# Odonnell beats Castle in Delaware **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 15, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798 "2010-09-15T02:21:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/61 "2010-09-15T20:59:39Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > > > I’d say there is abundant reason to be afraid of this woman and her getting elected merely displays the idiocy of voters and nothing else when a character like this gets put up for the senate. > > And here I thought that they voted for her because they thought her Republican values more closely matched their own than did the values of her opponent. Sure…just they are all delusional. These are the same folk who think Obama is a Kenyan Marxist Fascist Manchurian Candidate who wants death panels for grandma. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/62 "2010-09-15T21:03:57Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > And now, they own the Republican Party. Conservatives of principle don’t even recognize their party, cannot fathom how the party of Goldwater, Buckley and Rockefeller turned into this seething mass of ignorance. They cannot win without the Tea Party energy, so they have to sell themselves if they are going to retain power. Sounds exactly like the pickle they got into pandering to the religious right. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/63 "2010-09-15T21:25:41Z")
[QUOTE=Whack-a-Mole] - She thinks masturbation is wrong because the bible says so and works to teach that message including lobbying government (so yeah I care). - She lied about when she graduated (she owed money and only settled the loan 17 years later just prior to a debate with Castle this year) - She lied about previously winning two counties in a previous run for senate (she didn’t, not even one, not even close). - She is paranoid so lives in a town home half-paid for by her campaign so no one knows where she really lives (everyone knows where Vice President Biden [formerly senator] lives) and has staff check her bushes nightly and believes people are hiding in bushes at campaign stops. - She owes money in unpaid taxes from 2005 and the IRS filed a lien against her house. - Her mortgage holder got a default judgment against her for over $90,000 she has not paid. - She opposes abortion even in the case of rape. - She wants to drill more oil and denies global warming. - She wants to replace federal health care with the free market. - Make English America’s “official” language. - Wants a single rate tax system. On a ton of issues she has no stance I can find. On the issues of taxes and finance she is pretty much empty on the details. Lowering taxes is great. Any schmo can say as much. How? On who? How will you pay for government? How will you reduce the deficit? How will you stimulate the economy? I’d say there is abundant reason to be afraid of this woman and her getting elected merely displays the idiocy of voters and nothing else when a character like this gets put up for the senate. [/QUOTE] Add to these - Refused to file campaign contribution reports at all until threatened with legal action; completely ignored the first 7 requests to do so - Used campaign contributions to pay her own living expenses (not just the townhome but clothing, utilities, various loans, etc.) while routinely letting staff members go completely unpaid or reimbursed even when she knew it was a financial hardship for them and they were working for a salary - Her own former campaign manager actively denounced her as a greedy on-the-make-charlatan - Made public insinuations about her opponent’s sexual orientation after calling on people not to privately make insinuations about her opponent’s sexual orientation But she doesn’t believe in whacking off so she’s moral. This sickeningly common form of Fundie morality is turning more people away from Christian churches than any Muslim who ever lived. If she’s elected you can imagine the field day the lobbyists are going to have with her. “$60,000 donation [wink-wink] from the Hezbollah? Why of course I’ll cash it! I think Islamadans are just as good a Christians as anyone else!” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/64 "2010-09-15T21:30:20Z")
Did anyone see this political cartoon the other day: There is a road with a fork. The main road is labeled “right” and the fork is labeled “far right”. To the right of the fork are tire tracks leading to a car, driven by an elephant, crashed into a tree. The subtext says: TeaTotaled. ---
**Author:** ![Unix\_Geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unix_geek/32/19368_2.png) [@Unix\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unix_Geek)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/65 "2010-09-15T21:31:45Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Conservatives of principle don’t even recognize their party, cannot fathom how the party of Goldwater, Buckley and Rockefeller turned into this seething mass of ignorance. Amen Brother AMEN! ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/66 "2010-09-15T21:48:44Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > > [@newcomer](#): > > > > Irrelevant. > > > > For me, the fact that GOP establishment went after her and she still won the day says a lot - takes a grown person to be able to withstand that and you got to respect that no matter what. Do I think she might be a target of GOP’s pressure tactics? You bet! But still, irrelevant. > > > > Do you have anything substantial in terms of her ideas on how to run the government or you just think cutting taxes and reducing spending is not your cup of tea (no pun intended)? > > Irrelevant? > > What is relevant to you is that she won? Nevermind the rest? > > Let’s see who this woman is and what she believes: > > - She thinks masturbation is wrong because the bible says so and works to teach that message including lobbying government (so yeah I care). > > - She lied about when she graduated (she owed money and only settled the loan 17 years later just prior to a debate with Castle this year) > > - She lied about previously winning two counties in a previous run for senate (she didn’t, not even one, not even close). > > - She is paranoid so lives in a town home half-paid for by her campaign so no one knows where she really lives (everyone knows where Vice President Biden [formerly senator] lives) and has staff check her bushes nightly and believes people are hiding in bushes at campaign stops. > > - She owes money in unpaid taxes from 2005 and the IRS filed a lien against her house. > > - Her mortgage holder got a default judgment against her for over $90,000 she has not paid. > > - She opposes abortion even in the case of rape. > > - She wants to drill more oil and denies global warming. > > - She wants to replace federal health care with the free market. > > - Make English America’s “official” language. > > - Wants a single rate tax system. > > On a ton of issues she has no stance I can find. > > On the issues of taxes and finance she is pretty much empty on the details. Lowering taxes is great. Any schmo can say as much. How? On who? How will you pay for government? How will you reduce the deficit? How will you stimulate the economy? > > I’d say there is abundant reason to be afraid of this woman and her getting elected merely displays the idiocy of voters and nothing else when a character like this gets put up for the senate. I assume you can furnish credible cites for all this. In [this clip](http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/09/christine-odonnell-on-roves-un-factual-remarks-and-republican-cannibalism.html) (scroll down), from an interview with George Stephanopolis this morning, she denies the school loan and IRS allegations. I thought that for a novice at odds with the big boys she handled herself pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/67 "2010-09-15T22:27:55Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I thought that for a novice at odds with the big boys she handled herself pretty well. Palinesque? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/68 "2010-09-16T00:16:01Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I assume you can furnish credible cites for all this. Of course. - [http://www.whorunsgov.com/index.php?title=Profiles/Christine\_O'Donnell](http://www.whorunsgov.com/index.php?title=Profiles/Christine_O%27Donnell) (click on the various tabs, particularly the Issues tab.) Note that site is run by the Washington Post. - [http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Christine\_O`Donnell.htm](http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Christine_O%60Donnell.htm) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/69 "2010-09-16T00:26:44Z")
FTR, [Coons is beating O’Donnell in nearly all the polls.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Delaware,_2010#Predictions) No post-primary polls yet available. But I’m pretty sure this is one Senate seat the GOP won’t be picking up this year. [And so is Karl Rove.](http://www.thenation.com/blog/154731/can-grand-old-tea-party-win-november) > [@](#): > > “We were looking at eight to nine seats in the Senate. We’re now looking at seven to eight in my opinion,” Rove said Tuesday night. “This is not a race we are going to be able to win.” ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/70 "2010-09-16T02:59:27Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Add to these > > - Refused to file campaign contribution reports at all until threatened with legal action; completely ignored the first 7 requests to do so > > - Used campaign contributions to pay her own living expenses (not just the townhome but clothing, utilities, various loans, etc.) while routinely letting staff members go completely unpaid or reimbursed even when she knew it was a financial hardship for them and they were working for a salary > > - Her own former campaign manager actively denounced her as a greedy on-the-make-charlatan > > - Made public insinuations about her opponent’s sexual orientation after calling on people not to privately make insinuations about her opponent’s sexual orientation > > But she doesn’t believe in whacking off so she’s moral. This sickeningly common form of Fundie morality is turning more people away from Christian churches than any Muslim who ever lived. > > If she’s elected you can imagine the field day the lobbyists are going to have with her. “$60,000 donation [wink-wink] from the Hezbollah? Why of course I’ll cash it! I think Islamadans are just as good a Christians as anyone else!” We can also add that on evolution, [she believes](http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-vine/77707/odonnell-carbon-dating-bogus): > [@](#): > > Well, creationism, in essence, is believing that the world began as the Bible in Genesis says, that God created the Earth in six days, six 24-hour periods. And there is just as much, if not more, evidence supporting that. Nutjob. