# Christine O'Donnell has replaced Palin in my heart of hearts... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 21, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499 "2010-09-21T02:35:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/241 "2010-10-14T12:14:30Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > if you want to keep acting like an asshole I can do that too. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/242 "2010-10-14T12:26:55Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > > > if you want to keep acting like an asshole I can do that too. > > Cite? You want a cite for **Starving Artist** acting like an asshole? Where have YOU been? Or do you want a cite that he’s _acting_ like an asshole, rather than being one genetically? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/243 "2010-10-14T13:29:20Z")
I think the question and\*\* Starving Artist’s \*_response highlight a dichotomy between left and right expectations. **Psychobunny** noted it in her last paragraph, but it’s possible to strip away some of the negativity to see that the both views are defensible. Not that both sides can’t still deride each other and think the other is off their rocker for not seeing things their way, and not that there isn’t plenty of room for blending the two viewpoints, but \* in general_, you have two outlooks prioritized differently: [ol][li]Office holders who are steeped in and adept at policy analysis will make better, more informed decisions. Contextual awareness is a crucial factor to this. [/li][li]Office holders who have an intuitive sense of right and wrong—one that most agrees with the voter’s sensibilities—will make better decisions overall. Contextual awareness is only necessary on a decision-by-decision basis.[/ol][/li] That smart, well-informed people have made notoriously bad decisions in the past greatly undercuts the perceived necessity of being well-informed to make good decisions. In addition, there is the necessity that a candidate share your intuition about right and wrong—someone who is well informed but holds values that are antithetical to your own is not a good voting choice. The SDMB obviously places an enormous amount of importance on the first one. How this evolved to be the predominant prioritization only of the left–and the significant downgrading of it by the right–is an open question. I suspect it’s a combined result of talk radio/Fox news finding and expanding a particular market segment and motivating them to the polls, but that’s a GD topic. I find it sad that the mass-market political culture on the right has evolved to apparently pay little heed to the first: We end up with candidates like O’donnell. Imagine for a moment that O’donnell was a protege of Buckley instead of Palin. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/244 "2010-10-14T13:48:23Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Don’t push your luck. I decided to cut you some slack because the election’s around the corner and it’s becoming obvious that you and a lot of other posters around here are starting to lose your cool. But if you want to keep acting like an asshole I can do that too. Here’s me pushing. And as a point of information. You act like an asshole every time you express one of your retarded (and I do suspect I’m using this term correctly in your case as you quack like a duck) opinions as fact whilst ignoring real facts. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/245 "2010-10-14T14:09:39Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > > [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > > > Cite? > > You want a cite for **Starving Artist** acting like an asshole? Where have YOU been? > > Or do you want a cite that he’s _acting_ like an asshole, rather than being one genetically? Look man, the fact that he used his own attempted sexual assault of a little girl as an attack on the all-pervasive evil of libruls has no bearing on whether or not he’s an asshole. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/246 "2010-10-14T14:15:50Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > > [@jayjay](#): > > > > You want a cite for **Starving Artist** acting like an asshole? Where have YOU been? > > > > Or do you want a cite that he’s _acting_ like an asshole, rather than being one genetically? > > Look man, the fact that he used his own attempted sexual assault of a little girl as an attack on the all-pervasive evil of libruls has no bearing on whether or not he’s an asshole. > > -Joe Yea - I forgot the ‘Evil Liberals made me a sexual predator’ nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/247 "2010-10-14T14:19:14Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Look man, the fact that he used his own attempted sexual assault of a little girl … Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/248 "2010-10-14T14:29:34Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I can think of lots of Supreme Court decisions I’ve disagreed with over the years but I couldn’t name most of them to save my life and I’d bet there isn’t a poster on this board who couldn’t say the same. These are nothing but “gotcha” questions deliberately intended to make the candidate look bad. > > “Mr. Coons, how many people went down on the Titanic?” > > “Ms. O’Donnell, can you name them please?” Why stop there? “Mr. Paladino, what Y-chromosome haplogroup is most widely represented among the African-American community?” “Mr. DeMint, what is the square root of 4, 221?” Of course, none of these questions is _remotely_ as unfair as: “Mrs. Palin, what newspapers do you read?” or “What Supreme Court decisions do you agree with?” Fuck that lamestream media and its gotcha questions! [QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] Cite? [/QUOTE] That’ll be $20, please. