Within the last few weeks, a recording from a 1999 episode of Bill Maher’s ‘Politically Incorrect’ surfaced of Christine O’Donnell, the current Delaware Republican candidate for Senate.

In the clip, she claimed to have dabbled in witchcraft. Since then, Ms. O’Donnell’s campaign proceeded to put out a rather pointless ad that featured Ms. O’Donnell speaking directly to the camera saying, among other things, ‘I’m not a witch. I’m one of you.’

No, Ms. O’Donnell, you aren’t one of us.

First, there’s nothing wrong with dabbling in witchcraft. Well, there is something wrong if you dabble in witchcraft to resurrect some long-dead evil historical figure like Rasputin or bring the devil to Earth or bring about the end of the world in some way ‘ but a little harmless dabbling that doesn’t have much impact outside of your little circle of friends? Yeah, I’m fine with that.

Second, it’s witchcraft. Call me a skeptic (and I tend to lean toward skepticism on a number of Halloweeny things like ghosts and the occult and such), but there hasn’t been any scientific proof of any practical application of witchcraft and the like.

The Salem Witch Trials were mass hysteria, most likely caused by ergot poisoning. Houdini debunked s√É©ances back in the 1920s. And there has been no proof that Houdini called to his wife from beyond the grave during a yearly s√É©ance she held to try and contact him.

And again, guys, it’s witchcraft. I hope that Ms. O’Donnell realized how many fictional representations of witches there are, reaching from the Wicked Witch of the West to Hermione Granger. The origins of witchcraft and the powers and background of witches have fluctuated over the years, so there isn’t really a solid definition of what a witch is and what a witch does and so on.

Fourthly, Ms. O’Donnell isn’t a shape-changer or skin-walker or a method actress, to the best of my knowledge, so she can’t know what it’s like to be one of ‘us,’ whomever the ‘us’ is directed at. If she’s talking to an older crowd, she definitely does not know what it’s like to be as old as the crowd is with their diminishing hearing and flexibility, among other things. If she’s talking to a college crowd, she does know what it’s like to be a college student ‘ of an older generation.

Yes, it takes one to know one, but when you look at today’s generation of college students, wired to the Internet, it’s hard to see how they’d take to supporting a woman who is claiming to not be a witch and who is running for a seat in the Senate, despite being hypocritical on the ‘witchcraft issue.’ And let’s not get started on her college education woes or her stance on masturbation. Those are stories for another time.

So, while Christine O’Donnell may not be a witch, despite having a date on a Satanic alter and only dabbling in witchcraft, she already has a perfect Halloween costume: a Senate candidate.

Happy Halloween, readers!