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/71 "2010-09-16T03:29:30Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > [ > > - She opposes abortion even in the case of rape. > > - She wants to drill more oil and denies global warming. > > - Make English America’s “official” language. Those are positions I don’t have particular problem with although I prefer nuclear energy over risky oil drilling. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/72 "2010-09-16T03:50:00Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > > > [ > > > > - She opposes abortion even in the case of rape. > > > > - She wants to drill more oil and denies global warming. > > > > - Make English America’s “official” language. > > Those are positions I don’t have particular problem with although I prefer nuclear energy over risky oil drilling. And? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/73 "2010-09-16T04:50:15Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I see the sharpening of hostility to politicized social conservatism in Group 1, and the awakening of such hostility in Group 3, as awareness spreads that the GOP has been using social-conservative talking points the way a magician uses a scantily clad assistant (i.e. as a distraction while they perform a trick). Well, that’s how I feel, but I consider the low-tax low-service régime the Tea Party advocates to be the trick. A nasty nasty trick. (I’m from poor, central US, evangelical white stock. My people are being led to ruin by this crap.) > [@Chefguy](#): > > It’s interesting that many see the Tea Party as some noble effort, when it seems to be attracting candidates who are bonifide loonies. These are the best they can field? Support from Beck, Bachman and other crazies equals “progressive”? > [@Chefguy](#): > > The Tea Party believes that they are enlightened and represent the progressive arm of the right. Your delusion may vary. I take your meaning. They do seem to think they are the real force for good change, which we would associate with “progress.” But Beck has actually said he sees [“Progressives” as a disease](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvMqHiiL1lI). So “revolting” might be more the word they’d like. > [@gonzomax](#): > > We expected him to torch the bankers who destroyed the economy. He actually put their pissboy, Geithner, in power. Nobody went to jail. They are still looting away. Tim Geithner is not the bankers’ pissboy. Gah! Now back to your rant. > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > So, because of this, they support both keeping the tax cuts and reducing the deficit by large cuts in domestic social welfare spending, because they don’t believe the government should get involved in social welfare. Do their constituents know this? That’s not going to go over well with last year’s town hellers, is it? Any of these teabags get in office, they’re going to find out what the conservatives in office know from long bitter experience. Pensioners vote, & they will call you up & harass you about anything they don’t like–they have _time_ on their hands. > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > No, what’s in the Preamble is “General Welfare”, not “social welfare.” The founding fathers weren’t running around proposing federal programs to help the disadvantaged or disenfranchised. So what? [ul][_]The War for American Independence was fought so that the people would have trans-Appalachia to expand into. They had a whole continent to exploit. That source of “opportunity for the little guy” is gone, as is the land-owning agrarian economic base of their day.[_]It’s daft for modern right-wing believers in individual rights to appeal to the supposed social morality of a generation so devoid of social morality that they practiced chattel slavery, had no guarantee of individual rights against the state (the Bill of Rights was purely a restriction on federal power until the 14th Amendment), had debtor’s prisons (until 1833), & had no laws restricting abortion.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/74 "2010-09-16T05:55:54Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Peter Orzag was on Charlie Rose last night explaining it . Cutting spending will not work and can not be done anyway. If we did ,we would fundamentally change the nature of America. > [http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11204](http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11204) here is the interview explaining why you are dead wrong. Oh good lord thanks for this. That was amazing. I often lose patience with Charlie Rose, but Orszag was definitely worth listening to. I think the last several minutes should be heard by most Americans. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/75 "2010-09-16T14:40:53Z")
