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United States News Title: Christine O'Donnell's 'Oxford' Tutor Speaks Out: 'Intelligent,' 'A Joy To Have' When she attended a Phoenix Institute program in 2001, Christine O'Donnell was "a joy to have," her former tutor says. Bruce W. Griffin is speaking out on his former student, and says that O'Donnell would "add intellectual and philosophical depth" to the United States Senate should she win in November. O'Donnell, the Republican nominee for Senate in Delaware, has represented herself as attending Oxford University on at least one and potentially many more occasions. Griffin, an instructor and not a professor, wrote a detailed blog item saying that O'Donnell's thesis on cloning stood out in his mind as "one of the two best papers written for me that summer." It's a relevant topic given that O'Donnell defeated Rep. Mike Castle in last month's Republican primary in part by telling evangelical voters he supported human cloning because he backs embryonic stem cell research. In addition to using the line on the campaign trail, O'Donnell supporters at phone banks read from a script provided by the Tea Party Express that pushed the cloning claim. Griffin sent TPM his blog post detailing the three-week Phoenix Institute program focused on the "intellectual alternatives to the philosophical morass of postmodern moral relativism." Their text: C.S. Lewis' 1944 The Abolition of Man. He said it was a summer job to do "a tutorial at Oxford on postmodernism and natural law." "Christine O'Donnell was a joy to have in the tutorials: intelligent, engaged, dynamic, good with questions and interested in ideas" he wrote. Griffin, who once wrote O'Donnell a recommendation to an Ivy league grad school, wrote up a full endorsement that he considers the course equivalent to "any graduate school at any university." From his posting: Christine O'Donnell would bring to the US Senate a deepened commitment to the philosophical convictions of the Founding Fathers at a time when the philosophical bankruptcy of too many leaders is mirrored in the economic bankruptcy of the federal government. She would surely add intellectual and philosophical depth to a Senate that at this point in its history badly needs both. The title of Griffin's blog "Christine O'Donnell at Oxford" might suggest he believes that the Phoenix program was affiliated even though a Phoenix representative has told reporters that suggesting the two are linked is "misleading." Here's how Griffin explains it: In a followup interview, Griffin told TPM the Phoenix program was definitely not an Oxford course, but that it was more than just renting space at Oxford. "Our lecturers were drawn heavily from the Oxford faculty, and the opportunity to hear those lecturers was a critical reason for why our students came," he said. FEC records show Griffin donated in 2008 to the McCain campaign but does not appear to be politically involved. He attended Liberty University for his bachelors degree and earned a degree in Jewish Studies at Oxford. Griffin is a doctorate candidate in Classics at Lincoln College, Oxford and currently teaches theology at Ave Maria University in Nicaragua. Read his posting in full here. TPM did a brief interview with Griffin via email. He said he believes the press has long slanted coverage favorably toward Democrats and that there's an attempt to paint O'Donnell as an "uneducated yahoo." "[T]he tendency to slot O'Donnell into this stereotype is both unfortunate and untrue," he said. He also raised O'Donnell's rival Chris Coons (D) and his Yale thesis, a conservative meme that David Weigel debunked here. Coons addressed the "bearded Marxist" line from his thesis during his first debate with O'Donnell. Griffin said the old video clips of O'Donnell are "irrelevant" and seem to take on an anti-Catholic subtext. "Her statements on homosexuality and masturbation don't seem to differ in any respect from the Catechism of the Catholic Church," Griffin said. "I'd be sorry to think that acceptance of those beliefs was a legitimate cause for scorn and ridicule in a political campaign." He said Irish Catholics have long been discriminated against and added, "As of 2010, the number of African-Americans to become president and the number of Irish Catholics to become president is exactly the same: one."
Poster Comment: Casting pearls before the swine, trying to bring intellectual and philosophical depth to the Senate. It's worth a try though.
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#1. To: hondo68 (#0)
(Edited)
On this blog he states that he was a doctoral student looking to pick up extra cash. He wasn't even an instructor; he did online tutoring. "In the summer of 2001, I was a doctoral student in classics at the University of Oxford, and looking for summer employment. I signed on with a group called the Phoenix Institute to do a tutorial at Oxford on postmodernism and natural law." It's sad the depths you'll go to in an effort to somehow make this bimbo more than what she is. MUCH more. Our own Mammy Yokum makes more sense - once you run her through the spell check.
War what is pathetic is the depths you go to to try and bring down anyone honorable. Are you truly evil?
Do you Really think O'Donnell is honorable? You do realize how far she'd get if the Koch Bros or similar ilk weren't behind her. See Rick Sanchez for details. ;}
Stone, for all his posturing, will vote for anyone with an "R" beside their name. He looks at O'Donnell and wishes that he could reach the heights of her over-achievement. Or depths in this case...
Oh give it a rest. You would suck the dick of any male Democrat (despite all your posturing of being an independent) before you would admit voting for any Republican. That's not what's on my mind right now though. I'm rooting for your Steelers a lot more than you are, I promise you.
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