Conservative Christine O'Donnell Walks Off CNN Show over Gay Marriage Question

[The Pecman]

O'Donnell walks out of CNN interview

by Ashley Killough

(CNN) - Christine O'Donnell, former Delaware GOP Senate candidate, walked off the set of CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" Wednesday when asked about her views on sexual abstinence and gay marriage.

"I'm not talking about policies. I'm not running for office," O'Donnell said. "Ask Michele Bachmann what she thinks."

When Morgan asked her why she was being "weird" about answering questions on her own statements, as well as issues she addresses in her new book, "Troublemaker," O'Donnell fired back, saying she only wanted to talk about tea party principles outlined in her book.

"That's why I agreed to come on your show. That's what I want to talk about," O'Donnell said. "I'm not being weird. You're being a little rude."

O'Donnell made national headlines in 2010 when she denied in a TV ad that she was a witch, responding to comments she made a decade earlier on a TV show saying she had "dabbled in witchcraft."

During her Senate campaign, O'Donnell ran as a tea party darling and social conservative. She said she hopes her new book will be an inspirational tool to the grassroots conservative movement.

But when asked about issues from her book and her campaign Wednesday, O'Donnell walked away from the interview, upset that Morgan wasn't not talking about the things she wished to address.

"Don't you think as a host, if I say this is what I want to talk about, that's what we should address?" she asked Morgan.

When Morgan said "no," O'Donnell began to take off her microphone and said she had turned down another interview for this appearance.

"I was supposed to be speaking at the Republican Women's Club at 6, and I chose to be a little late for that," she said. "Not to endure a rude talk show host, but to talk to you about my book and the issues I address in my book."

Earlier in the interview, O’Donnell answered questions about her Senate campaign, saying she had made mistakes and caused “self-inflicted wounds.”

She argued that during the midterms she had been unfairly treated by the GOP, which she said failed to defend her from both Republican and Democratic attacks.

Most notably, O’Donnell said she regretted listening to the campaign consultants who advised her on making the famous “I’m not a witch” TV ad.

“I listened to the so-called experts who have been losing election after election.” O’Donnell said. “The experts aren’t always experts.”

While the former Senate candidate didn’t indicate whether she was vying for a political comeback, O’Donnell said she wants to “stay in the political arena” and talk about the issues. She also warned that the country was heading toward calamity.

“The reality is our country is going bankrupt. Our country is on the brink of collapsing," O’Donnell said. "This is a very grave situation, unlike any time. We need real solutions.”

O’Donnell began to express discomfort when Morgan turned the conversation to her previous comments on sexual abstinence from a 1996 interview she gave to MTV. At the time, O’Donnell was an advocate for abstinence and had founded a pro-abstinence group. She also discouraged masturbation.

When Morgan asked her if she still held those views, O’Donnell said she was a practicing Catholic and supports what the Church teaches but would not do the same MTV interview today.

Morgan pressed her again, asking if she was still a supporter of abstinence.

“Are you the pro-masturbation talk show host?” O’Donnell asked, jokingly.

“Why, yes,” Morgan replied in jest.

O’Donnell then tried to change the subject to the political principles from her book, and when Morgan continued to ask about her comments on sex, O’Donnell began to argue the host was being rude.

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The video is too funny for words:

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/...nn&iref=NS1

[Trab]

Nobody who's seen America's Got Talent would ever think Piers Morgan isn't capable of being rude.

[colinian]

Christine, if you can't stand the heat, don't start out in the fireplace.

Colin

[Bruin Fisher]

The USA is a great big country and it's got a whole lot of people living there. We shouldn't be surprised that a few of them are a bit cooky. What's worrying is when large numbers of other people nod their heads and say 'yep, that's what I think, too!'

Are you guys in the States aware how the rest of the world sees your politics? When President Obama took office we all thought the US had returned to sanity at last. I think we still hope that, but the sweetness and light emanating from Bachmann & co doesn't help!

[Chris James]

.....Are you guys in the States aware how the rest of the world sees your politics? When President Obama took office we all thought the US had returned to sanity at last. I think we still hope that, but the sweetness and light emanating from Bachmann & co doesn't help!

Bruin...This is called a job opportunity here in America. Running for political office is one of the few things we can find for our mentally ill people to do. Isn't it lovely?

[Bruin Fisher]

Running for political office is one of the few things we can find for our mentally ill people to do.

And there I was thinking the US didn't have universal healthcare, free at the point of delivery!! What a lovely way to care for the non compos mentis!

[EleCivil]

Quote; "What a lovely way to care for the non compos mentis!"

[...]Without trying to insult you it seems to me that the American political field is a perfect place to gain notoriety and skewed fame without perpetrating the violent deeds that many, unfortunately, appear to prefer.

Politicians with mental disorders are not an American phenomenon. Nassir Ghaemi's book, "A First Rate Madness" is about how our most successful politicians have had some sort of mental disorder - Lincoln, Churchill, Ghandi, MLK, etc. - and how they were better leaders because of it. Depression makes one more empathetic and reflective, manic tendencies produce charismatic leaders, it takes a narcissist to stand up and say "I know a better way than everyone else," etc. People whose brains work differently are the only ones who can change the world, because everyone else keeps doing things the same way - staying the course is normal, change is "weird."

“In the storm of crisis, complete sanity can steer us astray, while some insanity brings us to port.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/books/a-...emi-review.html

Right-wingers and teabaggers strike me as being too sane for their own good. They believe in an unbending, black and white moral code. They believe that the world works in a logical way - cause and effect. The market is down? Must be because of the tax code. Murder rate is up? We'll institute the death penalty. A natural disaster wiped out a city? Somebody must have made God mad. In all honesty, that's pretty sane - "Everything happens for a reason." To believe such is to defend one's sanity against the myriad injustices of random chance.

Five minutes from now, the Earth might explode, eradicating all human life from the universe. Some people would read that sentence and think "No way, that can't be God's plan" and take comfort in it. Others would read that sentence and think "...So it goes." Which is crazier?

To me, the world is too chaotic and humans are too irrational for sanity to work. To attempt to enforce sanity on an insane universe is, in itself, rather crazy. Discordians call it The Law of Eristic Escalation: "Imposition of order = Escalation of chaos."

I'd find O'Donnell more credible if she WAS a witch.

Hail Discordia.

[Bruin Fisher]

Somebody must have made God mad.

I Should have known it would all be my fault!

Here in the UK we have another method: we encourage them all to go and live in Glastonbury. Small town quite near me, bursting at the seams with anarchists, new age believers of all sorts, who've probably moved there because all their friends already live there, or because they hope by moving there that they'll find some friends. Sitting in a cafe in Glastonbury is an education in itself if you listen to the conversations around you. Of course you're drinking organic Tchai, not anything so poisonous to your fleshly temple as coffee.

Actually, come to think of it, they're all harmless, peaceable and friendly, perhaps we should dig them out and put them in government!

[The Pecman]

Great editorial comment against Ms. O'Donnell at this link:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/19/odon....html?hpt=hp_t2

I'm flummoxed as to why she wouldn't just have a glib and superficial answer to the question. The fact that she didn't just tells me she's got no handle on PR and the press.

I think we should dunk her in a water tank and hold her down just to check and see if she's a witch...