What is sad is the message that you can not cut programs to take care of the debt, will not get traction. People want to believe it is that simple. But the cold hard fact is ,it is politically impossible to chop up the programs that people somehow vaguely believe are the root of deficits. It seems logical and simple. But is insufficient . We have to get more revenue. Closing tax loopholes would help. Ending the Bush tax cuts would reduce the deficit by about 25 percent. That is a lot. But the rich and powerful have such great access to politicians and the media, that it wont happen. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/76 "2010-09-16T19:33:13Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > > [@Squink](#): > > > > And here I thought that they voted for her because they thought her Republican values more closely matched their own than did the values of her opponent. > > Apparently crazytown feels the need to reinvent herself: [http://christine2010.com/meet-christine/](http://christine2010.com/meet-christine/) In fact, the only part of her website that is currently operating is the interface where she processes your $$$ contribution. Policies? Platform? History & Experience? Zilchola. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/77 "2010-09-16T19:58:26Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > In fact, the only part of her website that is currently operating is the interface where she processes your $$$ contribution. Policies? Platform? History & Experience? Zilchola. That’s really what this has come to, though. When your entire stance is being an outsider, free from the taint of the political or media process, policies, experience, and media access are detrimental to a winning campaign. Character and attitude are all that matter. It’s political nihilism. Ability to govern effectively is a liability, because government is by definition bad. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/78 "2010-09-16T20:03:39Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > - She thinks masturbation is wrong because the bible says so and works to teach that message including lobbying government (so yeah I care). Or did she think that years ago and has since modified her position? > [@](#): > > - She lied about when she graduated (she owed money and only settled the loan 17 years later just prior to a debate with Castle this year) As lies go, I can’t get too worked up about this one. If her only missing piece was paying, and she completed all her coursework with satisfactory grades, then this lie is not a serious one. > [@](#): > > - She lied about previously winning two counties in a previous run for senate (she didn’t, not even one, not even close). Didn’t know this – more details? > [@](#): > > - She is paranoid so lives in a town home half-paid for by her campaign so no one knows where she really lives (everyone knows where Vice President Biden [formerly senator] lives) and has staff check her bushes nightly and believes people are hiding in bushes at campaign stops. And? > [@](#): > > - She owes money in unpaid taxes from 2005 and the IRS filed a lien against her house. > > - Her mortgage holder got a default judgment against her for over $90,000 she has not paid. These charges were refusted on her website: > [@](#): > > During my previous campaign against then Sen. Joe Biden, I was audited by the IRS – so were some of my family members and a campaign worker. (Let’s chalk that up to a coincidence.) After a long appeals process, this was supposed to have been wrapped up this past spring. > > Yet, in March, rather than a letter finalizing the appeals process, I received an erroneous tax lien claiming I had not responded to their previous correspondence. The IRS admitted the letter was a mistake, issued a Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien on May 19, 2010 and chalked it up to a “computer error.” The remaining balance was paid in full on May 16, 2010, clearly proving yet again that my political opponent is desperate and because of which he is ignoring the facts and circulating copies of the erroneous lien to reporters and bloggers. She then posts a scanned copy of the supporting documents. > [@](#): > > I sold my home in 2008. My opponent claims I lost it in foreclosure. > > Please find below, the letter from Citimortgage proving my home was privately sold in 2008 through a realtor and private mortgage company, not a public foreclosure. Yet, my opponent is circulating a supposed foreclosure notice. Again, she posts the letter from Citibank indicating her loan was paid. > [@](#): > > - She opposes abortion even in the case of rape. OK. I’m sure that’s true. For some people, of course, that may be a plus. > [@](#): > > - She wants to drill more oil and denies global warming. Me, too, as to drilling. > [@](#): > > - She wants to replace federal health care with the free market. Me, too. > [@](#): > > - Make English America’s “official” language. Me, too. > [@](#): > > - Wants a single rate tax system. Me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/79 "2010-09-16T20:22:32Z")
Well there ya go then. Count **Bricker** in the O’Donnell camp. As someone who for quite some time was a moderate NE-style Republican, this year is making me very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798/80 "2010-09-16T20:34:26Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > > > masturbation > > Or did she think that years ago and has since modified her position? Don’t know, but I do know that we know even less about this woman than we do about Barack Obama, our least known president _ever_. How can conservatives, in good conscience, vote for such an utterly unknown quantity? Will you go along when she introduces legislation to make masturbation a stoning offense, or do you just _hope_ that never happens? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odonnell-beats-castle-in-delaware/553798.md?page=5)