More Morgan-O'Donnell

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Veteran GOP political op says Christine O'Donnell's CNN walk-off showcases bad trend in politics

Veteran GOP communications operative Jarrod Agen, who's worked for Nevada Tea Party darling candidate Sharon Angle, says Christine O'Donnell's now-famous walk-off with CNN host Piers Morgan dramatizes a disturbing trend in politics -- even as he dismisses her charges of sexism as ludicrous.

Inexperienced politicians and campaign staffers take note: "If you're going to do interviews, you have to be prepared to talk about all kinds of subjects. And if it's a relevent topic that is in the news, you have to be prepared to answer," said Agen, who also worked the campaigns of former presidential candidate Rudy Guiliani and former California gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner.

O'Donnell's meltdown came after she was being interviewed on the Morgan show this week. The clips show the host "brought up gay marriage and asked for her response -- and she didn't give it," Agen noted. The question had nothing to do with sexism on Morgan's part: it was simply about a guy doing his job, he said.
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The CNN clip underscored Rule One of political communication, he said: "It always makes it worse when you walk out of an interview or you make a scene."

But Agen notes the O'Donnell incident comes in the same week when another media-hostility story broke in national politics: Politico.com's examination of incidents in which Rep. Michele Bachmann's team has manhandled reporters, including pushing them around and covering their lenses.
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Reasons for this insanity?

"It's a different atmosphere out there now," Agen said. "Because of the way soundbites move, people are ultra-nervous about saying anything." And it's clear "some of these people aren't prepared" for the rough and tumble of a national campaign, he said.

Agen says it appears O'Donnell was ill-served by her own staff, who are seen in the clip interfering in the interview and even advising her to walk off the set.

Guiliani, an experienced big city pol, he said, exemplified the right response to tough media: "You handle it and you show poise and resolve. That's what people want. Good leaders show they can handle these situations."

In Bachmann's case, she has "been in debates and performed. So there isn't really a need to be overprotective. She can handle herself and she's proven it," he said. "You don't have to make the issue worse by pushing reporters out of the way....sometimes, these commmunications professionals are a little overprotective. And they do a disservice to the people they're working for."
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Who had the Worst Week in Washington? Christine O’Donnell.
By Chris Cillizza, Published: August 18

Christine O’Donnell is really testing the limits of Andy Warhol’s 15-minutes-of-fame maxim.

O’Donnell burst onto the political scene in 2010 when she beat longtime Rep. Mike Castle in a Delaware Senate primary, securing the Republican nomination and ensuring her party’s defeat in November.

Not content to simply step out of the political limelight — she had lost two previous Senate races in the First State — O’Donnell has written a book documenting her experiences on the campaign trail in 2010.

But her book tour is off to a rough start. And that’s being generous.

O’Donnell’s baffling interview this week with CNN’s Piers Morgan is the stuff of which legends — in a bad way — are made.

After Morgan asked her several times to discuss gay marriage, O’Donnell shut the interview down — while the cameras were still rolling — but not before she uttered this instant classic: “Don’t you think as a host, if I say this is what I want to talk about, that’s what we should address?” (Uh, no.)

O’Donnell also hung up in the middle of an interview with a Utah radio station after the hosts questioned how significant her primary victory over Castle actually was.

Interviews aside, the book itself (“Troublemaker: Let’s Do What It Takes to Make America Great Again”) hasn’t fared all that well, either. Several of the incidents she recounts in the book — a fundraiser in which Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour allegedly praised her (an audio recording of the event doesn’t feature said praise), whether or not her campaign approved the “I am not a witch” ad — may not be totally, well, true.

O’Donnell may have the last laugh, though. Her book is currently ranked 3,819 on Amazon. Wait. . .

Christine O’Donnell, for not leaving the stage after the spotlight moved on, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.
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