Christine O’Donnell Victory Interview

Posted on Comments

DOVER, Delaware — It was after 11 a.m. when I finally got my turn to interview the Republican Cinderella:

Unlike in our previous interview, she wouldn’t don the fedora — “No funny hats,” her advisers said — but maybe she’ll agree when we cover her inauguration. (Joe Biden would do the swearing-in.) Meanwhile, do like she said: Hit my tip jar and then hit hers.

Now some quick headlines:

Among the blogs that did link here Tuesday night: Obi’s Sister, Bob Belvedere, If You Seek Peace, Sissy Willis, Ruby Slippers, Fisherville Mike and the Lonely Conservative. Excuse me for not getting everybody on that list, but it’s 3 a.m. here and I’m exhausted. Will try to get more in the morning, before I drive back home.

UPDATE: Here’s the instantly notorious video of Karl Rove trashing Christine on Hannity’s Fox show:

These “smartest-guy-in-the-room” types can’t stand it when they’re wrong.

Did I say “wrong”? Yeah. Like when Karl Rove’s genius plan for the “Permanent Republican Majority” gave us Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and President Obama.

49 comments

  5. I’ve never really respected any politician who feels the need for a political ‘guru’ like Rove, it speaks to a lack of character. Reagan didn’t need one, he knew his own mind.

  6. I’ve never really respected any politician who feels the need for a political ‘guru’ like Rove, it speaks to a lack of character. Reagan didn’t need one, he knew his own mind.

  9. Congratulations to Christine O’Donnell, AND Smitty and Stacy for their roles in bringing her to national attention in the early days.

    Now comes the hard part.

  10. Congratulations to Christine O’Donnell, AND Smitty and Stacy for their roles in bringing her to national attention in the early days.

    Now comes the hard part.

  11. Don’t forget to post an interview after the GE results. Will see whether you keep standing–a busy midterm night with surely many good news for the GOP to pick from–or cover if/when you go wrong on a specific candidate.

  12. Don’t forget to post an interview after the GE results. Will see whether you keep standing–a busy midterm night with surely many good news for the GOP to pick from–or cover if/when you go wrong on a specific candidate.

  16. Did I say “wrong”? Yeah. Like when Karl Rove’s genius plan for the “Permanent Republican Majority” gave us Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and President Obama.

    Thank you for mentioning that. Because it is true. Also don’t forget it gave Karl a gig on Fox.

  17. Did I say “wrong”? Yeah. Like when Karl Rove’s genius plan for the “Permanent Republican Majority” gave us Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and President Obama.

    Thank you for mentioning that. Because it is true. Also don’t forget it gave Karl a gig on Fox.

  19. My list of winners and losers in the DE GOP primary, aside from Castle (loser) and O’Donnell (soon-to-be loser):

    Winners

    Barack Obama, Democrats: They receive the gift of a Senate seat.

    Obamacare: If there is a GOP President in 2013, s/he will need 60 votes in the Senate to repeal Obamacare. Assuming no Dem crossovers, that means the GOP will need to gain a total of 19 Senate seats in 2010 and 2012, and now they are one seat farther away from that already very difficult goal.

    RINOs: After O’Donnell goes down in flames in November, GOP primary voters will be more cautious about purging RINOs in the future, particularly in blue states.

    Losers

    Beau Biden: He must be kicking himself, no way he would have passed up a Senate run this year if he had known O’Donnell would be his opponent.

    Sharon Angle: Securing DE means that Dems have now freed up money to spend against Angle in NV. Also, conservative donors will waste some money on O’Donnell, which otherwise might have gone to help Angle.

    Tea Party Express: Their jump the shark moment. In a few weeks they will be taking the blame for costing the GOP a Senate seat, and possibly even control of the Senate.

    Sarah Palin: Not only will she share the blame for the GOP losing this seat, but due to the similarities between her and O’Donnell, GOP primary voters may see O’Donnell’s landslide defeat as a cautionary tale re: what might happen if they nominate Palin in 2012.