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/249 "2010-10-14T14:34:05Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > > [@Merijeek](#): > > > > Look man, the fact that he used his own attempted sexual assault of a little girl … > > Cite? Not going to dig for it, and I’m sure that plenty of people have it bookmarked and will be along shortly. Basically, the story goes “I asked my old man about sex and he showed me some porn so I tried to have sex with the eight year-old down the street. Therefore sex ed is evil, and because liberals support it they also support things like trying to fuck eight year-olds”. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/250 "2010-10-14T14:34:26Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > > [@Chefguy](#): > > > > She also said that Coons will vote with Harry Reid “lock step and barrel”. Gold, I tells ya. > > You’d think a real Tea Party patriot would have her gun metaphors well in hand… **Starving Artist** linked to cites in the election forum thread that shows this is a common malapropism. I’d never heard it until this debate. People say the dumbest things. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/251 "2010-10-14T15:44:19Z")
> [@Satyagrahi](#): > > Right off the top, before we determine who was fighting whom, I’d like to know where she found Soviets in the 90’s… In Russia, Georgia, the Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, and a whole bunch of -istans that I can’t recite off the top of my head. The Soviet Union didn’t go away until late 1991. Don’t you remember the “Gang of Eight” coup attempt as the last major event of the Soviet Union? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/252 "2010-10-14T16:03:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [It just gets better:](http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkpoint-washington/2010/10/does_christine_odonnell_know_s.html) > > > [@](#): > > > > In a 2006 debate, Christine O’Donnell, the Republican Senate nominee from Delaware, claimed that she had classified information about China’s plans to take over America. > > > > The remarks sound like they’re straight out of “Red Dawn,” the upcoming movie about China’s takeover of the United States. Only O’Donnell wasn’t just saying her lines. > > > > According to an Associated Press report on Monday, the candidate, who lost in her 2006 primary bid for the Senate, said China had a “carefully thought out and strategic plan to take over America.” Responding to an opponent who said that working with China was in U.S. interests, O’Donnell countered: “That doesn’t work,” she said. “There’s much I want to say. I wish I wasn’t privy to some of the classified information that I am privy to.” > > She then goes on to cast various slurs on China, most of them provably false. But, as O’Donnell has never yet held any public office (despite several campaigns), where does she get classified information? > > Christine, if you don’t want people thinking you’re a witch, this is not the way to go about it. I would be stunned if China did not have a plan to do just that. And I would be stunned to discover that the US didn’t have a plan to take over China. I am confident that the US has a plant to occupy Antarctica. That’s what defense organizations do. They create contingency plans for a whole host of exceedingly unlikely scenarios. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/253 "2010-10-14T16:05:06Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > > [@Satyagrahi](#): > > > > Right off the top, before we determine who was fighting whom, I’d like to know where she found Soviets in the 90’s… > > In Russia, Georgia, the Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, and a whole bunch of -istans that I can’t recite off the top of my head. > > The Soviet Union didn’t go away until late 1991. Don’t you remember the “Gang of Eight” coup attempt as the last major event of the Soviet Union? Fair enough. Fact remains though, that the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989… ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/254 "2010-10-14T16:06:18Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I am confident that the US has a plant to occupy Antarctica. Monsanto been working on a cold-resistant strain of kudzu? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/255 "2010-10-14T16:07:06Z")
