Christine O’Donnell, shedding brain cells before our eyes

By R.K. Barry

You may have seen this, but it’s so damn much fun that I have to post it myself.

 

Christine O’Donnell, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate for Delaware was debating her opponent Chris Coons. She asked Coons where in the Constitution one can find a reference to the separation of church and state. The audience gasped and giggled because, as a group with at least a basic education, they knew instantly that it was in fact the First Amendment that sets out this seminal doctrine. The text is as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

In the clip below, the audience howls, and Coons schools O’Donnell, as she proves herself to be woefully unqualified to be a U.S. Senator. All is right with the world.

Now the fun starts. What follows reminds me of that Hunter S. Thompson quote: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

O’Donnell was not only schooled in this pathetic episode, but she was too stupid to know she was being schooled. In an interview on ABC television shortly after, she claims that all the press got it wrong and it was she who embarrassed Coons in the exchange. I’m not joking. Here is what she said:

It's really funny the way that the media reports things. After that debate my team and I we were literally high fiving each other thinking that we had exposed he doesn't know the First Amendment, and then when we read the reports that said the opposite we were all like "what?"

 O'Donnell explained that her line of questioning to Coons was not because she didn't know the First Amendment, but to make the point the phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear anywhere in the Constitution.

So, her explanation was that the exact words “separation of church and state” do not appear in the text verbatim, despite the fact that anyone reasonably conversant with the English language would understand the intent of the phrase “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

Wow, she missed that. And we are going to miss her after election day. This has been too much fun.