good. Now take that reasoning and apply it to California. Actually, Phil, for all your complaining, we don’t disagree on very much, except for which future course of action would be most effective.
Funny,Bill Maher praised the 9/11 Terrorists and the Lame Stream takes this POS seriously, one question – He works for HBO who is owned by who probably is owned by someone else -would not these clips belong to the owners of said company? Did they give permission for the Lawn Grub to release them?
This is near perfect.
“I was in high school, how many of you didn’t hang out with questionable folks in high school? But no, there’s been no witchcraft since,” she said, shrugging off her dalliances with the dark arts.
“Now let’s put that to rest and move on to what we’re going to do,” she said
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/19/campaign-magical-explanation-odonnells-witchcraft-dalliance/
On September 20th, 2010 at 9:17 am, jsmiddleton4 said:
—————————————-
Also from her response to the “witchcraft” clip: “If there was (witchcraft), Karl Rove would be supporting me!”
I am liking this lady more and more. As far as the whole Halloween issue, I think it’s overblown. If you participate in the “trappings” that don’t have any kind of religious meaning (decorations, scary movies, giving candy to trick-or-treaters), you are not worshipping satan or any pagan god. Lighten up.
Phil’s point is sound even if he doesn’t think it should apply to Fiorina or McCain.
It is the RINO’S who are always preaching the importance of electing Republicans to us.
He’s just calling them on their hypocrisy. No, it’s not ‘the same thing,’ and it doesn’t make him ‘just like them.’ (I know you know that, txvet2, I’m just making a preemptive strike against the jsm type nonthinkers).
Chumming the waters as it were.
Maher is a gift to conservatives. The only ones watching his liberal loon sideshow are liberal loons. Alinski’s tactics are old school and Americans are catching on to the farce.
Yea, lets all support this woman for a Senate seat strictly because she is conservative. Let’s forget she dabbled in witchcraft, embezzled campaign funds, and believes scientists have cloned mice with fully functioning human brains. Let’s not even go into the masturbation issue.
If this is the insanity that conservatives want to get behind, we have moved even closer to destroying the GOP. Any short term gains will be reversed over the long term and probably insure Obama’s reelection.
We can’t discuss D’oh!bamma’s past though because he doesn’t have one, does he? Hipocrites, all.
Who cares if she did? The media is more concerned about her past and could care less about Obama. Obama still won’t release his past so to speak and this to me is much more concerning to me than the fact she might have dabbled in witchcraft. I have friends that are witches and if again the media and others did their research witches aren’t evil – now Obama and the far left on the other had in my opinion are.
Maher said he was going to release a “series of clips” designed embarrass her until she came on his show.
Where are they? Clearly, this was all he had and he shot his wad. If she had gone on the show you can bet he would have created some new ones though.
Wotta putz.