Meghan McCain: Christine O'Donnell 'Seen as Nutjob'

October 17, 2010— -- This morning on a fiery "This Week" roundtable, four powerhouse guests tackled the influence of the Tea Party on the GOP.

Meghan McCain, author of the book "Dirty Sexy Politics," said Christine O'Donnell, the Republican candidate for Senate in Delaware, was real trouble.

"Well, I speak as a 26-year-old woman and my problem is that, no matter what, Christine O'Donnell is making a mockery of running for public office," McCain told anchor Christiane Amanpour. "She has no real history, no real success in any kind of business."

McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that the message, "that sends to my generation is: one day you can just wake and run for Senate, no matter how [much of] a lack of experience you have. And it scares for me for a lot of reasons."

"I just know, in my group of friends, it turns people off because she's seen as a nutjob," she said.

Amanpour asked political analyst Matthew Dowd about the curious backgrounds of some Tea Party-affiliated candidates that have come to light recently.

He said when people vote for them, "they are votes of passion. They are like crimes of passion, in that in the aftermath you think, 'maybe I shouldn't have done that,'" he said. "But in the middle of a time when the country is so angry at Washington ... they turn to candidates that are so outside, that many of those candidates are either nuts, or somewhat off or not competent."

"But in the end," Dowd said, "if you had to switch places with the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, the Democrats would switch places with the Republicans in a minute if they could in this year's election cycle."

Dowd, who has worked for both Democratic and Republican candidates, said that the voters of Delaware will serve as a final check against O'Donnell, who is running for a Senate seat in Delaware for the third time.

"Republicans nominated somebody that's not qualified, that's probably incompetent, and has said some crazy stuff," he said. "The great news is, the Delaware electorate is probably going to send her packing one more time."