Christine O’Donnell Defends Piers Morgan Walk-Out: ‘Borderline Sexual Harassment’

MEDIAITE ^ | 08/19/2011 | Colby Hall

[SeekAndFind]

Judge solely by the amount of attention she has received this week, it’s fair to say that Tea Party darling and aspiring media figure Christine O’Donnell has been successful at promoting her new book Troublemaker. But if you draw a distinction between the quantity and quality of media attention, well then perhaps its a different story all together. This morning O’Donnell showed up on NBC’s TODAY and was fairly interrogated by Savannah Guthrie who questioned O’Donnell’s previous explanations for why exactly she walked off of the set of Piers Morgan Tonight earlier in the week.

For the uninitiated, Morgan pressed O’Donnell on her position on gay marriage, a fair question seeing that it is a topic she includes in her book and is a controversial issue in the upcoming election season. Guthrie did not let the former Tea Party favorite off the hook, essentially asking her “what were you thinking in walking off the set mid-interview?”

Guthrie then challenged an assertion made by O’Donnell in a previous interview that Morgan was being somewhat sexist in his line of questioning, which led to the following exchange (rough transcript provided by TVEyes):

Guthrie: Let’s talk about that because you said flat out you think this line of questioning was sexist. but how do you get to that? The fact of the matter is you have had — you’ve made these comments about masturbation in your past, in the ’90s, and then you write about this in the book you are currently promoting. How is that not fair game? It is common practice to ask any politician, male or female, about their views.

O’Donnell: Right. I addressed — okay. I addressed the questions and I put it in context that, no, Ii would not do that interview again. I explained why I did the MTV interview in the ’90s, but then it goes into a personal nature and starts prying. Imagine if Bill Clinton were there. Would he ask him, do you still hang out with Monica Lewinsky? Come on, we talked about it in the ’90s? Do you still have that fascination with cigars, Bill? Come on, what’s wrong with this? No. If he did ask a male former candidate about that the outcry would be that it belonged on pay-per-view and not a reputable network like CNN. It was an inappropriate line of questioning. I addressed it the way I do in my book. What’s the same about this, Savannah, is the reviews that I’ve gotten, the people who have read the book, even if they disagree with me politically they tell me they finding it surprising and motivational story, that they really are enjoying the book. And all of this, you know, just like what happened in the campaign, the real message is being overshadowed. . that’s a shame because he’s doing it for ratings.

Guthrie: You say they are doing it for ratings. Let’s be honest, you’re wanting to sell books. Some people say it’s a publicity stunt on your part.

O’Donnell: Please. I didn’t want to do Piers Morgan, Honestly because I knew he resorted to these dirty tricks. no, it was certainly not a publicity stunt.

So not only does O’Donnell aggrandize herself by saying that she didn’t want to “do Piers Morgan” (implying that she was somehow a “get” or that she was doing CNN a favor by appearing on the show), but she also likens the line of questioning — and her political stature perhaps — to that of former president Bill Clinton. Huh?

The bottom line is this: whatever O’Donnell is doing to get attention is working. Whether its the sort of attention that will reclaim any sort of reputable image, sell books or just reinforce what many in the public already think of her remains to be seen.

Watch the clip below, courtesy of NBC:

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO

[wilco200]

She should have just answered by accusing him of being a phone hacker.

He would have walked off his own show.

[ngat]

Wrong. Totally illegitimate line of questioning. See the O’Donnell interview with Guthrie. When you go on CNN to talk about a senatorial race you were in less than a year ago, you don’t have to put up with the British version of David Letterman bringing up some MTV comedy show from 15 years ago. I’m beginning to think you wouldn’t even know when you are being punked.

[TAdams8591]

I thought David Gregory attempted to do the same thing to Michele Bachmann this past Sunday, questioning her about her views on homosexuality at the end of the interview. Michele didn't walk out, but it's the only part of the interview she didn't handle well IMO.

Of course, in both cases, the interviewers brought up the topic in an effort to paint Michele and Christine as extremists, and both Michele and Christine obviously understood the motive for the question at the time, and didn't want to answer the question for that reason. Still the audience is composed of people who run the ideological spectrum from left to right, and with that consideration, conservatives do have to figure out better ways of handling such questions while still imparting the message they desire to leave in the minds of the viewing audience.

While Piers relentlessly pursued his question regarding Christine's homosexual views, the situation didn't appear bad enough for someone to react by getting up and walking off. It's too bad we must constantly view Christine in defense and victim mode. Her reaction unfortunately spawned more of the same in subsequent interviews. Christine has some intelligent comments to make, and it would be nice if we had more of an opportunity to hear them.

These situations are difficult when we're attempting to win over people hearts and minds, and we should put our heads together and figure out the best way to deal with them.

[ngat]

LOL. Piers Morgan on the level of Putin or a Muslim terrorist? that IS FUNNY! Did you think she was running for president?

Anyway, she was only running for senator of DELAWARE! All she would have had to do was cast one of two votes for Delaware. Which I’m pretty sure would have been way better than the votes that are being cast by Coons, or would have been cast by Castle.

