Christine O'Donnell On 'Politically Incorrect': A Flashback For GOP Senate Candidate (VIDEO)

Here's something to add to your background on newly minted GOP Delaware Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell.

The Atlantic's Joshua Green unearths a 1998 appearance that O'Donnell made on Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect" show. (She appeared with Martin Mull, Jasmine Guy, and Eddie Izzard!) The conversation revolved around the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, and the "relativity of truth."

Part One, in which O'Donnell frets about how the younger generations have been told to do what they feel like, meaning having lots of abortions.

Part Two, in which O'Donnell -- who hates lying --tries to figure out what she'd do if she had to lie to Hitler! Per ThinkProgress:

Comedian Eddie Izzard pressed her on just how far she would take her anti-lying beliefs. Izzard asked O'Donnell whether or not she would lie to Nazis who showed up at her door during WWII and demanded to know if she were hiding any Jewish people in her house. O'Donnell refused to even entertain the notion of concealing the truth from Nazis in that scenario because "you never have to practice deception":

O'DONNELL: A lie, whether it be a lie or an exaggeration, is disrespect to whoever you're exaggerating or lying to, because it's not respecting reality.

MAHER: Quite the opposite, it can be respect.

IZZARD: What if someone comes to you in the middle of the Second World War and says, 'do you have any Jewish people in your house?' and you do have them. That would be a lie. That would be disrespectful to Hitler.

O'DONNELL: I believe if I were in that situation, God would provide a way to do the right thing righteously. I believe that!

MAHER: God is not there. Hitler's there and you're there.

O'DONNELL: You never have to practice deception. God always provides a way out.

Cause for concern? If you're of the mind that O'Donnell is a straight weirdie, these clips aren't going to dissuade you. But I'll tell you what! If I'm Chris Coons, these clips remind me that O'Donnell is charming, telegenic, and can hold her own on a stage with outsized personalities. (I mean, Eddie Izzard, people!)

[Reposted from our primary night liveblog.]

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Comments

[AuntJoJo]

09:01 PM on 09/21/2010

Here is the problem as I see it. The Repubs love this because it takes the focus off them, onto Barak and into the Tea Party. Do not be naive. I mean it. Do your economic homework on Obama's policies. Taxes are down, market is up, jobs are terrible but that is not going to change in one, two, three years. The Republican Party supported G Bush and D Cheney, and allowed the 2% of the wealthiest people to pay NO TAXES. Literally, paid no taxes. I can say this because I do my mother's and she has some dough. I do not. The rest of the middle class (us), already hurting paid all of them. Nice.

[Princesspeach]

02:08 PM on 09/20/2010

Oh, man, this woman scares the bejesus out of me. Apparently "truth," even if it results in the deaths of millions, is of higher value to her than DECENCY.

Izzard should have asked her what she would say if there were children in her house and a known child molester knocked on her door.

[Gary Anders]

10:16 PM on 09/19/2010

After viewing Christine O'Donnell on a couple of videos, I remember her from S.A.L.T. and saw her several times on "Politically Correct". One of her "revelations" on one show -as I remember it- was that she hadn't had sex for twelve years. Since she wasn't married then there's no problem with her behavior. Although I didn't think Bill Maher should have scoffed at her then. Also, from what she said back then, she was kinda "out of control" in High School...until she grew-up. So all this controversy is a "tempest in a tea pot".

[Harry Mudd]

05:08 AM on 09/19/2010

Oh, how I miss PI. And I had a feeling when ABC bought PI from Comedy Central it was only a matter of time before ABC would kill it.

Great posting on O'Donnell.

[dudetoyourleft]

02:02 PM on 09/18/2010

I live In Florida , can someone pretty please find some qualty smut like this on Marco Rubio , he is just as nutty , but I aint sure he ever been a witch...

[cruzking2000]

01:03 PM on 09/18/2010

She would have never let any Jews hide in her attic to begin with!! That's what she means by "I believe if I were in that situation, God would provide a way to do the right thing righteously".
She's a fraud.

[vetxcl]

12:02 PM on 09/18/2010

aha! so, thhaaatt's why she doesn't seem to know anything and spews ridiculously idealistic/dogmatic claims, time after time - she's counting on God to bail her out! bone ignant.

[mamajama31]

10:34 AM on 09/18/2010

is this the real reason the show was canceled?

[vetxcl]

12:03 PM on 09/18/2010

oh? and when was that? you get cable right?

[BeVeryAfraid]

09:40 AM on 09/18/2010

Just think how many months of rent she pay with $1 million dollars.

Little Christine is going to be charged with ethics violations on Monday!

http://www.democratic­undergroun­d.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x505629

[Tim Ostrander]

03:11 AM on 09/18/2010

Her answer to the moral dilemma amounts to hoping for a deus ex machina, something which requires everyone to adopt an ardent position of faith in order to accept. Without faith (AND a subsequent intervention by God) the moral dilemma remains. If you don't deceive you are willingly leading the innocent to the slaughter. Not everyone is comfortable filling moral gaps with faith-based beings nor should they be.

