Christine O’Donnell walks out of CNN interview

Former+Delaware+Senate+candidate+and+tea+party+activist%0AChristine+ODonnell+walked+off+set+of+Piers+Morgan+Tonight+on%0AAug.+17+when+Morgan+asked+about+her+views+on+gay+marriage+and%0Awitchcraft.%0A

Photo courtesy of CNN Wire Service

Former Delaware Senate candidate and tea party activist Christine O’Donnell walked off set of “Piers Morgan Tonight” on Aug. 17 when Morgan asked about her views on gay marriage and witchcraft.

CNN Wire Service

Christine O’Donnell, the former Delaware GOP Senate candidate, walked off the set of CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” Aug. 17 when asked about her views on sexual abstinence and gay marriage.

“I’m not talking about policies. I’m not running for office,” O’Donnell said. “Ask Michele Bachmann what she thinks.”

When Morgan asked her why she was being “weird” about answering questions on her own statements, as well as issues she addresses in her new book, “Troublemaker,” O’Donnell fired back, saying she only wanted to talk about tea party principles outlined in her book.

“That’s why I agreed to come on your show. That’s what I want to talk about,” O’Donnell said. “I’m not being weird. You’re being a little rude.”

O’Donnell made national headlines in 2010 when she denied in a TV ad that she was a witch, responding to comments she made a decade earlier on a TV show saying she had “dabbled in witchcraft.”

During her Senate campaign, O’Donnell ran as a tea party darling and social conservative. She said she hopes her new book will be an inspirational tool for the grassroots conservative movement.

But when asked about issues from her book and her campaign Aug. 17, O’Donnell walked away from the interview, upset that Morgan was not talking about the things she wished to address.

“Don’t you think as a host, if I say this is what I want to talk about, that’s what we should address?” she asked Morgan.

When Morgan said “no,” O’Donnell began to take off her microphone and said she had turned down another interview for this appearance.

“I was supposed to be speaking at the Republican Women’s Club at six, and I chose to be a little late for that,” she said. “Not to endure a rude talk show host, but to talk to you about my book and the issues I address in my book.”

In an interview with WTTG in Washington Aug. 18, O’Donnell said she felt she made the right decision to end the CNN interview. Regarding Morgan, she said, “I wish him well — he’s a cheeky bugger.”

“Piers, thanks for the invite. Schedule is already packed, maybe another night. No hard feelings, you cheeky bugger,” O’Donnell said in a tweet published on her official website Aug. 17 at 10:30 p.m.

Earlier in the CNN interview, O’Donnell answered questions about her Senate campaign, saying she had made mistakes and caused “self-inflicted wounds.”

She argued that during the midterms she had been unfairly treated by the GOP, which she said failed to defend her from both Republican and Democratic attacks.

Most notably, O’Donnell said she regretted listening to the campaign consultants who advised her to make the famous “I’m not a witch” TV ad.

“I listened to the so-called experts who have been losing election after election,” O’Donnell said. “The experts aren’t always experts.”

While the former Senate candidate didn’t indicate whether she was vying for a political comeback, O’Donnell said she wants to “stay in the political arena” and talk about the issues.

She also warned that the country was heading toward calamity.

“The reality is our country is going bankrupt. Our country is on the brink of collapsing,” O’Donnell said. “This is a very grave situation, unlike any time. We need real solutions.”

O’Donnell began to express discomfort when Morgan turned the conversation to her previous comments on sexual abstinence from a 1996 interview she gave to MTV. At the time, O’Donnell was an advocate for abstinence and had founded a pro-abstinence group. She also discouraged masturbation.

When Morgan asked her if she still held those views, O’Donnell said she was a practicing Catholic and supports what the church teaches but would not do the same MTV interview today.

Morgan pressed her again, asking if she was still a supporter of abstinence.

“Are you the pro-masturbation talk show host?” O’Donnell asked, jokingly.

“Why, yes,” Morgan replied in jest.

O’Donnell then tried to change the subject to the political principles from her book, and when Morgan continued to ask about her comments on sex, O’Donnell argued that the host was being rude.