Althouse: O'Donnell "is actually defaming Wiccans."

September 21, 2010

O'Donnell "is actually defaming Wiccans."

"Whether she intends to do that or not as a way to try and get herself out of this political problem she has created for herself, the fact is America really needs to be a place where you can celebrate diversity and practice your religion without getting ridiculed or defamed."

60 comments:

TMink said...: Oh please. There is no guarantee of acceptance in America. THe wiccans should use their mojo to grow a backbone and a wee dram of self esteem.

I am over professional "victims."

Trey; 9/21/10, 8:24 AM
test said...: So when they think she participated it meant she's "unstable". As soon as she denies it the "High Priestess & Senior Minister of the Circle Sanctuary" is someone worthy of respect.

How... predictable.; 9/21/10, 8:26 AM
master cylinder said...: Why was ODonnell on tv so much? weird.; 9/21/10, 8:27 AM
Anonymous said...: From the article, this bit of piffle:

Whether she intends to do that or not as a way to try and get herself out of this political problem she has created for herself, the fact is America really needs to be a place where you can celebrate diversity and practice your religion without getting ridiculed or defamed.

My experience with "wiccans" is that they almost always chose being wiccans to outrage family, friends and neighbors. They are almost always the same people who are tattooed from head to foot.

So, deliberately choose to outrage, then claim to be a victim when you achieve your goal.

Finally, drag out the corporate dreck about "celebrating diversity."

God, why did you create so many dreary, awful people who want attention?; 9/21/10, 8:29 AM
Hagar said...: The union minimum for appearing on a show was still important money to live on for her.; 9/21/10, 8:30 AM
KCFleming said...: "...the Lady Liberty League and other Wiccan and pagan civil rights and religious freedom groups..."

Dagnabit, if that ain't the funniest damn thing I have read in donkey's years.; 9/21/10, 8:31 AM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/21/10, 8:33 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: I had a level 17 warrior-mage in Dungeons and Dragons when I was 15.
I wonder if that's going to be a bigger negative than when I egged the McDougal house down the street.

On the other hand I smoked pot and slept with 78 women by the time I was 22 so I guess that will cancel out my youthful indiscretions.; 9/21/10, 8:33 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: I should have joined the Socialist Students forum when I was in college. I could probably be running the DNC today.; 9/21/10, 8:34 AM
AllenS said...: At least she's not a Scientologist.; 9/21/10, 8:35 AM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Ask a Wiccan about Chritianity.; 9/21/10, 8:36 AM
traditionalguy said...: The wiccan tradition can cliam to be the original and therefore the oldest religion on the earth. That is why the Covenant Religion founded by God with Abraham and later lead to victory by Moses has always forbidden its practice. But men will always seek power over nature and enemies, and the wiccans will be there to offer it. The Global Warming Hoax was another religion offering power over nature and enemies, and see how mesmerizing it became all at once.; 9/21/10, 8:40 AM
rhhardin said...: Why was ODonnell on tv so much?

Armstrong and Getty think it's that she was the young bubbly slightly crazy conservative woman choice for lefty TV shows.

Which role she played to.; 9/21/10, 8:41 AM
Stoutcat said...: Shoutingthomas said:

"So, deliberately choose to outrage, then claim to be a victim when you achieve your goal."

If you change "outrage" to "titillate", you find the exact same situation that the pulchritudinous Inez Sainz put herself in.

Plus ça change...; 9/21/10, 8:42 AM
Hagar said...: I do not think O'Donnell is crazy at all; she has survived by her wits on very little and had fun doing it. That is not much of a resume for running for the U.S. Senate, but she is in tune with the times.
The voters in Delaware knew about her, both from Maher's show and her previous "runs."
This time the mood was with her, and they felt that at least she was not a 70 year old doofus with a voting record the Bidens could be proud of.; 9/21/10, 8:51 AM
test said...: "My experience with "wiccans" is that they almost always chose being wiccans to outrage family, friends and neighbors."