  20. My list of winners and losers in the DE GOP primary, aside from Castle (loser) and O’Donnell (soon-to-be loser):

    Winners

    Barack Obama, Democrats: They receive the gift of a Senate seat.

    Obamacare: If there is a GOP President in 2013, s/he will need 60 votes in the Senate to repeal Obamacare. Assuming no Dem crossovers, that means the GOP will need to gain a total of 19 Senate seats in 2010 and 2012, and now they are one seat farther away from that already very difficult goal.

    RINOs: After O’Donnell goes down in flames in November, GOP primary voters will be more cautious about purging RINOs in the future, particularly in blue states.

    Losers

    Beau Biden: He must be kicking himself, no way he would have passed up a Senate run this year if he had known O’Donnell would be his opponent.

    Sharon Angle: Securing DE means that Dems have now freed up money to spend against Angle in NV. Also, conservative donors will waste some money on O’Donnell, which otherwise might have gone to help Angle.

    Tea Party Express: Their jump the shark moment. In a few weeks they will be taking the blame for costing the GOP a Senate seat, and possibly even control of the Senate.

    Sarah Palin: Not only will she share the blame for the GOP losing this seat, but due to the similarities between her and O’Donnell, GOP primary voters may see O’Donnell’s landslide defeat as a cautionary tale re: what might happen if they nominate Palin in 2012.

  22. For a supposedly smart guy Karl Rove is a complete idiot

    “you are making my case, this was about Mike Castles bad votes”

    Why wasn’t a guy/gal with good votes or views supported by the establishment? Why a guy with “bad votes?” Who does the recruiting for these candidates? If they didn’t want O’Donnell to be THE conservative in the primary they should have recruited one! They didn’t, so the people did. What does it say when a “nutty” conservative candidate can beat an entrenched establishment RINO? It says jackasses like Rove are out of touch, and the average Republican Party voters want Republican candidates who can be distinguished from Democrat candidates! Duh!

    “it does conservatives little good to support candidates who at the end of the day, while they may be conservative in their public statements, do not advance the characteristics or rectitude and truthfullness blah, Blah, BLAH!”

    Translation, vote for the guy you don’t agree with, because we smeared O’Donnell like i’m doing now so she can’t win.
    Does this guy not understand it did conservatives a lot of good because the establishment might think twice about supporting a Mike Castle now that O’Donnell kicked his butt? Win or lose come November? If the establishment does not want to lose from now on, perhaps candidates who are in sync with the little people on policy would get more support, at lest more than those “nutty” ones.

  23. For a supposedly smart guy Karl Rove is a complete idiot

    “you are making my case, this was about Mike Castles bad votes”

    Why wasn’t a guy/gal with good votes or views supported by the establishment? Why a guy with “bad votes?” Who does the recruiting for these candidates? If they didn’t want O’Donnell to be THE conservative in the primary they should have recruited one! They didn’t, so the people did. What does it say when a “nutty” conservative candidate can beat an entrenched establishment RINO? It says jackasses like Rove are out of touch, and the average Republican Party voters want Republican candidates who can be distinguished from Democrat candidates! Duh!

    “it does conservatives little good to support candidates who at the end of the day, while they may be conservative in their public statements, do not advance the characteristics or rectitude and truthfullness blah, Blah, BLAH!”

    Translation, vote for the guy you don’t agree with, because we smeared O’Donnell like i’m doing now so she can’t win.
    Does this guy not understand it did conservatives a lot of good because the establishment might think twice about supporting a Mike Castle now that O’Donnell kicked his butt? Win or lose come November? If the establishment does not want to lose from now on, perhaps candidates who are in sync with the little people on policy would get more support, at lest more than those “nutty” ones.

  26. -I’ve come to the conclusion that the NRSC is a suicide pac [get it?].

    -Stacy: Over at your TAS Article commentator WRTolkas has the insight of the campaign season: Karl Rove, the “Dr. Frank Burns” of the Republican Party. Quite.

    Would this make Mike Steele Colonel Flagg?

