The American Spectator frets about people being mean

to Christine O’Donnell. What did she do to deserve it?

A reader of mine, a woman I trust and regard highly wrote several defense of O’Donnell in my comboxes here. Then, she went and did some digging on O’Donnell, and not bowled over by the “criticizing women is unchivalrous” vibe that Palin and O’Donnell both exploit to woo suckers underwent a dramatic change of mind:

Okay, I have been doing my research. As a Delawarean with a good understanding of the background of Christine O’Donnell’s victory over Mike Castle, I nevertheless withdraw my qualified endorsement of her. I fear that the charges of improprieties over use of campaign funds are not just the product of mudslingers and folks who are twisting mistakes into malfeasance. I discovered in the course of my investigation that a friend of mine whose opinion I respect worked on Christine’s 2008 campaign and subsequently became very disillusioned. I don’t want to libel or slander anyone, and in fact my friend was discreet and did not provide details. My friend, a leader in the Delaware pro-life community, went to work for O’Donnell hoping she was the real deal; she discovered, through observation as a campaign insider, that Christine O’Donnell is indeed quite flakey in matters of finances. She only hopes now that there will not be an open scandal, ie. that there is nothing criminal going on.

Sigh.

I rejoice as much as anybody when a candidate sends the leaders of both parties into spasms of helpless fury. Always a joy to watch that. But sometimes even party bosses are right and can see a train wreck coming. O’Donnell is on record as a liar in her suit against ISI. One of the tragedies of revolutionary movements like Tea Parties is that they know what they hate much better than they know what to put in place of what they hate. Such popular movements are very commonly prey to exploitive demagogues who know how to play innocent people. I don’t trust any of the people who have thrust themselves to the head of the Movement. Beck, Palin, O’Donnell all seem to me to be out to exploit and fleece sheep without a shepherd. I think O’Donnell deserves the mistrust she is getting.