I think TBogg has this right about O’Donnell:
She seems like a lovely person; cute, charming, supremely confident in her know-nothingness, gliding through life on adorableness and Jesus love and sincerity. And not much else. A review of her not-running-for-public-office work history doesn’t turn up much in the way of marketable skills other than the ability to parrot talking points, which, when you actually think about it, does kind of qualify her to be a US Senator. Or the business and economics editor for The Atlantic, for that matter. You look at her eyes when she’s asked a question off the beaten path and you don’t get the feeling that that is the sound of gears grinding away that you hear. More like the wind rustling through the willows and maybe a sad loon calling from across the lake.
When it comes to the misuse of campaign funds, I think O’Donnell sincerely believes that the people who gave her money to run for office gave it to her with the understanding that she is doing God’s work no matter how long it takes and a rent payment here and an evening of bowling there are just a place to stay and a thing to do during The Perpetual Campaign of Righteousness, for she is the embodiment of the contributors hopes and desires. They want her to use it as she sees fit.
Sure she’s making a living off of the yokels much like Sarah Palin does, but she lacks the white trash feral cynicism of a Palin. O’Donnell’s no Grifter Grizzly, she’s more Blanche Dubois; spiritually pure, lost in a fantasy and depending on the kindness of strangers.
I actually remember her on the old Bill Maher shows, and TBogg is right- she’s stupid, silly, pig-ignorant, and a true-believer, but I just don’t sense a malicious streak. Sure, the outcome of her policies would have a malicious impact on the American people, but I don’t think she understands that.
In savvier times, Christine O’Donnell would be the mark. She’d be the idiot spending all her days trying to convince grandma to sell all the silverware and the IBM stocks that grand-daddy left behind so that they can give the money to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, because everyone knows they are doing the Lord’s work. These days, though, we’re such a stupid nation and one segment of our population is so thoroughly into the Jeebus was a Conservative kool-aid that Christine O’Donnell has moved from mark to become God’s Accidental Grifter.
You Can’t Bluff Someone Who’s Not Paying AttentionPost + Comments (295)