I don't think this is right. They're filling a need. For one reason or another they don't feel sufficiently connected to society. Did you read the blather about communing with nature? If that's your goal live in a cabin, become a hiking expert, write books, read Thoreau.

Why all the rules? They're connecting with other disaffected people; it's not about nature at all.; 9/21/10, 8:51 AM
Opus One Media said...: Let's go back to Dancing with the Stars...seems ever so much more relevant.

65 or so days from now that WannabeWiccan will slip back to pagan heath(en) and the obscurity that she so richly deserves.; 9/21/10, 8:51 AM
ricpic said...: Variety could have a ball with this one:

Don't Diss Witches, Chris, Wiccans Hiss; 9/21/10, 8:51 AM
Fred4Pres said...: How is O'Donnell defaming Wiccans? If anyone is doing it, it is Bill Maher.; 9/21/10, 8:55 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: I'm betting her and Dennis Kucinich could have some interesting conversations.

O'Donnell "I remember when I turned my ex-boyfriend into a toad. That was cool."

Kucinich "Well, when the aliens brought me back from Centuri Prime I found that I had this ability to seduce women by playing the bongos. It was really cool but no one believed I could do it. Well, I showed them."; 9/21/10, 8:56 AM
roesch-voltaire said...: To be or not to be a Wiccan is a better question than the one questioning O'Donnell about l her expenditures and tax evasion as she, allegedly, used campaign funds for personal expenses.; 9/21/10, 8:59 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: That is not much of a resume for running for the U.S. Senate, but she is in tune with the times.

Oh come one! This is the Senate we're talking about. When Al Franken can become a Senator what kind of resume does one need?; 9/21/10, 9:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Margaret Cho is certainly a witch.

A witch and a bitch.

I'm still puzzled that anybody would want to watch that bitch dance. Apparently the Dance With the Stars show (I've never watched and never will) has absolutely no standards, except that the contestants are willing to make fools out of themselves.

Do you want to conjure an appearance on this earth by Satan?

I never watch any of the reality or "real people" shows. What's the point of watching people make asses out of themselves?; 9/21/10, 9:00 AM
Automatic_Wing said...: I guess if O'Donnell suddenly turns into a newt, we'll know why.; 9/21/10, 9:01 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: To be or not to be a Wiccan is a better question than the one questioning O'Donnell about l her expenditures and tax evasion as she, allegedly, used campaign funds for personal expenses.

Hell, that's damn near a perfect qualification to be Obama's next Treasury Secretary!

By jove roesch! You've got it!; 9/21/10, 9:01 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Vodkapundit cuts to the chase.; 9/21/10, 9:01 AM
AllenS said...: I watched Pawn Stars on tv last night, and there was an appearance by Bob Dylan.; 9/21/10, 9:02 AM
Anonymous said...: On behalf of all Americans, I'd like to apologize to the Wiccan community for O'Donell's insensitive remarks...they should be allowed to have a coven anywhere...even a few blocks from ground zero...or a church.

I'd also like to offer, in no particular order, apologies to the following:

Egypt, all creatures great and small, gays, recently arrived immigrants, the handicapped, the aged, immigrants who've arrived in the last 5-10 years, Goths, work animals, the many insects I've purposefully killed, athesists, theists, Muslims here and Muslims abroad, women, and the island of Guam.

More to come.; 9/21/10, 9:08 AM
Darrell said...: You can use campaign funds for personal expenses as long as you pay income taxes on those amounts. Ask Jesse Jackson how he spent the money in his campaign war chest--especially afte he dropped out of each race.; 9/21/10, 9:15 AM
Anonymous said...: I'd also like to offer, in no particular order, apologies to the following:

That won't do.

You've got to go kiss Jesse Jackson's bare ass.

Don't you watch South Park. The Rev. is in charge of receiving all apologies on behalf of aggrieved minorities.

