Arianna appeared on "Real Time With Bill Maher" Friday night to discuss the rise of the tea party and other factors contributing to the presumptive massive Republican victory in November's midterm elections.
Legitimate populist anger is a primary factor, she told Maher and the rest of his panel, but the GOP can also take credit for marshaling more diversity than usual.
"This incredible anger at the establishments -- Democratic establishments, Republican establishments, financial establishments, media establishments -- who've allowed the country to get to that point, and the complete mistrust," Arianna said. "On the other hand, if you look at the Republican field, it's kind of pretty big-tent. On the one hand kind of Paladino, who's sending out kinky sex emails, and on the other hand Christine O'Donnell, who's against masturbation, so that's a pretty big tent."
Maher defended the apparent success of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and noted that the past month marked Wall Street's best September since 1939, but Arianna said those numbers missed the point of the public's widespread frustration.
"The reason they are legitimately angry is because there's been a decoupling between the Wall Street economy and the real economy. It doesn't matter how well the stock market does or how little the TARP costs. The problem is that there's no connection between the two economies."
At around the 12-minute mark in the below video, Maher played the third of his weekly clips from Christine O'Donnell's "Politically Incorrect" appearances.
"I was dabbling into every other kind of religion before I became a Christian," O'Donnell says in the 1999 clip. "I was dabbling in witchcraft. I've dabbled in Buddhism. I would have become a Hare Krishna but I didn't want to become a vegetarian. And that is honestly the reason why -- because I'm Italian, I love meatballs."
"Boy, are you spiritual," Maher riposted at the time.
WATCH:
Later in the show, the discussion turned to accused sexual harasser Bishop Eddie Long and the tragic death of the outed gay Rutger's student.
WATCH: