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You are here: Home / Better Late Than Never

Better Late Than Never

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Seventeen years after she attended the school and two weeks before her Republican primary against Rep. Mike Castle, Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell officially earned her college degree, according to an official from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Scott Giglio, assistant director of public relations at the Madison, N.J., university, told POLITICO the Tea Party Express-backed Senate hopeful was officially awarded her bachelor of arts degree in English literature on Wednesday.

Tortoise and the hare, I guess.

But wouldn’t not having a college degree be a badge of honor for teabag nation? Graduating might lose her some votes, the ivory tower elitist.

Reader Interactions

57Comments

  2. 2.

    Cermet

    Thought that stuff wasn’t legal yet but you must be smoking it to believe that this teabagger got their degree except for one reason- a past resume listed the degree – count on it.

  3. 3.

    JenJen

    If you haven’t already, go listen to this WORLDS OF AWESOME radio interview with Christine O’Donnell from just a few days ago. She attempts to explain away the college degree issue by saying that she owed the college money and only recently paid them (huh??). I didn’t realize until reading this post that we’re talking about 17 years here.

    The entire clip is mindblowing, covering a range of issues that O’Donnell has blatantly lied about. For example, I don’t think “tie” means what she thinks it means.

    The political situation in this country would be an awful lot better with more interviewers like Dan Gaffney. All you really have to do is start asking them questions; they’ll do the rest of your job for you.

  4. 4.

    The Dangerman

    Saw her on TV; claimed she wasn’t awarded her degree until she paid off her student loans. Sounds like bullshit to me, but I can’t imagine a TeaPartier not telling me the truth.

  5. 5.

    BubbaDave

    Y’know, I’ll mock her for a lot of things– well, basically for aggravated teabaggery– but finishing her degree? Not so much.

    EDIT:(And since I had a friend whose official graduation from college was delayed for two years because he had a campus parking ticket he hadn’t paid, her explanation seems in the same general ballpark as believable.)

  7. 7.

    Sentient Puddle

    But wouldn’t not having a college degree be a badge of honor for teabag nation? Graduating might lose her some votes, the ivory tower elitist.

    Considering that this is for a BA in English literature, this sounds like she managed the worst of both worlds.

  8. 8.

    GambitRF

    But wouldn’t not having a college degree be a badge of honor for teabag nation? Graduating might lose her some votes, the ivory tower elitist.

    I’m guessing a literature degree is okay as long as there was an Ayn Rand book somewhere in the curriculum. And if she didn’t have to read anything from the Harlem renaissance or anything like that.

  9. 9.

    Poopyman

    “Christine O’Donnell officially earned her college degree, according to an official from Fairleigh Dickinson University.”

    Interesting choice of words there. What did she do recently to earn it? “Awarded” is used later on, which would seem to be more appropriate, especially if it were just a money issue.

    Dear MSM: Words matter, and you have been hired because you’re supposed to know which word is most appropriate.

  10. 10.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BubbaDave: My dad did not go to his college graduation and thus did not notice for over a decade that his degree had not been awarded. It was only in 1978 when someone was doing a background check on him before he started a new job that he found out. He promptly paid the outstanding fee and they issued his degree. Luckily, the situation was easily explained and he did not lose out on the job. He still finds it funny that he graduated from college in 1978.

  11. 11.

    gex

    @GambitRF: Ayn Rand and the Bible. It’s an English, PolySci, Theology, and Philosophy major all rolled up into two books.

    ETA: I forgot Econ.

  13. 13.

    General Stuck

    In other teabagger news The Queen of Arizona declares she is done with debates, cause she had to do one to qualify for candidate welfare, and cause Shut Up! That’s why!

    Besides

    “I don’t believe that things come out in proper context in an adversarial atmosphere,” she defended herself.

    I guess when you’re the white blond privileged patriot candidate, there is no need to esplain yourself cause taking back murrica needs no explanation, specially when your master race is getting their heads chopped up in your back yard desert.

    Brewer said on Fox News in July: “We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings.”

    But wait a sec. Reality is relative if you’re a republican

    “All you guys were doing and talking were beheadings, beheadings, beheadings,” Brewer told the Daily Star. “That is something that has stuck with you all for so long, and I just felt we needed to move on.”

    Ummph!!
    But, She has the Mercedes Benz

    She also contended that when discussing the headless bodies, she “never said ‘Arizona,’ and it’s unfortunate that it was construed as ‘Arizona.'”

    And she will likely win. This is your new Tea Bag Nation. So let’s get back to bashing Obama over a too small stimulus. K.

  14. 14.

    jonas

    English Literature? Well la-dee-da Ms. Snooty Bigwords. That sounds like one of those subjects where you have to sit around cross-legged in a circle discussing ladyparts and injustice and all those liberal things. A real teabag candidate would have majored in Nugent Studies with a minor in petroleum engineering.