Watch out. The Rev. has been known to fart in the face of penitents.

I don't have the phone number. I'd try 800-KISS-ASS!; 9/21/10, 9:17 AM
bagoh20 said...: Magical powers ain't all that and a bag of newts.

As an agnostic I feel robbed of my right to clarity and certitude. Can there be any greater oppression. This is a civil rights issue.; 9/21/10, 9:29 AM
Alex said...: This is more proof of how deranged and bat-shit crazy Republicans/baggers are. Oh it's looking like the Dems are gonna hold onto both the House and Senate!; 9/21/10, 9:31 AM
Cedarford said...: Hoosier - "Oh come one! This is the Senate we're talking about. When Al Franken can become a Senator what kind of resume does one need?:

Al Franken is a total ass of a progressive Jew who graduated from Harvard and made a small fortune out of his connections to those within the media for a series of jobs.
Along the way, while being a total ass, he did not default on his mortgage, stiff people on bills for 20 years, divert money from camapign funds, or falsely claim to graduate from a college when he didn't. He did not try and run a scam on SNL and sue them for 7 million in "lost earnings" because they and his relatives in Hollywood kept him too busy to go to Columbia and get a Masters in media.

Franken, being a total ass, got a Senate seat he in no way was fit to fill because he ran when the country was in tatters from Dubya's neglect of the economy, his bumbling wars, and the Republicans giving the Corporatists, free traders, globalists, neocons, and Wall Street crooks free rein.

O'Donnell, with a life history suggesting she isn't fit to be trusted with money to make a company coffee and donut fund work.....is in an Al Franken position. She is a poor vessel for people to channel their anger and send a message...but her followers hope the Al Franken magic strikes again.
Maybe she will get lucky.
Of course, helping this is Delaware voters on the Left packed their Primary process like the rightwing packed their Primary with hardline activists - and gifted Delaware with the alternative to O'Donnell being a semi-Marxist.

****************
The witchcraft stuff would be a side issue if it wasn't another culmulative mark against the Palin wannabe. A theater and mass communications major, who finally paid the court order for back tuition she owed, possibly again from campaign funds, and got her undergrad degree right before she turned 40.; 9/21/10, 9:32 AM
Alex said...: Palinistas rejoice, this is your kind of candidate! I mean look at the sheer competence among ALL Democrat candidates. I give you Alvin Greene.; 9/21/10, 9:33 AM
GMay said...: So I decided to slog through one of Cedarford's posts for the first time in awhile, and am reminded of why that's a bad idea.; 9/21/10, 9:38 AM
sonicfrog said...: I, for one, am sick of diversity.... Burn The Witch!!!!; 9/21/10, 9:39 AM
Christopher in MA said...: "America really needs to be a place where you can celebrate diversity and practice your religion without getting ridiculed or defamed."

Two words, bitch - "Piss Christ." Now STFU.; 9/21/10, 9:51 AM
Alex said...: Interesting that Muslims & Wiccans believe they are entitled to special government protections against defamation, but Christians just continue to take the abuse silently. Maybe "turn the other cheek" isn't working anymore and it's time to get down and dirty!; 9/21/10, 9:53 AM
Big Mike said...: I see that O'Donnell has raised nearly $2M. I guess she'll need to spend all that and more to get out the word that her opponent is even nuttier than she is -- and that he's nutty about taxes and spending.; 9/21/10, 10:04 AM
Unknown said...: shouting and stoutcat are right about Wiccans. The idea is to be something everybody else is not, something just a little weird, and something that is as non-judgmental as possible.

As for celebrating diversity, you're allowed to be diverse only if it advances the goals of the DNC. If you diverge from Democrat Party principles in any way, shape, or form, (strong defense, balanced budget, etc.) you will find yourself being treated much like witches (the original Wiccans) were treated by the Inquisition.

HDHouse said...

65 or so days from now that WannabeWiccan will slip back to pagan heath(en) and the obscurity that she so richly deserves.