[ngat]

C’mon, she’s just trying to sell some books and defend herself against the smears of the democrats, the backstabbers of her own party, and now trashbags like Pervy Piers Morgan.

[liberalh8ter]

Don’t flame me for saying this but IMO, she’s too toxic for conservatives and the TEA party. Something is a little “off” with her.

[bigdaddy45]

You don’t think a U.S. Senator is a national figure?

[NTHockey]

I received this from one of our own FReepers: “CNN deceitfully clipped Christine O’Donnell’s Piers Morgan creepy interview, to change the impression of what really happened.

CNN tried to HIDE the creepy questions that caused Christine O’Donnell - after her 30 minute time allotment was expired and already past time — to walk out of the interview to go to her next appointment, where she was already late.

In the creepy segment that CNN has tried to hide,

Piers Morgan asks Christine O’Donnell about masturbation

Piers Morgan declares that he is pro-masturbation
Piers Morgan asks if Christine O’Donnell has committed lust in her heart

Following these questions, Christine O’Donnell took one more question, and then decided to leave — because she was well past the 30 minute time agreed upon.

SEE FOR YOURSELF AT:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2011/08/17/piers.christine.odonnell.sex.cnn?iref=allsearch “

Two stories; one is correct. Is the LIB version correct? Or is the COD version correct? To my mind, IF the LIB version is correct, it will be the first truthful thing they have ever said!

The video might only work within Firefox.

Piers Morgan has tried to portray his questions on gay marriage as (barely) relevant. It was Morgan asking the question repeatedly which was the last straw, not the question itself.

Yet Morgans’ discussions of the interview are deceitful.

Morgan conveniently fails to disclose his previous questions about masturbation and lust.

[oldbrowser]

Morgan is a d*ck but he was asking reasonable questions.

The question was off topic and she politely deflected it. He came back to the question over and over again. He was trying to get a negative soundbite from her that would be used against the tea party and conservatives. She was not going to give it to him and he wasn't going to give up trying to she just walked out. Good for her.

[SeekAndFind]

Well given your explanation this puts the context of the entire interview in a different light.

Now we really understand why Christine walked out.

[Siena Dreaming]

Exactly...and she's trying to get on national TV to do so.

Christine should work in her own state and forget the national spotlight.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Morgan is a d*ck but he was asking reasonable questions. Lightweight questions

POST #48 of this thread shows that CNN edited out several other questions that Morgan asked which brings the entire interview into context.

Editing out the KEY QUESTIONS that offended Christine was very deceitful of CNN.

[ngat]

“...David Gregory attempted to do the same thing to Michele Bachmann this past Sunday, questioning her about her views on homosexuality ...”

Have you forgotten Gregory successfully torpedoed the election of Ken Buck in Colorado by baiting him with that line of questioning? There is no reason for the conservatives to allow themselves to be accosted by these mainstream political hacks that call themselves “journalists” in this way. They don’t do it to the members of their own party.

“Of course, in both cases, the interviewers brought up the topic in an effort to paint Michele and Christine as extremists,...” ...Piers relentlessly pursued his question regarding Christine’s homosexual views,”

I think it runs deeper than just an effort to paint them as extremists. These media filth also want to go where they can to make their female guests feel uncomfortable, discussing the very controversial matter of sexual behavior, to trip them up and just make them want to quit. It is an extremely deceitful and subtle form of political attack by these leftists.

I think there are far more people out there who don’t want to have to listen to discussion of homosexual issues at dinner on CNN, and the situation that Piers Morgan was trying to set up WAS enough for someone to react by getting up and walking off.

[liberalh8ter]

Don’t flame me for saying this but IMO, she’s too toxic for conservatives and the TEA party. Something is a little “off” with her.

[ngat]

Ridiculous. The book market is a national market. Here’s an idea: If Christine O’Donnell bothers you that much, try using your remote.

[TAdams8591]

You make some good, valid points, but the situation didn't warrant walking off. If that were true, Bachmann should have refused to answer David Gregory and then walked off as well. But as we all know, there's a general viewing audience to consider, and hearts and minds to win over.

If we're going to espouse socially conservative views publicly, i.e. in books and speeches, we'd better figure a way to answer questions about them in interviews, unless the groundwork beforehand has been laid out and there is an agreement to exclude such questions. Otherwise, in the court of Public opinion, walking off causes us to lose not GAIN points.

[Siena Dreaming]

Of course the book market is a national market.

Obviously, you are failing to see my point.

[ngat]

“You don’t think a U.S. Senator is a national figure?”

I suppose you want a yes or no answer only. There’s a tongue-in-cheek discussion about senators from the great state of Delaware being national figures in post #27.

Here’s one answer: some are, some aren’t. There are 100 of ‘em, after all. And we could spare a few, although they all think they are indispensable men. Is a member of the House of Representative a national figure? What do you think?

[ngat]

“Obviously, you are failing to see my point.”

Sure I see your point.

Obviously, you don’t want to see Christine O’Donnell’s face on your TV screen anymore!

[Yardstick]

Exactly. I knew she was a flake the first time I heard Mark Levin interview her. But I sent some money to her campaign because I figured she would vote the right way. Now I just want her to go away.