COMMENTARY | The scene was eerily reminiscent of Paris Hilton's run from an ABC News interview. Christine O'Donnell, a former candidate for the U.S. Senate from Delaware, ripped off her microphone and fled the set of "Piers Morgan Tonight" Wednesday evening. According to TheWrap, O'Donnell was making the rounds to promote her new book "Troublemaker: Let's Do What it Takes to Make America Great Again." Shortly after the botched interview, Morgan took to Twitter saying, "Ms. O'Donnell wasn't happy about me quizzing her re views on witchcraft and sex. But really flipped at gay marriage Qs."
The fallout began when Morgan brought up O'Donnell's controversial views on sex, and an incident where she stated she was involved with witchcraft. According to USA Today, O'Donnell's last words before the walk-off were, "'I'm promoting the policies that I laid out in the book that are mostly fiscal, that are mostly constitutional -- That's why I agreed to come on your show. That's what I want to talk about. I'm not being weird. You're being a little rude."
I for one believe that celebrities and politicians accept the role of defending their actions and sometimes explaining them to the public when they trade their private citizenship for the associated money and fame. Since the public doesn't care as much about her new book as her old controversies, expecting anything less from Morgan and being unprepared to address those issues was unprofessional of O'Donnell on many different levels.
Of course, I could expect no less from a pundit-turned-politician who was cast from the same mold as Republican favorites Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. These three make up a trinity of disconnected thoughts and speech who make much better fodder for "Saturday Night Live" than viable political candidates.
The Republican nominations and now the Tea Party's endorsement of Christine O'Donnell is another example of wasting resources on a candidate who killed her political career before she even ran for office. Her most famous quote was an admission of dabbling in witchcraft that Bill Maher dug up from his old television program "Politically Incorrect," in which she stated:
"I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven -- I hung around people who were doing these things. I'm not making this stuff up. One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn't know it. I mean, there's a little blood there and stuff like that -- We went to a movie and then had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar."
If the witchcraft doesn't mark her as a toxic association, her failed gender discrimination lawsuit against the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, her terrible financial record, and allegations of living off campaign donations that were investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office should definitely do the trick. Every single mess O'Donnell has found herself in is indicative of her detached worldview and pretentious nature. While I have been wishing for a charismatic conservative candidate to appear on the national scene to rally the troops, the Republican Party squanders its influence on candidates who cannot compete in national politics. While I enjoy watching skits about these girls on "SNL," I am smart enough to realize the joke is on us.
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