  27. -I’ve come to the conclusion that the NRSC is a suicide pac [get it?].

    -Stacy: Over at your TAS Article commentator WRTolkas has the insight of the campaign season: Karl Rove, the “Dr. Frank Burns” of the Republican Party. Quite.

    Would this make Mike Steele Colonel Flagg?

  30. it does conservatives little good to support candidates who at the end of the day, while they may be conservative in their public statements, do not advance the characteristics of rectitude and truthfullness

    Sounds like a great argument for conservatives to stop supporting Karl Rove.

  31. it does conservatives little good to support candidates who at the end of the day, while they may be conservative in their public statements, do not advance the characteristics of rectitude and truthfullness

    Sounds like a great argument for conservatives to stop supporting Karl Rove.

  32. Did I say “wrong”? Yeah. Like when Karl Rove’s genius plan for the “Permanent Republican Majority” gave us Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and President Obama.

    Don’t forget he was the mastermind(such as it is) behind Amnesty too..

    Which was one of the main turning points the Republicans used to drive themselves into obscurity in 06 and 08.

  33. Did I say “wrong”? Yeah. Like when Karl Rove’s genius plan for the “Permanent Republican Majority” gave us Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and President Obama.

    Don’t forget he was the mastermind(such as it is) behind Amnesty too..

    Which was one of the main turning points the Republicans used to drive themselves into obscurity in 06 and 08.

  37. I think O’Donnell was a mistake (he said for the 50th time) but she still has a chance at the seat and the NRSC should stop being idiots by tearing her down.

    Rove is an evil and dangerous clown who has no appreciation for real conservatives– glad Republicans are finally waking up to that. Where were you guys in 2004 and 2008?

    BTW, while everyone was obsessing about Del, we narrowly seem to have elected the clearly more RINOish of our two Senate candidates in NH. Had we focused on that race, conservatives would have had a chance at an excellent Sen from NH rather than a mediocre one.

  38. I think O’Donnell was a mistake (he said for the 50th time) but she still has a chance at the seat and the NRSC should stop being idiots by tearing her down.

    Rove is an evil and dangerous clown who has no appreciation for real conservatives– glad Republicans are finally waking up to that. Where were you guys in 2004 and 2008?

    BTW, while everyone was obsessing about Del, we narrowly seem to have elected the clearly more RINOish of our two Senate candidates in NH. Had we focused on that race, conservatives would have had a chance at an excellent Sen from NH rather than a mediocre one.

  46. As one who supported Castle on the “electability” question (because he was in fact virtually certain to win the general), I want to point out O’Donnell is far from a lost cause. First of all, she built terrific momentum in the late days of the primary campaign to put her over the top, and is bound to get a strong bounce from the upset win.

    Secondly, Coons is a County Executive in his second term in office, which isn’t an overwhelming resume. Plus, he is Reid’s pet and an Obama clone policy-wise.

    Delaware may be one of Obama’s best states rating-wise, but he’s not on the upswing there any more than anywhere else – and the whole “Recovery Summer” thing isn’t inspiring epic poems yet, either, so it should continue to decline.

    Castle needs to man up and endorse, and Rove and others need to STFU and do the same. We had the vote on Tuesday – it’s Thursday, baby, time to move on!

  47. As one who supported Castle on the “electability” question (because he was in fact virtually certain to win the general), I want to point out O’Donnell is far from a lost cause. First of all, she built terrific momentum in the late days of the primary campaign to put her over the top, and is bound to get a strong bounce from the upset win.

    Secondly, Coons is a County Executive in his second term in office, which isn’t an overwhelming resume. Plus, he is Reid’s pet and an Obama clone policy-wise.

    Delaware may be one of Obama’s best states rating-wise, but he’s not on the upswing there any more than anywhere else – and the whole “Recovery Summer” thing isn’t inspiring epic poems yet, either, so it should continue to decline.

    Castle needs to man up and endorse, and Rove and others need to STFU and do the same. We had the vote on Tuesday – it’s Thursday, baby, time to move on!

Comments are closed.