Seeing she's already collected about 2 mil in contributions, I have a feeling this prediction may end up like all of HD's pronunciamentos that Sarah Palin would also go back to obscurity with no more influence on American politics after she resigned as Alaska's governor.

YA BETCHA!; 9/21/10, 10:31 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Seeing she's already collected about 2 mil in contributions,

Did she actually collect that much or is that 2 million in 'pledges'.

Kidding aside, its obvious she's a loon or, to be generous, not very articulate. That being said, the real issue here is when someone like her can stomp the establishment guy. Now whether she can beat her post-Marxist opponent simply depends on whether the citizens of Delaware want a former teenage witchcraft practioner or a former beared Marxist.

Kind of like wondering if you want lettuce bacon and tomato on your shit sandwhich.; 9/21/10, 10:38 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Although when you consider that the President's former pot, beer and cocaine habit (never mind his associations) would automatically disqualify any enlisted man from working with around nation's nukular arsenal, he on the other hand holds the key codes to incinerate the planet.

Pretty damn funny when you think about it.; 9/21/10, 10:42 AM
TMink said...: "Oh it's looking like the Dems are gonna hold onto both the House and Senate!"

IU was going to voice my displeasure at being called a testicle sucker, then I read the above sentence. The delusional do not offend me in the slightest.

Carry on.

Up your meds.

Trey; 9/21/10, 11:02 AM
William said...: I take some comfort from the fact that, like me, she did not know the difference between witchcraft and satanism. She was a black arts dilettante. I wonder if Coons understood the difference between Stalinism and Trotskyism. Maybe he was a Fabian. The media will pay more attention to O'D's airhead activities than to Coons' serious, scholarly pursuit of Marxism......If O'D pays her mother a few thousand dollars out of her campaign funds, this becomes a scandal. If Biden's son gets a million dollar job with a hedge fund while his father is chairman of a Senate committee that overees such activities, why that's nothing. The son, you see, has graduated from an Ivy League college and thus deserves a million dollar job......I agree that O'D has many qualities that are more consistent with a reality TV contestant than with a Senate candidate. Well, it was bound to happen. In any event, she seems a decent, likeable person, and I would pick her air pockets over Coons' dense, dark fungi any day.; 9/21/10, 11:02 AM
Alex said...: O'Donnel is a loon, but the fascinating thing is that the people are so scared and/or outraged by what's going on in D.C. that they nominated a loon who is a 100% anti-Democrat vote rather then the more qualified candidate. When people are scared they do strange things.; 9/21/10, 11:26 AM
Anonymous said...: shoutingthomas --

"My experience with "wiccans" is that they almost always chose being wiccans to outrage family, friends and neighbors. They are almost always the same people who are tattooed from head to foot."

Does not describe one single Wiccan that I know. Maybe it's just the crowd you hang out with.

"God, why did you create so many dreary, awful people who want attention?"

'Cause he loves you guys.

"Do you want to conjure an appearance on this earth by Satan?"

What the fuck has that to do with anything?; 9/21/10, 11:38 AM
Phil 314 said...: OK, so I'm losing track of the narrative. Initially it was that she was a crazy, fundamentatalist Christian and now its that she's a lapsed wiccan.

I'm just wondering, if she were an "occasional" Methodist would it make any difference?; 9/21/10, 2:05 PM
TMink said...: "I take some comfort from the fact that, like me, she did not know the difference between witchcraft and satanism."

Is that like the difference between progressive and socialism?

A distinction without a difference?

Trey; 9/21/10, 2:08 PM
Synova said...: The guy she was dating may not have known the difference between satanism and wicca either. And who's to say he wasn't a disreputable sort?

I think it's sort of interesting, though, how it's O'Donnell who is "defaming Wiccans" and not her political opponents.

Sort of the same way, I suppose, that Kerry wasn't slamming gays when he used Chenney's gay daughter as a scare quote.