  16. 16.

    gex

    @JenJen: Their brains have been baked in the hot sun.

    Seriously. Heat makes people crazy. Murders are higher in the summer, etc. I know I get irritable when I’m hot. So all these old people who grew up during segregation, and possibly went to school when Hawaii wasn’t a state, take what they knew and bake it at 100 degrees for a few years inside their skulls.

  17. 17.

    morzer

    @JenJen:

    Arizona is also the residence of Charles Bowden, and he’s a really good journalist and writer, especially about the drug war, Mexico and immigration. Basically Arizona falls into the “nice place, shame about the wingnuts” category.

  21. 21.

    beltane

    @The Dangerman: She’s full of shit. Maybe she owed the school money, but diplomas are awarded before any student loan is paid off. Otherwise most of us would have to wait ten years to graduate. If there is a Republican out there who is not a deadbeat and a liar, please let us know.

  22. 22.

    MattR

    From the article:

    “She’s gone through the process to receive her degree, that’s not the story. She fulfilled the last course requirement this summer. It was just a general elective course,” said O’Donnell campaign manager Matt Moran.
    __
    But that contradicts previous explanations O’Donnell has given about her education history.
    __
    Her 2006 Senate campaign website described her as a “graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University.” In March of this year, she told the Delaware News Journal that FDU was withholding her diploma because she had not yet paid off her student loans. “I finished the coursework,” O’Donnell told the newspaper.
    __
    After attending the cap and gown ceremony in 1993, Moran said it took 12 years for O’Donnell to pay off the outstanding debt. He said she met with FDU President Michael Adams after her 2008 Senate campaign to make sure “she went through all the proper measures to achieve [the degree].”

    IIRC, the Madison location is not the main FDU campus.

    (EDIT: And I don’t think it is unusual for a school to let a senior walk in the graduation ceremony if they still need one class, especially if it is outside their major)

  25. 25.

    JenJen

    @gex: That’s as reasonable an explanation as I’ve yet heard!

    @morzer: OK, so it’s a lot like southwestern Ohio. Maybe I do get it!

    @General Stuck: OMGBBQ, I can’t even express how completely obsessed I’ve been with the Reds this season, and especially lately. CHAPMANIA BABY! EIGHT GAME LEAD! Best record in the NL! Huge series in St. Louis starting tonight!

    I can’t get enough. Went to the last game of the amazing homestand Wednesday night, and saw Chapman throw a 104 mph fastball, and earn his first major league win. Posted a few crappy cellphone photos here.
     Had great seats and many beers. It just doesn’t get any better than that for a Reds fan. Life, it is good.

  27. 27.

    stuckinred

    FDU was withholding her diploma because she had not yet paid off her student loans.

    That sounds like bullshit, who pays their loans before they graduate? I got my Ed.D in 98 and I hope to expire still owing on that mofo.

  28. 28.

    MattR

    @beltane: My guess is that she owed student fees of some sort to the University or had not made the last payment on her tuition plan as opposed to owing student loans to a third party

  30. 30.

    General Stuck

    @Mark S.: Oh, and I forgot to include the clincher on that from the TPM link.

    The anchor later asked: “Which beheadings in Arizona were you were referring to?” Brewer responded: “Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded.”

    I guess “our” depends on our definition of our. is also too.

  35. 35.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @JenJen:

    NRSC Says Senator Ron Wyden Has Lost Touch With Voters From The Evergreen State—But He’s From Oregon

    Beautiful.

    In the spirit of the NRSC, I’ve decided that Arizona is henceforth going to be known as the Sunbaked Cowpats in the Desert State.

  37. 37.

    JenJen

    @General Stuck: Well, I’ll give this another whirl since I’m still in moderation limbo with my earlier comment..

    OMG BBQ, I can’t even express how completely obsessed I’ve been with the Reds this season, and especially lately.
    Chapmania, baby!! Eight game lead! Best record in the NL! Huge series in St. Louis starting tonight!
    I can’t get enough. Went to the last game of the amazing homestand Wednesday night, and saw Chapman throw a 104 mph fastball, and earn his first major league win. Posted a few crappy cellphone photos here.

    Had great seats and many beers. It just doesn’t get any better than this for a Reds fan. Life, it is good.

  38. 38.

    maus

    @stuckinred: Yeah, agreed with the previous poster. Student FEES owed to the school, not student loans. The amount owed to the school has to have been paltry, as well, I can’t imagine them to be more than 1000$.

  40. 40.

    JenJen

    @General Stuck: The beauty of the series in St. Louis starting tonight? The tables have turned since the Cards were last here in early August, big time, and now the pressure is on them. I just read that if the Reds even break .500, going 15-14 in the remaining 29 games, the Cards would have to go 24-5 just to tie.

