Conservative Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell (R), a popular target of the mainstream media, was questioned on CNN’s “American Morning” for her statements about faith and prayer in her interview with Christian Broadcasting Network White House Correspondent David Brody. The Christian candidate cited prayer as playing a central role in her campaign, and her comments drew raised eyebrows over at CNN.
“For some people, they think this seems so arrogant, to pray to win a senate race, um, but how is it viewed in the evangelical community?” anchor Kiran Chetry asked Brody. Brody quickly responded by saying that O’Donnell isn’t praying for a victory, but rather, “God’s protection, and for, you know, people within her staff and the eyes of the voters to be open, so to speak.” Brody quickly pointed out to Chetry that the power of prayer is a mainstream concept among average Americans and that O’Donnell is being singled out because she is a political candidate. [Video after page break]
“Look, if you line up ten people up on the street and you say, ‘the power of prayer is important to people in their lives,’ they would say ‘absolutely it is’ and they directly link prayer to events in their life,” Brody said. “So this is really a lot of much ado about nothing, but when a political candidate talks about it, obviously it gets more headlines.”
Chetry also claimed, citing no evidence, that O’Donnell is somewhat of a political “lightweight, not necessarily coming with substance to the issues.” Chetry said that “… as long as people are still talking about her religious beliefs and or her social conservative beliefs, she’s not winning over the independents that she’s going to need.” The irony is that Chetry is the one talking about O’Donnell’s beliefs, and not the substantive “issues.”
To her credit, Chetry did recall Brody’s comment that he believes Christine O’Donnell’s faith is real. “And what you noted in your interview is that you believe this is a very authentic feeling, you know, this isn’t to drum up conservative support – this is how she truly, authentically feels,” Chetry stated.
This isn’t the first time CNN has gone after Delaware Republican senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell. The Culture and Media Institute noted that in September, John Avlon, a CNN contributor called O’Donnell the “new queen of the wing nuts” and a “crackpot of the first order.”