The anti-homeschool people in California years ago did the same thing... took out ads against homeschooling attempting to scare the Christians with the horrible vision of Wiccans teaching their own children.; 9/21/10, 2:44 PM
jamboree said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/21/10, 2:51 PM
Opus One Media said...: John Lynch said...
Ask a Wiccan about Chritianity."

Christianity even.; 9/21/10, 2:54 PM
jamboree said...: She was a teenager or close to it. End of conversation.

I think this whole kerfluffle is a good thing in the larger sense: women (it's often women, left or right) tend to be good, little soldiers for either traditional religion or "spirituality". The pews are full of women as are the new agey seminars. They generally get validation for this never realizing how condescending those pats on the head really are until it hits the outside world.

Now they know - and I hope the pagans are taking note as well because it's no different.; 9/21/10, 2:55 PM
Revenant said...: the fact is America really needs to be a place where you can celebrate diversity, or ridicule and defame it if that is your preference

Fixed.; 9/21/10, 3:36 PM
JAL said...: They are pushing anything but topics that matter. (The economy, foreign policy, defense, the unbelievable huge deficit, the over regulation of the employers of this government by the employees ...)

And this whole wiccan thing is a hoot. I think they are trying to make O'Donnell look bad to the people who voted for her. (? maybe?)

Why would "progressives" have a problem with someone who was, is, or has "dabbled into" wirchcraft? Mmmm? (Margot Adler - NPR anyone?)

Reminds me of the Breitbart video out there. When Breitbart confronted an anti-Beck anti-Breitbart demonstration near Chicago someone in the crowd yelled out that Brietbart was a homosexual.

That's supposed to be a slur? From a lefty demonstrator?

Some of the lefty gays want to clarify that for us?

wv sardoged
Something to do with this discussion.; 9/21/10, 5:22 PM
JAL said...: MAybe the wiccans are offended because they don't want anyone to think that goofy teenagers who become conservatives would ever have anything to do with wicca?; 9/21/10, 5:26 PM
Rialby said...: Does anyone else find it ironic that the man who once had a show called "Politically Incorrect" where he invited people to say whatever they thought - whether or not it was POLITICALLY CORRECT - is now using these things to try to bring down someone who is running for office? I guess it invalidates the entire concept, doesn't it?; 9/21/10, 6:15 PM
Anonymous said...: O'Donnell is not going anywhere. The thing is that this seat belongs to Biden. Biden is a great VP. He decides what is best for Delaware. Presidency and Vice Presidency is a serious business. Being a senator is a serious business. If she wants to succeed Biden, then she must demonstrate that she too can be as accomplished as he is/was.

The Nov. 2010 election is going to be a big wash for GOP and Tea Party. You have no idea what is in store for them. They will be wiped out. What happened? They will drink, drink, and drink to laziness. Then in Nov. 2012 we will repeat the success.

Face it, GOP and Tea Party, the only road is: Are you getting ready or preparing for 2016?

Take the long road. No short cuts. Else you will lose.; 9/21/10, 6:51 PM
Rialby said...: The United States is in America. America is a big country. We have a lot of people in America who write. Some of them write short declarative sentences. These sentences tend to be short. Blowhards like to write sentences sharing their pronouncements about that which they know nothing. Blowhards are boring.; 9/21/10, 6:55 PM
Sorin said...: Does anyone on this blog or the MSM know anything about Wicca? Does the name Gardner mean anything to you? How about Crowley and Mathers ... The OTO or the Golden Dawn?

The very young,quite often,see only the face of it and not the depth of the belief. I would guess that she saw only the "coolness" of it's vibe and her friends interest.

Boring, just more of the elitest medias shallow view of flatlanders.; 9/21/10, 9:21 PM
TMink said...: AP wrote: "The Nov. 2010 election is going to be a big wash for GOP and Tea Party."

See you November 7.

And do you always whistle past graveyards?

Trey; 9/21/10, 11:13 PM