Bill Maher digs up [Senate candidate] O'Donnell 'witchcraft' clip

[RobbyS]

Up until just recently (perhaps no more than a month ago) she wasn’t a serious candidate for the GOP Senate nomination. The she garnered the support of the “tea party” and she rode that support to the nomination. My guess is that since she wasn’t really viewed as a legitimate candidate, she wasn’t subject to the usual vetting process that other candidates are subjected to, hence no one uncovered this witchcraft story until after primary election. She wasn’t going to win the general election anyway.

This witchcraft stuff is less relevant than her opponent’s college paper and that is only marginally so.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

In her more recent statements, she has referred to her Catholic faith.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

This witchcraft stuff is less relevant than her opponent’s college paper and that is only marginally so.

Here is what her opponent actually wrote. If anyone wants the link, I can post it also. [It is on a blog]

In case anyone doubts the veracity of Coons’ article, just see pdf via Media Mutters.

If what Christine O’Donnell experienced in her twenties is relevant, than certainly Chris Coon’s manifesto is. A full copy below these excerpts. Chris Coons rejects everything that has made America great, in favor of Marxism.

I came to suspect, through these and other courses, that the ideal of America as “a beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world” was not exactly based in reality.

I realize that Kenya and America are very different, but experiences like this warned me that my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunity to be had in America might be largely untrue.

The point that others ignore is that I was ready to change. Experiences at Amherst my first two years made me skeptical and uncomfortable with Republicanism, enough so that I wanted to see the Third World for myself to get some perspective on my beliefs. Certainly Kenya provided a needed catalyst; I saw there poverty, and oppression more naked than any in America, and I studied under a bright and eloquent Marxist professor at the University of Nairobi. Nevertheless, it is only too easy to return from Africa glad to be an American and smugly thankful for our wealth and freedom. Instead, Amherst had taught me to question, so in return I questioned Amherst, and America.

Some of the “Leftists” that I met early on were terrifyingly persuasive, although I never admitted that. A few became my friends and provided a constant nagging backdrop of doubt, for which I am now grateful. More importantly, during sophomore year, several professors challenged the basic assumptions about America and the world relations with which I had grown up. Cultural Anthropology inspired a fascination with other peoples, and undermined the accepted value of progress and the cultural superiority of the West.

Full text from this link. Support Christine O’Donnell. We don’t need an admitted Marxist in Washington.

Chris Coons: “The making of a Bearded Marxist” By Chris Coons

"College is supposed to be a time of change, a time to question our assumption about the world and define our basic values. For me, the transformations of the last few years have been especially acute. I came to Amherst from a fairly sheltered, privileged, and politically conservative background. I campaigned for Reagan in 1980, and spent the summer after freshman year working for Senator Roth (of Kemp-Roth tax-cut fame.) In the fall of 1983, I was a proud founding member of the Amherst College Republicans. In November 1984, I represented the Amherst Democrats in a hotly contested pre-election debate against my former roommates, co-founders and leaders of the Republicans. As the debate progressed it became obvious how unreconcilably different our opinions had become. What caused such a shift in only one year?

I spent the spring of my junior year in Africa on the St. Lawrence Kenya Study Program. Going to Kenya was one of the few real decisions I have made; my friends, family, and professors all advised against it, but I went anyway, My friends now joke that something about Kenya, maybe a strange diet, or the tropical sun, changed my personality; Africa to them seems a catalytic converter that takes in clean-shaven, clear thinking Americans and sends back Bearded Marxists.

The point that others ignore is that I was ready to change. Experiences at Amherst my first two years made me skeptical and uncomfortable with Republicanism, enough so that I wanted to see the Third World for myself to get some perspective on my beliefs. Certainly Kenya provided a needed catalyst; I saw there poverty, and oppression more naked than any in America, and I studied under a bright and eloquent Marxist professor at the University of Nairobi. Nevertheless, it is only too easy to return from Africa glad to be an American and smugly thankful for our wealth and freedom. Instead, Amherst had taught me to question, so in return I questioned Amherst, and America.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

The conclusion of her opponent’s written statement:

When I first arrived at Amherst, I was somewhat of a Republican fanatic. I fit Churchill’s description, namely, that a fanatic is “Someone who can’t change their mind, and won’t change the subject.” While other freshman share care packages from home, I was equally generous with my inherited political opinions giving them to anyone who would listen. It was in this manner that I soon met a creature I had never known before—a Democrat, several of them. Some of the “Leftists” that I met early on were terrifyingly persuasive, although I never admitted that. A few became my friends and provided a constant nagging backdrop of doubt, for which I am now grateful.

