This may be the first political ad to utilize Descartes’ ‘cogito’ to gain votes. Interesting platform, but a pretty low bar to set for herself: reinforce your existence by voting for a deliberating proxy.

BTW, this post has me thinking in ways that I just didn’t really think I would… thanks

Your point about who is mocking her and why is a really thought-provoking one. I have 3 somewhat related thoughts in response:

First, I do think that some people are mocking her for her spiritual spelunking (needed a word besides “dabble” and “experiment”) in that they know that they are reproducing an inaccurate/incomplete picture of witchcraft for the sake of a laugh. I mean, why not just point out the ways that any number of her policy positions violate norms of “Christian decency”? For some people getting the laugh is really their only job and I respect that, but my job is to call them on it.

The other thing you brought to mind is that I have to admit that when O’Donnell talks about her dabbling, I’m scoffing in part because it seems so fake (which is not the same as insisting on a space for Wiccans and Pagans to define themselves). When O’Donnell says, “I’m not a witch” my gut reaction is “Ah, something we agree on.” For me the only thing joke-worthy is really the idea that she ever actually was a witch.

Lastly, in trying to think through all of the issues that you, Jennifer, and Tim have raised I went back to the 1999 video to try and see why she even brought the witchcraft up in the first place. As best as I can tell, it’s part of a discussion of Halloween and it’s ties to Satanism. Again, I don’t have access to the full episode, but it looks like she brought up these personal experiences as evidence for her claims that Halloween is tied to evil practices. It’s too bad there wasn’t someone there then–a moment when US popular culture was well-stocked with positive images of characters linked (however loosely) to Wicca–to correct her instead of buying into her hype. I realize the absurdity of making such a wish about a show called “Politically Incorrect,” but there it is.

Oof. So many thoughts about O’Donnell. I should probably go do some GOTV work now! 🙂

Additionally, I think you’re right that the dismissal (whether intentional or not) of Witchcraft as a legitimate religion also works to contain “unruly” women, not so much by painting O’Donnell as dangerous but by laughing at her.

Your comment also made me think of the jokes circulating about her as the “41-year old virgin”. I’m interested in O’Donnell’s unruliness because it’s not the “bewitching” sexualized unruliness. Rather, part of her unruliness comes from her refusal to engage in sexual activity according to dominant norms–we go from slut shaming, to prude shaming.

I wonder if the comparisons of Obama to Hitler or the portrayal of Nancy Pelosi as a godless pervert provide the same kind of “nourishment” for anyone on the Left? If not, I wonder what could?

“And the Democrats will be helping them by saying scathing and dismissive things about the Tea Party and its candidates. The Greek mythological figure Antaeus won victory after victory because his opponents repeatedly threw him to the ground, not realizing that it was the earth (in the figure of his mother, Gaia) that nourished him and gave him renewed strength. The Tea Party’s strength comes from the down-to-earth rhetoric it responds to and proclaims, and whenever high-brow critics heap the dirt of scorn and derision upon the party, its powers increase.”

“Commentators who explain smugly that O’Donnell’s position on masturbation (that it is a selfish, solitary act) is contradicted by her Ayn Rand-like attack on collectivism, or who wax self-righteous about Paladino’s comparing Sheldon Silver to Hitler and promising to wield a baseball bat in Albany, or who laugh at Sharron Angle for being in favor of Scientology (she denies it) and against fluoridation and the Department of Education, are doing these candidates a huge favor. They are saying, in effect, these people are stupid, they’re jokes; and the implication (sometimes explicitly stated) is that anyone who takes them the least bit seriously doesn’t get the joke and is stupid, too.”

So, as counter-intuitive as it may seem for her to lead with “I am not a witch,” I kind of get it. I think it may work to appeal, if not to Delaware’s few undecided voters, then to a potential future audience made up of those who are also skeptical of both the “lamestream” media and those people who mock O’Donnell. Who knows, perhaps TLC will bring us “Christine O’Donnell’s Delaware.”

Thanks again for reading and offering these insights!