The tea party insurgency crosses the Delaware

The Insurgency

by digby

I think I've lost count of how many tea partiers may wind up in the Congress next January, but it's an alarming number. Luckily, this latest phenom from Delaware, is unlikely to win the general election, but it's instructive that such a crazy candidate can get so close. Christine O'Donnell is a tea partier, Christian taliban edition. (Her main claim to fame is promoting sexual abstinence, which includes masturbation... )

Here's Howie from last Friday (and subsequently, a poll has found that she's got a very good chance of winning.):
There's a chance-- a small one-- that the Tea Bag Express could take out mainstream conservative corporate shill Mike Castle (a major Wall Street darling) and replace him with someone on a Sharron Angle/Rand Paul level, Christine O'Donnell. In fact, a friend of mine described her as "like a less polished Sharron Angle." Chew on that!

Short version: O'Donnell is another extremist and radical far removed from the American mainstream, almost like Joe Miller. Her latest tactic is to question Mike Castle's sexuality and imply that he's a closet case-- a possible Lindsey Graham, Larry Craig or Mitch McConnell type of character. That's the rumor... ha, ha, ha. Any proof? Conservatives usually attack Democrats with the smears and they're used to not bothering with proof. Now they're turning it on their own. (Not that Castle hasn't fought back-- with a website painting O'Donnell as a crook and a kook, who plays fast and loose with her campaign contributions.)

O'Donnell's got Castle so scared that he's spending money hand over fist in a primary he never thought he would have to spend a nickel on. And the Tea Party Express is putting their money into the race. Both sides are being financed by shady financiers of right-wing causes, Wall Street in Castle's case, power-mad and dangerous plutocratic families in O'Donnell's case, the same families that just replaced mainstream conservative Lisa Murkowski with lunatic fringe Joe Miller in Alaska. In fact, Sarah Palin has weighed in on O'Donnell's side against Castle, who voted-- twice-- for Bush's no-strings-attached Wall Street bailout (TARP) and for all the horrible trade policies that have sent U.S. jobs overseas. Yesterday the NRA also endorsed her.

The GOP establishment (what's left of it) is apoplectic because O'Donnell can't win the general election. Even the right wing blogosphere is up in arms over this one, fighting among themselves. After all, this was supposed to be an easy GOP pick-up. But this is what happens when you empower a radical fringe. They start to think they don't have to do what they're told any more.

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