Christine O’Donnell is an idiot. There is nothing remotely unfair about asking about recent Supreme Court cases you agree (or disagree) with. Even if you can’t recall the case styling, you can answer the question with, “Well, I didn’t like the land confiscation decision a few years ago,” or “The campaign finance decision was a good one.” ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/256 "2010-10-14T16:10:01Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@Bricker](#): > > > > I am confident that the US has a plant to occupy Antarctica. > > Monsanto been working on a cold-resistant strain of kudzu? Lichen. Enormous, mobile lichen. But you didn’t hear it from me. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/257 "2010-10-14T16:11:25Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Christine O’Donnell is an idiot. > > There is nothing remotely unfair about asking about recent Supreme Court cases you agree (or disagree) with. Even if you can’t recall the case styling, you can answer the question with, “Well, I didn’t like the land confiscation decision a few years ago,” or “The campaign finance decision was a good one.” You’ve gotta realize though that we’re in the zone where simply asking a candidate what they read is spun into a tricksy “gotcha” question by the nasty liberal media. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/258 "2010-10-14T16:16:42Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I would be stunned if China did not have a plan to do just that. > > And I would be stunned to discover that the US didn’t have a plan to take over China. > > I am confident that the US has a plant to occupy Antarctica. That’s what defense organizations do. They create contingency plans for a whole host of exceedingly unlikely scenarios. Yes, but nobody _talks_ about them. While she may be factually correct, the fact that she is bringing up the Chinese plan clearly implies that the Chinese intend to put _their_ crazy plan into action. There’s probably a British plan to invade the US too, but there aren’t any Senatorial candidates wringing their hands over it. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/259 "2010-10-14T16:19:31Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@Bricker](#): > > > > In Russia, Georgia, the Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, and a whole bunch of -istans that I can’t recite off the top of my head. > > > > The Soviet Union didn’t go away until late 1991. Don’t you remember the “Gang of Eight” coup attempt as the last major event of the Soviet Union? > > Fair enough. Fact remains though, that the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989… Yes, militarily. But the Soviets still supported Mohammad Najibullah until 1992, and the CIA continued to fund the Mujahideen through [1991 at least](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3853553). > [@NPR](#): > > During the late 1980s and early 1990s, as allies battling Soviet occupation forces and their Afghan communist proxies, the CIA had pumped cash stipends as high as $200,000 a month to Massoud and his Islamic guerrilla organization, along with weapons and other supplies. Between 1989 and 1991, Schroen had personally delivered some of the cash. But the aid stopped in December 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. The United States government decided it had no further interests in Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499/260 "2010-10-14T16:25:00Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > [@Bricker](#): > > > > I would be stunned if China did not have a plan to do just that. > > > > And I would be stunned to discover that the US didn’t have a plan to take over China. > > > > I am confident that the US has a plant to occupy Antarctica. That’s what defense organizations do. They create contingency plans for a whole host of exceedingly unlikely scenarios. > > Yes, but nobody _talks_ about them. While she may be factually correct, the fact that she is bringing up the Chinese plan clearly implies that the Chinese intend to put _their_ crazy plan into action. > > There’s probably a British plan to invade the US too, but there aren’t any Senatorial candidates wringing their hands over it. Then the proper criticism is not “Look at the crazy woman saying there’s a plan!” but rather “Look at the crazy woman insinuating that this is a serious issue.” This pattern is disturbing. It’s as though the decision is made that since she’s an idiot, any criticism of her may be made, whether factual or not. Look at the snickers above about her claims that we fought against Soviet interests in the 80s and 90s. Ha! Ha! What a moron she is, saying the Soviets were around in the 90s! What’s that? Oh? They were? Well, they weren’t involved in Afganistan in the 1990s. Oh. They were. Well, that’s a reasonable mistake, one that anyone can make. :rolleyes: When she makes the error, she’s an idiot. But I am willing to bet that we won’t see similar condemnations against the posters here who, it turns out, were actually the ones in error on the claim. How about we stick to actual, factual reasons to dismiss Ms. O’Donnell? She has given us no shortage of those. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christine-odonnell-has-replaced-palin-in-my-heart-of-hearts/554499.md?page=14)