    No, I’m not standing in line for World Series tickets yet or anything, and I’m trying not to jinx the whole damned thing by getting too excited, but damn it feels good to be a Reds fan right now. :-)

  41. 41.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    English Lit major and she was allowed into the Tea Party? I guess you can get away with anything if you’re white.

  45. 45.

    mgordon

    But wouldn’t not having a college degree be a badge of honor for teabag nation? Graduating might lose her some votes, the ivory tower elitist.

    Isn’t having a BA in English Lit. just like not having a degree? Her teabag street cred should be just fine.

  47. 47.

    RSA

    “Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded.”

    Oh, now I get it. If the cops ever told her that damage to a dead body could be caused by coyotes–there you go. Mexican criminals beheading people in the desert.

  48. 48.

    denverjeninpdx

    @jonas: This is my favoritest comment that I have read all day, and as an English major I am so stealing “Ms. Snooty Bigwords”. Also, Nugent Studies. :)

  49. 49.

    Bobby Thomson

    @JenJen:

    The entire clip is mindblowing, covering a range of issues that O’Donnell has blatantly lied about. For example, I don’t think “tie” means what she thinks it means.

    I thought that was one area where Gaffney was being ridiculous. 49% to 49% is considered a tie. When you say you tied someone in a county, no one seriously thinks you mean that you got exactly as many votes as the other candidate.

  50. 50.

    mandarama

    @jonas:

    Heh. Since I’m a literature professor, I’m gonna have “Ms. Snooty Bigwords” put on my office door. Or “Dr. Snooty Bigwords.” I didn’t spend 7 years in evil liberal arts school to get called “Ms.”

  51. 51.

    jnfr

    I went back to college in my 40s to get a degree. I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of. I really wasn’t capable of handling college in my 20s (so I moved into a commune instead).

  53. 53.

    JenJen

    @Bobby Thomson:

    I thought that was one area where Gaffney was being ridiculous. 49% to 49% is considered a tie. When you say you tied someone in a county, no one seriously thinks you mean that you got exactly as many votes as the other candidate.

    Point taken, but remember, she did claim to have actually won in two of those counties (Gaffney played the clip of her saying that, that’s when she backtracked and said she meant to say “tie.”) And honestly? She sure sounded as though she expected people to believe that she’d tied in the actual vote count, since she initially said she won the actual vote count.

  54. 54.

    Bobby Thomson

    For those of you who don’t see it (which I assume is most of you), Castle has an ad all over Balloon Juice going negative on O’Donnell. “$10,000 lien against a house for failing to pay taxes. Hopelessly irresponsible with her own finances. Not to be trusted with ours.”

    I’ve always found that line of attack a little insulting. We don’t elect our representatives to be accountants, and there is a bureaucracy that’s pretty good about remembering to collect taxes. Moreover, people fall behind on their taxes (and various other bills) without any moral fault. Thought experiment: Imagine an ad with the caption: “Laid off by General Motors twice in the last three years. Can’t hold down a job. Why give him mine?” Doesn’t sound quite the same, does it? Of course, this is a primary campaign aimed at Republican voters, who take it as an article of faith that one’s net worth has a perfect correlation to one’s character, so it should be a success.

  55. 55.

    Bobby Thomson

    @JenJen:

    And honestly? She sure sounded as though she expected people to believe that she’d tied in the actual vote count, since she initially said she won the actual vote count.

    You can’t really believe that. She was the one who said “49% to 49%. Sounds like a tie to me.” Why would she do that if she wanted people to focus on absolute vote counts?

    Gaffney wasn’t prepared for the “I meant to say tie” excuse. The excuse itself was silly, and he could have hammered her on it. Instead, he took the interview in a ridiculous direction and I stopped listening.

  56. 56.

    JenJen

    @Bobby Thomson: Wait a minute… so you’re quibbling over the potential meaning of an excuse pulled out of thin air for the purpose of covering up a bald-faced lie? Suit yourself, I guess.

    Too bad it turned you off so quickly you didn’t listen to the rest of the interview, though. I was under the assumption you were commenting on the entire context of the interview when you wrote up-thread “I thought that was one area where Gaffney was being ridiculous.”

  57. 57.

    jon

    @JenJen: Brewer sewed up all the votes she needs on three issues.

    Guns: she signed to allow us Arizonans to carry concealed guns anyplace they aren’t specifically not allowed.

    Abortion: she’s a Forced Birther.

    National Security Immigration Reform Law Enforcement Public Safety War on Drugs War on Terror Fuck it, let’s blame everything on Mexico: SB1070.

    This state is nuts. Our budget deficit, dollar for dude, is as bad or worse than California’s. Our infrastructure is crap. And we got a 1% sales tax to fix maybe a third of it, but most of the Republicans in Phoenix (and to her credit, Brewer didn’t join them in this) were against that and won’t consider anything other than lowering corporate tax rates to pay for government. Oh, and the stimulus money from the Feds? La la la la, they can’t hear you!

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