More importantly, during sophomore year, several professors challenged the basic assumptions about America and the world relations with which I had grown up. Cultural Anthropology inspired a fascination with other peoples, and undermined the accepted value of progress and the cultural superiority of the West. In examining the role of myths in “primitive” cultures, we also studied the myth of equal opportunity in this country, a myth I had never questioned. A course on the Vietnam War painted in gory detail a picture of horrible failures made possible by American hubris and dogmatism. I came to suspect, through these and other courses, that the ideal of America as “a beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world” was not exactly based in reality. So, I went to Africa, hungry for a break from Amherst and eager to gain some broader political insight from the brutally real world. What do other nations think of us? Can private enterprise and democracy solve the problems of developing nations? Is Marxism an evil ideology, leading millions into totalitarian slavery? These were some of the questions in the back of my mind as I left for Kenya.

What I learned in Africa unsettled me. I saw the deprivation and oppression of the poor and the politically disfavored in a way not possible in the U.S. In Kenya, my position was not at stake; I was not directly benefiting if the underprivileged had little hope of advancement. I lived with the struggling African family for a month and came to know the hardships that they face. What surprised me was the attitude of the elite; I became friends with a very wealthy businessman and his family and heard them reiterate the same beliefs held by many Americans; the poor are poor because they are lazy, slovenly, uneducated. “Kenya is a land of opportunity,” they said, “those who work receive their just reward.” I knew this was not true in the case of many black Kenyans; this story merely served to justify the position of many who had done well only by working for the British colonialists. I realize that Kenya and America are very different, but experiences like this warned me that my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunity to be had in America might be largely untrue.

When I returned last summer, I traveled all over the East Coast and saw in many ways a different America. Upon arriving at Amherst this fall, I felt like a freshman at an unfamiliar school all over again. Many of the questions raised by my experiences of the last year remained unanswered. I have spent my senior year reexamining my ideas and have returned to loving America, but in the way of one who has realized its faults and failures and still believes in its promise. The greatest value of Amherst for me, then, has been the role it played in allowing me to question, and to think. I had to see the slums of Nairobi before the slums of New York meant anything at all, but with out the experiences of Amherst, I never would have seen either."

 

[Beau_Ouiville]

If what Christine O’Donnell experienced in her twenties is relevant …

I don’t know if anyone on this forum exactly said that, particularly as to the ‘occult’ stuff. I know I said the opposite. So you may be firing in the hole here.

It is good to do research on a candidate, though.

 

[RobbyS]

Still it is 20 years old. I will say that it represents a Marxist view of the world, which he probably has not shaken off although probably softened by his exposure to elites.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

Still it is 20 years old. I will say that it represents a Marxist view of the world, which he probably has not shaken off although probably softened by his exposure to elites.

Actually, Marxists ARE elitists.

The last thing they want is a free election.

Chris Coons demonstrated his lack of knowledge about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Separation of church and state nowhere appears in that document. Neither does the “concept”. His creating of new wording for the First Amendment is one illustration of creationism of non-existent aspects of a legal document

Apparently Mr. Coons has also demonstrated his lack of appreciation of the tax payers resentment over the tax increases he imposed in his day job of County Executive. [He inherited a $200 million budget surplus and in no time at all, converted it into the brink of bankruptcy.] Yet another example of how Marxists just spend without the discipline of arithmetic

Mr. Coons’ memory also seems have a lack of retention: he said his family company (his step-father’s company) would not benefit from government stimulus money, which turned out to be somewhat … not in compliance with the truth. The co-mingling of government money and private money might be construed as Marxist … the overlooking of corruption among the “intelligensia” … our ruling class.

 

[Roy5]

O’Donnell’s flirtation with Wicca was during her teen years and can be excused. But this doesn’t mean for a minute that she should go to the Senate. I would vote for Coons, though he is not flawless either. I worry about GOP extremists just as I do about Democratic extremists.

 We have another wild cards out there already. 

 I'm an independent, wary of most politicians of both major parties. Can we do a lot better, or is humankind too flawed?

 

[estesbob]

O’Donnell’s flirtation with Wicca was during her teen years and can be excused. But this doesn’t mean for a minute that she should go to the Senate. I would vote for Coons, though he is not flawless either. I worry about GOP extremists just as I do about Democratic extremists.

We have another wild cards out there already.

I’m an independent, wary of most politicians of both major parties. Can we do a lot better, or is humankind too flawed?

So you do not consider support of unrestricted taxpayer funded abortion on demand to be an extremist view???

 

[bbarrick8383]

O’Donnell’s flirtation with Wicca was during her teen years and can be excused. But this doesn’t mean for a minute that she should go to the Senate. I would vote for Coons, though he is not flawless either. I worry about GOP extremists just as I do about Democratic extremists.

 We have another wild cards out there already. 

 I'm an independent, wary of most politicians of both major parties. Can we do a lot better, or is humankind too flawed?

So, you would vote for the extremist whose ideology wants to control your life, over the extremist whose ideology is to leave you alone.

Makes sense to me.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

O’Donnell’s flirtation with Wicca was during her teen years and can be excused. But this doesn’t mean for a minute that she should go to the Senate. I would vote for Coons, though he is not flawless either. I worry about GOP extremists just as I do about Democratic extremists.

 We have another wild cards out there already. 

 I'm an independent, wary of most politicians of both major parties. Can we do a lot better, or is humankind too flawed?

You realize, of course, that there is a reason why Coons is referred to as “The Taxman”.

In his day job, he has just about snatched bankruptcy from the jaws of fiscal surplus. And in only four years.

Why on earth would anyone want someone like that in any elected position?

 

[markbrumbaugh]

Most of us would not want our character as an adult defined by whatever stupid things we did when we were young and stupid.
How about you Beau?
Did Clinton inhale? Did Obama snort? Did George drink?
Lets have a discussion about principles.

 

[markbrumbaugh]

I think this a unprecedented for a senate candidate.

"WASHINGTON — Tea party favorite Christine O’Donnell, whose Republican primary upset in Delaware’s Senate race shocked the GOP, canceled appearances Sunday on two national news shows. Meanwhile, comedian Bill Maher dug up a clip of O’Donnell appearing on his “Politically Incorrect” show in 1999 in which she says she “dabbled in witchcraft.”

The context of what led to her comments is not clear, and O’Donnell is laughing while she talks. “I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven,” she said. " … I hung around people who were doing these things. I’m not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do," she said.

“… One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn’t know it. I mean, there’s little blood there and stuff like that,” she said. “We went to a movie and then had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar.” Since O’Donnell’s upset of nine-term Rep. Mike Castle, opponents have unearthed unflattering age-old television clips. Her campaign didn’t immediately return a telephone message Saturday, but she has in the past dismissed her previous comments."

google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9rv3pJ0e0ju_X-K2vMUfo7Mah-wD9IAMCMO1

Are you REALLY going to quote Bill Maher on a Catholic forum?

 

[Roy5]

Re #30. Have you heard of the Hyde Amendment? My understanding is that this forbids public funds for abortions. Am I wrong on this?

 As for controlling life, so much depends upon one's point of view. After all, there are millions who feel that to forbid abortion under any and all conditions is definitely government control, and they call themselves pro-choice.

 We have regulations we all support. We need to drive safe cars. We need to make sure our food is safe to eat. We need regulations that guard us against swindlers like Madoff and others on Wall St. and elsewhere. We need to control dangeous drugs. There need to be hundreds of regulations that protect us against libel, against scams, against murderers, against dozens of other crimes, injustices, and harrassment.

 So, this hostility toward government control seems to be very complicated. Should we permit cable TV to show porn? Should we permit gays to marry, and maybe allow bigamy or polygamy? Should there be laws to protect us against toxic chemicals? What about noise ordinances and parking regulations and driving tests for teens? 

 Some libertarians even oppose public schools, public highways, and public libraries?

 I am not a big government person, but I am not big enough by myself to fend off all the crooks and scammers who would love to operate freely, without government interference.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

Do we need laws against “hate speech”?

How many laws do we need to give us safe cars?

What happens when a law giving us a car with mandated gasoline mileage is so light that it becomes an unsafe car?

What happens when one government agency conflicts with another government agency and the penalties for non-compliance are put on the citizen?

What is the difference between food safety regulations for absence of toxins and food safety regulations because if we eat too much food we might gain weight?

Are people so unable to make basic choices and decisions that they need a massive bureaucracy to make ordinary decisions for them based on tens of thousands of pages of tax codes, hundreds of thousands of pages of laws and millions of pages of rules and regulations?

Are people totally lacking in common sense?

Why do we need a nanny state?

 

[Monte_RCMS]

Do we really want the political correctness in speech demanded by the nanny state, particularly when we have the First Amendment regarding FREE speech?

Here’s what we may have waiting for us … an on-going example of non-FREE speech, here in the Netherlands …

The Dutch government attorneys prosecuting Geert Wilders in the Netherlands have asked the court for a complete acquittal of Mr. Wilders on all charges.

In a two-day long precise analysis of the remarks of Wilders, who had to stand trial for discrimination against Muslims and incitement to hatred, the prosecuting officers explained to the court that Wilders may have been insulting and provocative, but his words were within the limitations of Dutch law.

This doesn’t mean that the trial has stopped — next week the defense will continue. The Dutch law system demands a full cycle of prosecution and defense, and will end with an extensive verdict.

Though — in theory — the court could still convict Wilders, it now seems almost impossible.

Wilders had been charged with the following:
Group defamation (article 137c of the Dutch Criminal Code).
Inciting hatred against people, i.e. Muslims, on account of their religion (article 137 of the Dutch Criminal Code).
Inciting discrimination against people, i.e. Muslims, on account of their religion (article 137d of the Dutch Criminal Code).
Inciting hatred against people, i.e. non-western ethnic minorities and/or Moroccans, on account of their race (article 137d of the Dutch Criminal Code).
Inciting discrimination against people, i.e. non-western ethnic minorities and/or Moroccans, on account of their race (article 137d of the Dutch Criminal Code).