Monday, September 06, 2010

Should It Be Christine O'Donnell Or Mike Castle In Delaware GOP Senate Race?

Help me my fellow conservatives.
I am very frustrated about this senate race in Delaware between incumbent Republican Congressman Michael Castle and challenger Christine O'Donnell.
I mean, Miss O'Donnell was nothing but an afterthought as Congressman Castle was supposed to win this primary in a cakewalk.
Except a funny thing has happened.
Miss O'Donnell is gaining ground and Congressman Castle may be lucky to win this race by the skin of his teeth. If he should be so lucky.
In July of this year Miss O'Donnell had raised a measly $55,000. That is not much in this day and age. Then Miss O'Donnell went on the Mark Levin radio program and raised $30,000 in 30 hours. And she gained the support of the Tea Party Express and the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List.
Now she is within striking distance of Congressman Castle.
On the other hand, Congressman Castle has the full-throated support of the Republican establishment. Even many solid conservatives are supporting Congressman Castle.
So, are these two that far apart on the issues?
Well, I always go to the websites of these campaigns.
Miss O'Donnell's website highlights 11 issues and if you follow her recording of events over Congressman Castle's career, it appears that he may well be a Democrat in Republican clothing. A RINO*.
Go to Congressman Castle's website and the issues he chooses to focus on are, well to be blunt, rather milquetoast. Gives me the impression that he does not like to actually fight for anything. It is the kind of stuff that bores me to be honest.
So, I find Miss O'Donnell to be the conservative in this race.
I should endorse her based on the issues that she chooses to focus on.
But here is my problem.
In a recent radio interview, Miss O'Donnell accuses the host of being on the payroll of the Castle campaign. She also claims that in her previous campaign for the senate, against now Vice-President Dingbat Joe Biden, that she won two out of three of Delaware's counties. Huh? She did not. She lost all three. Jim Geraghty makes this rather uncomfortable point in this post. I guess he is on the Castle payroll too. And some of Mr. Geraghty's subsequent posts on Miss O'Donnell will get him more in trouble I am certain.
OK, maybe you think that Mr. Geraghty is too inside baseball. So, how about Ace over at the Ace Of Spades? Is he on the Castle payroll too? And why is the O'Donnell campaign spreading a totally uncorroborated rumor about Congressman Castle and a homosexual affair? There is more to the rumors of Florida Governor Charlie Christ than that of Congressman Castle. In fact, there is so no there there that the man behind the rumor justifies spreading it for this reason:

(Yates) Walker said he had no compunction about repeating the rumor about Castle because "he's a threat to American sovereignty."
He didn't offer any evidence for the claim.


WOW! I expect this trash from the other side. It is their raison d'etre. But from a conservative and a Republican, it is not what I want to hear. Miss O'Donnell, you have Congressman Castle on the issues. Stick with them. If you really want to win this thing.
Reading the rest of Ace's post is rather depressing. Unlike the three candidates that ran in California for the right to defeat Sen. Barbara Ma'am Boxer, Miss O'Donnell seems to be a conservative Harold Stassen. Perpetually running for office. And the same one. The United States senate.
Another conservative that is, well, unimpressed with Miss O'Donnell is Quin Hillyer over at The American Spectator. No one can question is conservative bona fides. And yet Mr. Hillyer is saying that voting for Miss O'Donnell is a waste of a vote.
But of course Miss O'Donnell has her supporters.
Mark Levin is not giving up on her at all. But he does not offer the strongest of defense for her when he says that all of this is minor stuff.
There is Mr. Hillyer's compadre at The American Spectator, The Other McCain. As always, he makes a good case. One is how Miss O'Donnell can win the Republican primary. But as a commenter notes, she would lose the general election. Or here where he makes a good case that if Miss O'Donnell does pull off the upset, that all the dirty work will have been done by establishment Republicans. The only problem with that is the same will happen if Congressman Castle wins. Hang out that he is some megalomaniac that sends his henchmen in the bushes to harass Miss O'Donnell. Or that he has has a homosexual affair. See, it does work both ways.
Again, I would like to support Miss O'Donnell. I mean, Congressman Castle is as establishment and RINO* as one can get. He can trace his family tree all the way back to Benjamin Franklin. But one thing is as sure as the sky is blue. Congressman Castle can win without a doubt. The resources that the Republican party would have to put will be no where near what would have to be done to help Miss O'Donnell. That is just a fact. And there is the possibility that this candidate would be way to hot for the establishment to fully back.
But if anyone can make a real serious case for Miss O'Donnell, do it. I do not get to vote in Delaware, but many conservatives and Republicans do. And they need to make an informed choice on September 14.

*RINO-Republican In Name Only.

1 comment:

richard mcenroe said...

Castle's been bad for America and the GOP and he'll be worse if he's left in place. He votes "R" on cosmetic crap but on important issues like DISCLOSE, cap and trade and gun rights he skews hard left.