Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Watchdog: Christine O'Donnell "Clearly a Criminal".

Christine O'Donnell used thousands of dollars of her campaign money to pay her own personal expenses in a way which a watchdog group has stated was clearly criminal.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, today filed a pair of complaints concerning Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's use of more than $20,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses.

"Christine O'Donnell is clearly a criminal, and like any crook she should be prosecuted," CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan
said in a release. "Ms. O'Donnell has spent years embezzling money from her campaign to cover her personal expenses. Republicans and Democrats don't agree on much these days, but both sides should agree on one point: thieves belong in jail not the United States Senate."

I honestly expect that this will make her even more popular amongst the Tea Party protesters, despite their supposed love of fiscal responsibility, as this will play right into their sense of victim-hood.

They will claim that O'Donnell is being picked on by a Liberal "elite" terrified of her message.

The Washington Post published an interview she gave in 2006 in which she is quoted as saying homosexuals suffer from an "identity disorder".

But many Tea Party activists and conservative Republicans appear unconcerned, either because they back her views or because they see her as a victim of an onslaught by the liberal US media.

Leaving aside her appalling views, which are common enough amongst some Christian groups, the fact that her own campaign finance adviser resigned because she was taking money for mileage expenses at a time when she did not even own a car should be enough to ring the alarm bells of even the most committed Tea Party supporter.

But it won't. Their support for her will now become tribal, and they will find a way to defend her no matter how much proof of financial misdeeds are unearthed. That is simply what they do.

They have an uncanny ability to filter information which is unpleasant to them to the point where, as far as they are concerned, it simply doesn't exist. It's all part of "a liberal plot" as far as they are concerned, and Fox News will usually be quick to reaffirm those prejudices. However, the fact that she now finds herself running away from Fox News interviews is presenting them with a problem.

And even O'Reilly is issuing not so subtle threats to her to get on-board.



He is letting it be known that he has clips of "crazy stuff that she has said on my show. But I'm not going to play it yet."

In other words, he will if she doesn't play ball. It will be interesting to see what the Tea Party loons will do should Fox News turn against their candidate.

But that's a long shot. I expect Fox will be selling her in the future in the same way in which they have sold her in the past. As long as she plays along. And you can bet, if she re-enters the Fox fold, that her financial misdeeds will be deemed too petty to discuss.

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