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Go Home Why O'Donnell's Lunacy Matters

JONATHAN CHAIT SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Why O'Donnell's Lunacy Matters

BY ISAAC CHOTINER

[Guest post by Isaac Chotiner]

In 1996, as is now tolerably well known, Republican senate candidate Christine O'Donnell preached the evils of masturbation, and called for a discussion of the topic "from a moral point of view." Since masturbation requires lust, according to O'Donnell, and because lust is wrong ("according to The Bible"), masturbation is wrong.

Ross Douthat, commenting on this subject, mocks William Saletan for his (Saletan's) bizarre piece about masturbation and socialism, and then goes on to add:

With Christine O’Donnell, as with Sarah Palin before her, American liberals have been confronted with a politician who’s vulnerable to all sorts of possible attacks, and whose record and qualifications and positions provide plenty of fodder for either a high-minded, issues-based critique, or a more no-holds-barred assault on her honesty and integrity. And what do liberals want to talk about? Why, her decade-old comments on masturbation, of course!

Douthat is implying that rather than discuss issues of substance, liberals are instead focusing on amusing or strange things that O'Donnell once said. How silly of liberals to spotlight her masturbation comments! I will agree that these comments are silly and amusing. But they are also a substantive window into the woman's mind. O'Donnell's thinking is simply deranged. And you don't want deranged people with crazy opinions in the U.S. Senate.

The same is true, to an even greater degree, of O'Donnell's comments about whether she would have given Anne Frank up to the Nazis. (See James Downie's post, with video, below). O'Donnell was asked if her statement that lying was always wrong could be qualified; what if you were hiding Anne Frank and the SS was at your door, asking if you were sheltering any Jews? Still wrong, according to O'Donnell. It's true that this hypothetical is less relevant to our current problems in America than, say, O'Donnell's position on taxes. But again, as a window into a fanatical mind, it can hardly be bettered. (In case you think fanatical is too strong a word, think again about the hypothetical.)

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The ex-partner of an ex-friend was (could still be) a talk show host on one of Berlin's fringe "artistic" stations. He had a regular segment, each week, on "masturbation". Usually, his own, over the week, and what brought him to it in each instance. (The ex-friend was not involved, which is why they became ex-partners soon after.) From this single but critical example, one can extrapolate that for the German male, mastrubation is a sacrament, leading to the break-up of family units. One can further surmise, scientifically of course, that the Third Reich arose because too many men were busy masturbating and not enough attending church and to their wives. The logical conclusion is, naturally, that the appeasers were also wankers, for who but a nation involved in self-satisfaction would be nearly defeated by a nation equally given to hedonistic self-pleasure. As usual, Carter got it wrong. If you have lust in your heart, and therefore your weannie in your hand, you have committed not just adultery, or ven onanism and Afrokenyanfascism. Masturbation is nothing but Nazivicide: the Nazi-like wholesale destruction of our blessed Western Civilisation. No wonder so many liberals are for it. Wanking, not Western Civilisation.

- icarusr

September 20, 2010 at 2:55pm

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ICARUSR: You are a wing-nut.

- LawrenceGulotta

September 20, 2010 at 3:23pm

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O'Donnell may be bat-shit crazy. But in her position on lying she has some worthy company. Immanuel Kant said exactly the same thing (it's always wrong).

- robertgorton

September 20, 2010 at 3:38pm

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I know Icarus, and he's no wingnut. He makes good points here. Kant and O'Donnell are right: lying is unequivocally wrong, as is killing people. In the situation, one must sometimes decide to do wrong to avoid a greater wrong, but this is an ethical question, not a political one. Trying to crucify O'Donnell for random sound bites about her first date or thoughts about masterbation is not good politics. This crap helps her, and at this point Dems need all hands on deck.

- Robert Powell

September 20, 2010 at 4:09pm

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Christine O'Donnell's position on the Nazi issue is exactly the same as Immanuel Kant's position on such questions. But don't look for O"Donnell to reference Kant. This is the categorical imperative and it is bizarre and untenable.

- liberal reformer

September 20, 2010 at 4:17pm

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Eh, Robert, the Right pretty ably crucified Al Gore for things he said*, so perhaps it's not such a bad model ...? *and he didn't even really say them If the Dems aren't allowed to point out, via her own words, that O'Donnell is a fruit loop, what can they do? She's never held office before, so that's her "record." Her stances on masturbation and other alleged "moral issues" came part and parcel with her SALT experience. Surely O'Donnell's very own utterings say more about her than, say, things Obama's pastor said say about Obama, right?

- W_Bombay

September 20, 2010 at 4:29pm

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Robert Powell: Adolf Eichmann defended myself using Kant's "Categorical Imperative." Hanna Arendt in "Eichmann In Jersusalem" quotes Eichmann extensively on his Kantian "Categorical Imperative." Robert Powell, why don't you try to expain your citation of Kant with greater clarity

- LawrenceGulotta

September 20, 2010 at 4:31pm

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If you were to ask O'Donnell about Kant, she would chirp "Kan too!" Thank you, I'll be here all week. Please try the spare rib.