[vetxcl]

12:03 PM on 09/18/2010

the problem with religion is man's practise of it.

[conservicide]

10:47 PM on 09/17/2010

Jasmine Guy.... love.

[dwander501]

10:14 PM on 09/17/2010

This O'Donnell crazy is only about 4 days in the national spotlight. Like this old tape, more and more of her lunacy will surface. I BARELY made it through part 2. That shrill babbling definitely gave me a headache and may have caused a brain tumor.

[George Saufley]

08:26 PM on 09/17/2010

You are not going to post this because it is to honest. When one looks at Philip Zimbardo, Stanley Milgram and MindScience. One realizes that in the 1998 appearance that O'Donnell made on Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect" show that both positions taken are delusion. Possibly "political correctness" is a delusion. I like these dialogues because it demonstrates the delusional pragmatism that plays out in "delusional group mentalities". I wished I would have known how to deal with this as a child. When one confronts a psychiatrist on this subject on how this plays out in offices, agencies, financial institutions, believers, non-believers, politics;
local, national and international and asks the therapist how to use this "delusion" to better oneself and others they feel uncomfortable and refuse to answer. To not give help- isn't that medical malpractice?

[Laurence Fitzgerald]

07:53 PM on 09/17/2010

She's right in this circumstance. The Lewinsky thing wasn't about an affair, it was about a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and the rights of Paula Jones. When Bill Clinton lied he did so in a deposition and the matter he lied about went to the heart of the case behind him. Paula Jones turned down sexual advances of Governor Bill Clinton, and her career was over. Monica Lewinsky didn't turn down President Clinton and Clinton's friends moved heaven and hell to get her employment. His lie was intended to deprive Paula Jones of the right to a fair trial. As President his sworn duty is to uphold the Constitution. Lying under oath in order to deprive someone of the basic right to a fair hearing in the courts does not uphold that oath. A bunch of B list entertainers arguing the relative merits of lying about someone's looks and committing perjury to avoid prosecution compared to a young woman advocating telling the truth as a virtue is a "no contest" situation. She was right, they were vacuous.

[sherwoodforest]

09:02 PM on 09/17/2010

NO, the impeachment was not about sexual harassment- and Jones did not lose her job. She kept working there and had even received a raise- all of which went against her own case.
You need to read and know your facts sir. I recommend :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinded_by_the_Right

[conservicide]

10:45 PM on 09/17/2010

You'd turn jews over to hitler over a "concept" of morality. such an underdeveloped view only supports your need to keep the world simple enough for you to understand.

Paula Jones didn't come forth by accident Fitz.

[Bgorden]

07:42 PM on 09/17/2010

She's telegenic, yes. But hold her own? Jasmine Guy wiped up the floor with her!

The problem with Christine O'Donnell is the moral absolutism. To give an equivocal answer to the Hitler dilemma? Her own attitude of moral rectitude is more important than saving a friend's life? To condemn someone else for your own personal salvation? In a situation of repression, such people are known as collaborators and cowards. There is a whole lot more to moral rectitude than telling the truth.

Then she ambiguously invokes God. God will tell her what to do! Well, Christine, I think God has already spoken unequivocally on the issue of killing. It's called the Sixth Commandment and I believe it goes, "Thou shalt not kill".

[Jeff Mace]

08:00 PM on 09/17/2010

My 2 cents:

I wouldn't vote for her, don't share her interpretation of morals, nor like her political affiliations at all. That being said, i find myself disagreeing with her, but not reacting as if someone took a rusty nail to the chalkboard (or Sarah Palin.) She doesn't seem to have the "dislike" factor going on that Palin did, and can certainly hold up to questioning better than Palin. (at least from the limited amount i've seen of her.)
I think it would be foolish for anybody to take this election for granted, or assume voter apathy won't be a factor. She's not winning anyone over, i think that's for sure. But she isn't really putting the general public off either.
I think that Jasmine Guy killed her too, but i think the "beercan joe" voter they seek out doesn't see that, or really listen to debate on the level you and i may. Remember, they thought Palin won the debates with Biden!
I hope the people of Delaware keep the momentum out of her court.
I

[Sylvis Prestone]

08:22 PM on 09/17/2010

"Her own attitude of moral rectitude is more important than saving a friend's life?"

That's just it. Her attitude is she thinks God will condemn her for eternity if she does the wrong thing, so it doesn't matter what "short term" consequences people suffer here and now. They will be judged (and since they are her friend, she believes they will likely go to heaven for being as pure as she is) and she can retain her purity. It's all a win/win as far as she's concerned.