In 1999 Christine O’Donnell told Bill Maher that she’d briefly tried Buddhism, and that she’d tried to be a Hare Krishna but couldn’t take the vegetarianism.
“I was dabbling into every other kind of religion before I became a Christian,” O’Donnell said on “Politically Incorrect,” a July 19, 1999 clip revealed tonight on Maher’s HBO show “Real Time.”
Then the kicker:
I was dabbling in witchcraft, I’ve dabbled in Buddhism. I would have become a Hare Krishna but I didn’t want to become a vegetarian. And that is honestly the reason why — because I’m Italian, I love meatballs!
O’Donnell, now the Republican Senate nominee in Delaware, has described herself as a devout Catholic and she targeted evangelical voters during her successful primary campaign.
Maher opened this season of his show with an O’Donnell clip from 1999 that features her saying, “I dabbled into witchcraft” and describing a date that included a “satanic altar” and blood.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Christine O’Donnell: Anti-Masturbation Crusader. Witchcraft Dabbler. Republican Senate Nominee.]
Last week Maher showed a 1998 clip featuring O’Donnell saying she did not believe in evolution. “Evolution is a myth,” O’Donnell said. If not, “Well then why aren’t monkeys still evolving into humans?”
Maher had promised to show a clip each week until O’Donnell comes onto his show. He said he has 22 episodes that he’s order. In tonight’s opener Maher said he feels bad for showing clips that have been damaging to O’Donnell’s candidacy but “then the feeling passes” when he thinks about what kind of senator she would be.
Our coverage of this race is here.
Watch tonight’s clip:
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