(CNN) – Delaware Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell says she tried "every other kind of religion," including witchcraft and Buddhism but became a Christian because of her love of Italian food.
"I would have become a Hare Krishna, but I didn't want to become a vegetarian," O'Donnell said in an interview with Bill Maher in 1999. "And that is honestly the reason why, because I'm Italian and I love meatballs."
The clip originally aired on Maher's show "Politically Incorrect" on July 9, 1999, and ran again Friday on "Real Time with Bill Maher." It is the third clip Maher has aired of O'Donnell since she won the GOP's Senate nomination in Delaware last month. O'Donnell appeared on "Politically Incorrect" 22 times in the 1990s.
O'Donnell has been in the national spotlight the past few weeks for her controversial comments on religion, sex and witchcraft.
The most recent CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation poll of likely voters in Delaware released September 22nd had O'Donnell trailing her Democratic opponent, Chris Coons by 16 points.
The winner of the November election will fill the remaining four years of Vice President Joe Biden's Senate term. Former Biden aide Ted Kaufman is currently the interim replacement.
The O'Donnell campaign did not return a CNN request for comment.
Bill Maher will be on CNN's John King, USA every night next week at 7 p.m. ET.
From CNN Politics
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then she must worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster diety. all hail FSM, the one true diety. all that deny his existence shall go to tomato paste hell.
Where the hell does she come from. A typical brain demented Tea Partier. What wackos.
The media coverage of Christine O'Donnell has been shameful, although I'm not sure if it will get as pitiful as it did with Sarah Palin. Democrats are afraid to run on their record and are desperately distancing themselves from Obama/Reid/Pelosi, so they've resorted to bizarre stories such as this in an effort to discredit character/family/personality...you name it. They ignore her policies, as the media does with most Republicans, and focus on personal attacks to draw the public's attention away from what matters in an effort to support the liberal candidate. The farce that is Bill Maher has not surprisingly joined the circus, but he should focus on the political issues that matter like out of control government spending, a health care law that will be quite a negative surprise to people when it goes into full affect, and cap and trade that will hurt the economy (it shouldn't surprise anyone that other countries like China are all for the USA to implement cap and trade yet they won't follow suit because they know better).
What a TWIT!
You keep picking on her and she'll win Delaware with sympathy votes.
How stupid can this woman get but on the other hand what is a better reason to choose a religion than for its food.If you are carnivorous, become a Catho,ic.If you are a veggie, become a Buddist. What abut Prostestans, maybe casseroles, and the UNitarians, well they probably eat air. Go O'Donnel, keep saying stuid things. You can't have gottenmuch smarter over the past ten years.
Now there's a reason to follow a religion. makes about as much sense as everything else she's said so far, which is none.
Why do people keep implying Obama is a "self-proclaimed Marxist"? He never happen proclaimed himself as such. I think people who say that are just as crazy as O'Donnell who lies about her education. All fantasty. In fairness, her joking she became a christian because of the food, is just silly. I think we all know she must have been trying to be funny. Granted it is not that funny, but so what.
she IS a meatball pasta for brains too
It is ilk like Christine O'Donnell that gives both Christianity and the Republican-GOP a bad name.
GOPers be proud. You put a nimrod (W) in the White House and it has encouraged every twit to run for office.
Why would any American vote for a candidate who doesn't know herself, she's emotional, and as clueless as those who find she has a position unique in its vision and purpose. I was born in Italia, and my family, friends, and restaurants never made or sold a meat ball.
I just don't get what you so-called compassionate, progressive elitist types have against this remarkable, blisteringly intelligent girl. Oh, I get it, you have to go back to some different century to find your dirt to smear this all over this beautiful christian flower. Don't you get it? She was barely out her middle-school salad days when she went on the Bill Maher's gossip show. I mean, she was talking about how she loves meatballs. To me that's adorable! That sounds just like what a young, healthy child would say. "Oh, and I like playing dress up and I love Pizza and Meat Balls and my Hollie Hobby. We pretend we're witches and monks and nuns!" She was just a immature kid looking for a god to worship and having great fun doing it. Luckily, just luckily, she picked the one with the only true God. Leave her alone!
She's an insult to meatballs everywhere.
Chris Coons isn't any more a Marxist than the Fox News talking head who keep repeating this (knowing full well the actual context). It was a joke in a piece he wrote for his college paper, referring to how his Republican friends perceived him after returning from Africa. The guy was chief counsel for Gore-Tex for the largest portion of his professional life, not exactly a radical hot-bed, and he has degrees from Yale Divinity and Yale Law. Also, when he was asked to comment on O'Donnell's bizarre TV appearances, her problems with the IRS and paying her mortgage and lying about her education he said the voters were interested in jobs and fiscal responsibility, not old news about the candidates. In other words the guy seems to be a class act, unlike the lying sacks on Fox.
So, she freely admits she chooses and rejects religions based on convenience. This flies in the face of both logic and ethics.
Saw her on a local news broadcatss last night and she evaded and avoided all questions about here finances. Now I see where she equates religion to meatballs? Seriously,if there are any out there who consider voting for her,please call your doctor right away and tell him.her you need to seek help!!!
I could not care less about what she said on any TV show. What really counts is that she lies and that is not funny. The biggest and most famous liar in America is Sarah Palin and she endorsed some just like her in O' Donnell and for that reason she is not fit for senate. It is high time to quit rewarding liars with high power positions.
She became a Christian because of her love of Italian food?
Funny, I became a Christian because of my love of Jesus Christ.
What a piece of work.
Just like Bush & Palin, this is the best the Republicans can come up with.
Republicans, c'mon ON – you gotta get better poster people for your cause. O'Donnell and Palin = Dumb and Dumber
Ok, I had already gotten the whole "Flying Spaghetti Monster" paradigm, so this "Holy Meatball" thing seems pretty much religion-as-usual...
dan quayle, james stockdale, sarah palin, and now christine o'donnell. The dummy bar just keeps getting lower and lower.
It is silly cherry-picking quotes from a comedy show 11 years ago, but Ms. O'Donnell needs to put it in that context by saying NOW in all seriousness what her position is on these specific quotes. If she does not repudiate them specifically, then there is reason to think she actually meant them and still lives by them.
the reason that CNN doesn't say anything about her political positions is that they are incredibly flimsy. Believe me, that would do her more harm than good. Besides, political elections in Delaware don't usually make a lot of national splash–she is the exception because like her buddy Sarah she is a joke. Can't believe conservatives are supporting this woman–can't you find a serious person to stand up for your beliefs? Do you have to have these clowns represent you? Doesn't speak well for the conservative movement in America. Doesn't speak well for America period.