- W_Bombay

September 20, 2010 at 4:42pm

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Ah, Woody, Woody, Woody ... don't you get it? That was then, this is now; that was Gore, this is Pali-, euh, O'Donnell; Al's a Democrat Party nominee; Christine is a Christian-God-Loving-Jesus-Quoting-Republican. When are you liberalfascists going to learn that Real Americans don't care what O'Donnell says, or does, or has said, has done, or has not done, or might say, or might know, or (more likely) does not know? She believes in God and Obama does not; she is American and Obama is Kenyan; she is right and you are wrong. Why is it so difficult to understand?

- icarusr

September 20, 2010 at 5:23pm

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The reason people are obsessing about O'Donnell and masturbation is the same reason Sue Lowden went down for "chickens for check ups"--both provide a relatively easy window into the individual's mentality, even if the questions raised (barter as a means to pay for healthcare, personal sexual morality) are not in themselves trivial. That said, I think the masturbation thing can be overplayed. Easy to snicker and make jokes about, but you'd be surprised at how man voters would agree. Surely there is some other gaffe--one that actually has to do with public policy--that can be located in what appears to be an extensive media record. Just look at Sharon Angle's "massage therapy for criminals" idea. An enterprising oppo researcher should be able to find something like that for O'Donnell.

- timteeter

September 20, 2010 at 6:20pm

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ICARUSR: "When are you liberalfascists going to learn ..." LOL The Radical right-wing extremists, the Tea Party, have taken over the Republican Party in numerous states. Not the first time liberal or moderate Republicans have been expelled from the GOP. The Goldwater movement took over the GOP in 1960 and went on to a crushing world-class defeat in the general election. Liberals are REAL Americans. Liberals are not fascists, they are anti-fascist. We all know Jonah Goldberg is a jerk. It was fighting Liberalism (FDR New Deal Liberalism) that delivered victory over Fascism in WWII. I don't think you are very funny, satirical or clever, Icarusr. Just another rummy taking shots at the "Liberals." Why is that so difficult to understand?

- LawrenceGulotta

September 20, 2010 at 7:10pm

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Correction: The Goldwater movement took over the GOP in 1964 and went on to a crushing world-class defeat in the general election.

- LawrenceGulotta

September 20, 2010 at 7:12pm

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I think icarus was engaging, as is his wont, in a kind of Swiftian satire in which one has to sense that it can't possibly for real. The different between icarus and, say, O'Donnell is that unfortunately in the latter case, it's not a Swiftian satire. She actually thinks the Irish should eat their children to solve the hunger problem and the overpopulation problem in one go.

- ironyroad

September 20, 2010 at 8:35pm

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Irony, I resent the implication that what I wrote can't possibly be real. The first three sentences, about the ex of the ex and the radio show are perfectly true. He even played, on the air, the Shirley Bassey LP I had given him as a gift. Now, if only my students took me as seriously as Lawrence ...

- icarusr

September 21, 2010 at 12:32am

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I'm definitely not defending O'Donnell's positions, views or intelligence here - just pointing out that she did NOT in effect say "she would have given Anne Frank up to the Nazis." She avoided the question clumsily by saying "god would" tell her what to do. Also, isn't it disconcerting that Bill Maher 1. actually broadcasted a opinion talk show with Eddie Izzard, Jasmine Guy, Martin Mull and Christine O'Donnell? and 2. That that show is actually important now (ever)?

- rancilio

September 21, 2010 at 10:45am

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rancilio: Sorry, "God will give me the answer" is an evasion that bespeaks an initial, and original, absence of moral centre. Between an abstration/statement (a lie) and a life in specific cercumstances, one ought never need to resort to any addition guidance from God: that guidance has already been given, in our conscience, in the need to preserve a life. If you can't answer that simple question - and it does not get starker than that - then there is something wrong with your moral compass.

- icarusr

September 21, 2010 at 11:09am

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icarus - Well said; I agree wholeheartedly, though I suspect that those who argue for the existence of a god whose presence in their lives they can feel and gain inspiration from on a daily basis might disagree, as might those of O'Donnell's ilk. O'Donnell, after all, appears to have a belief system where there is, in fact, no need for moral learning or even thought, because it boils down to a single phrase: do what God tells you. It assumes that the very question of God is settled, God's word is clear, and all who are not following his word are obviously evil. Simple, neat, and (as Mencken said) wrong.

- janus

September 21, 2010 at 1:28pm

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And quite evidently, on re-reading my post, it was God who caused all the typos.

- icarusr

September 21, 2010 at 2:55pm

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It would be a bloody shame by my lights but I won't be surprised if O'Donnell wins in Delaware. If she does, I suggest that focusing on her comments from 10 years ago and 5 years ago will have helped her. I think Douthat is right and Chotiner is wrong on this point. Bob is right to say that "Trying to crucify O'Donnell for random sound bites about her first date or thoughts about masterbation (sic) is not good politics. This crap helps her, and at this point Dems need all hands on deck." (Of course, I only, only I tell you, know the proper spelling of the 'M word" from having read about it somewhere.)

- basman

September 21, 2010 at 10:25pm

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(Of course, I only, only I tell you, know the proper spelling of the 'M word" from having read about it somewhere.) I guess so. If one could learn to spell by masturbating, the adolescent male population would all be orthographic geniuses.

- IowaBeauty

September 21, 2010 at 11:13pm

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The point, of course, is that O'Donnell would have to truly intend to betray the Jews to the Nazis for God to provide a way for her not to. A la Abraham and Isaac (in the nutter understanding of the tale).

- miceelf

September 22, 2010 at 8:00am

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