Earlier this week I was preparing a column on the Delaware Senate race for Pajamas Media and having a bit of fun with it. Some skeletons have been rapidly emerging from the closet of Tea Party favorite Christine O’Donnell in terms of old campaign debt, IRS woes and sheriffs coming to foreclose on her home. (Since there is no sense rehashing it all, just follow the link if you’re not familiar with the particulars.) I also covered a bit of history on boring old Mike Castle who has seemed to win state-wide elections in the First State without much in the way of effort since the Vietnam War era.
At the risk of violating one of the golden rules of punditry by quoting myself, I jumped to one conclusion about Mike Castle which seemed like a given.
The congressman has been vetted by the opposition from hell to breakfast, and if there’s any dirt to be found on him, it will likely require a significant meteor impact to unearth it.
It still seems like a safe bet, given the man’s age, history, and high public profile. But that didn’t stop team O’Donnell from trying to generate a tabloid worthy scandal.
A conservative firm until recently employed by the Delaware primary campaign of conservative Christine O’Donnell against Rep. Mike Castle casually leveled an extraordinary — and unsupported — charge of a gay affair against Castle in a video posted to its website today, the ugliest salvo yet in an extremely bitter primary.
The newscast-style video on Liberty.com features a woman seated before a backdrop of Liberty.com’s Las Vegas headquarters, criticizing Castle and praising O’Donnell.
“Isn’t Mike Castle cheating on his wife with a man?” asks a voice off-screen at the 1:55 mark.
“That’s the rumor,” answers the newscaster.
Great Shades of Eric Massa! I resisted the urge to pause the video (available at the link above) and go toss a bag of popcorn in the microwave and eagerly awaited the juicy details and proof of the allegation. But what I got was… nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Just “that’s the rumor.”
Come on, guys. If you’re going to float the old Closeted Republican Cheats on Wife With Dude storyline we at least expect you to produce the aggrieved and sobbing pool boy, congressional page or neighbor’s nephew. At a minimum we need some audio of Castle tapping his feet in odd rhythmic patterns in an airport men’s room. Give us something! Without it your story just smacks of desperation.
On top of that rather quirky episode, video quickly surfaced of an O’Donnell staffer attacking a GOP videographer rather than allowing them a shot at speaking to the candidate. Then when she does give an interview to a normally friendly radio host, she develops additional trouble with math in misremembering how many votes she received in her last Senate bid and gets all testy when the reporter tries to ask her about her campaign finance and IRS troubles.
“Oh man,” sighs O’Donnell, “are you kidding me? Is Castle paying you?”
Well, at least the news isn’t all wacky. I mean, if nothing else she’s always been clearly opposed to masturbation, and consistency in talking points is important in national politics. And in terms of message control, I suppose having your staffers run around your house peeking under the bushes when you go home at night is just good security policy.
This election cycle is turning out to be such a one sided fight with the GOP chasing the Democrats off the field of battle that it’s almost become boring. Thank heaven for a bit of theater like a good old-fashioned primary scuffle to entertain us until November.
(Cross posted from Hot Air.)
And I should just say, “Hello!” Yes, I’ve missed you all too. I’ve just been pretty busy handling a congressional campaign this summer, but I’ll stop by and say hi when I can.