I have to disagree with Eric here.
A return to the political point: Rigidity and lack of curiosity are failings, not virtues. Those with limited experiences and closed minds are the least able to grasp the magnitude and subtlety of the problems engulfing society. Anyone who’s never “flip-flopped” on a issue or seriously questioned the beliefs drummed into him from childhood probably isn’t really paying attention.
Yet we pounce on any deviation or alteration as evidence of hypocrisy, flakiness, weakness or a hidden agenda.
The problem is she didn’t learn anything. Satanism and Wicca are very different faiths. She is confusing the two and repeating right wing fundamentalist talking points about a faith as a way to make it evil sounding when Wicca is no such thing. So she is demonizing (no pun intendend, but there it is) Wicca by calling it Satanism and confusing it with a disturbing offshoot of Christianity in a case of ironic stupidity.
All of this is, if you don’t think she’s lying. This smacks of pure BS:
O’Donnell used to ‘dabble[ ] into witchcraft.’ On Politically Incorrect in 1999, O’Donnell said, “I dabbled into witchcraft — I never joined a coven. … I hung around people who were doing these things. I’m not making this stuff up. One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn’t know it.” [Politically Incorrect, 10/29/99]
This strikes me like this story:
The following article appeared in the July 28, 1989, issue of “The Pantagraph”, a Pontiac (sic), Illinois newspaper:
Goat Near Pontiac Possibly a Sacrifice. A mutilated goat found in the Vermilion River near Pontiac was “probably” the victim of satanic activity, Livingston County Sheriff’s police said yesterday. The 50-pound male goat was found Wednesday in the Vermilion River …after the county veterinarian received an anonymous tip, police said. The goat, which had been dead for three to four days, was castrated and its horns were cut off, police said, adding that small animal sacrifice is common among devil worshipers. However, no indications of Satanic worship were found near the goat, and police said there was no indication the animal was killed in Livingston County. Although both county and city police have received reports of satanic meetings, rituals, and animal sacrifices, little physical evidence has supported those reports…
On July 29th, this follow-up article appeared:
Goat Killed in dog attack. German shepherds, not devil worshippers, were responsible for the mutilation of a goat found Wednesday in the Vermilion River near Pontiac, Livingston County Sheriff Don Wall said yesterday. A McLean County resident whom Wall declined to identify, admitted yesterday that he dumped the 50-pound goat in the Vermillion River. Wall said the man contacted police after reading news stories that authorities believed the animal was sacrificed by members of a satanic cult… Police originally believed the goat was castrated and has its horns cut off by satanists, who often sacrifice small animals. However, Wall said the goat was injured when the dogs attached and its horns had previously been removed…
The finest moment of the Pantagraph.
There are probably a couple guys out there calling each other laughing about how that dingbat really believed that story he told her over 20 years ago.
ArchPundit