Christine O'Donnell's Unpolished Background

The latest sensation in the search for bizarre comments by Christine O'Donnell involves a 1999 clip from the show "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" in which she describes dabbling in witchcraft, including a date involving a satanic altar. The News Journal reports she responded to the furor surrounded by supporters, saying "Oh my gosh, I was in high school." She tried turned the question on the rest of us, asking, "How many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school?"

Actually, I don't recall hanging out with witches or midnight picnics on any altars, satanic or otherwise. But enough about me.

O'Donnell has pointed out that, unlike Mike Castle or Chris Coons, she isn't a career politician.

O'Donnell's unpolished background almost endears her to some supporters, said Susan Cooksey, 53, of Frederica. Cooksey, a member of the Delaware 9-12 Patriots, said the country needs "regular people" and "citizen politicians."

We can take the euphemism "unpolished background" to mean she has a way of saying ridiculous things in front of a camera. She has had close to twenty years to polish her presentation skills. In a sense, saying things in public is her life's work.

If we set aside her glib comments about what she did in high school or college, I don't think it's too much to ask that she be held accountable for her statements on public issues. Let's be generous to Ms. O'Donnell, and just look at her public statements since she started running for public office in 2006.

There's this from 2007:

American scientific companies are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains.

Or this from 2008:

But only 1 percent of the oil pollution in the sea is the result of oil drilling, while 63 percent is the result of natural seepage on the ocean floor.

And of course there's the classic about her opponents "hiding in the bushes" from earlier this month.

As for O'Donnell's claim that she isn't a career politician, she has done nothing else but run for public office for the last five years. She's had her three campaigns and nearly twenty years of going on television to talk about public issues to polish her speaking skills. She's old enough and experienced enough to take responsibility for the silly things she has said in public.