Christine O'Donnell reveals 1st Amendment ignorance in debate

First Amendment news on Tues involved the American Civil Liberties Union v. the Federal Communications Commission in a case about net neutrality. Another is a suit by Internet providers against an obscenity law blocking content to minors that adults have a First Amendment right to view. However the First Amendment languished in obscurity until O’Donnell displayed her total ignorance of it in a debate against her Democratic opponent in the race for a Delaware Senate seat on Tuesday. Post resource – Christine O’Donnell reveals First Amendment ignorance in debate by Personal Money Store.

O’Donnell with a few laugh lines on the First Amendment

The First Amendment had been the highlight of a debate Tues between Christine O’Donnell and her Democratic opponent Chris Coons. O’Donnell said that Coons had been wrong in saying that public schools can’t teach creationism because it violated the First Amendment rights on freedom of religion while at Widener University Law School, according to Ben Evans at the Associated Press. O’Donnell cited “indispensable principles of the Founding Fathers” in her Tea Party talking points about overreaching federal govt. Then Coons responded. He said, “One of those indispensable principles is the separation of church and state.” O’Donnell responded with “Where within the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” The audience erupted in laughter.

Seeing O’Donnell’s lack of knowledge one thing many enjoyed

Laws are prohibited “respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.” This is what the First Amendment, within the Bill of Rights, claims. O’Donnell showed that she has a “fundamental misunderstanding of what our Constitution is,” based on Coons. Next O’Donnell asked a question. She said, “You’re telling me the separation of church and state is found within the 1st Amendment?” Coons, summarizing the First Amendment, had been interrupted by O’Donnell, who said “That’s in the First Amendment?” Wesley Leckrone, who’s a widener political scientist, said to Evans, “You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp.”

Attempting to repair remarks made by O’Donnell

Really, Christine O’Donnell was right. The First Amendment is as she said. The Bill of Rights became a set of constitutional amendments in 1791. Evans writes that the phrase “separation of church and state” was coined by Thomas Jefferson in 1802. Jefferson later wrote a letter to clarify. He said that the 1st Amendment established “a wall of separation between Church and State.” O’Donnell fled from reporters after the debate. O’Donnell’s campaign manager later said that she “simply made the point the phrase seems nowhere in the Constitution.”

Information from

SF Gate

sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/10/19/politics/p060642D21.DTL and tsp=1

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Brainy Quote

brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_jefferson.html