witchcraft

On Monday, the 'Today Show' (weekdays 7 AM ET on NBC) led off with the latest wackiness surrounding Christine O'Donnell, the Republican Senate candidate from Delaware.

They ran a clip of a 1999 appearance O'Donnell made on the Bill Maher-hosted show 'Politically Incorrect' in which the Tea Party favorite playfully admits to dabbling in witchcraft during high school.

"I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven," a bright-eyed and big-haired O'Donnell says on the 11-year old tape. "One of my first dates was with a witch on a Satanic alter and I didn't know it."

Then Today show correspondent Kelly O'Donnell (no relation) reported that O'Donnell in the wake of these supernatural revelations, had canceled several scheduled national media appearances, and instead campaigned at a Delaware picnic where she made light of the witchcraft admission as typical high school foolishness.

And really, O'Donnell does need to downplay the witchcraft angle as best she can. The last time the nation become so focused on witchcraft was back in 1692, because of some incidents in Salem, MA.

As you probably remember from your history books, that didn't end well for the alleged witches.

(S21E07) Poor Wiccans, they're so misunderstood. And the three girls representing them weren't really representing Wicca so much as they were representing wayward teens looking for something to latch onto. That, and they probably think their own perceptions of Wicca make it out to be pretty "kewl."

Struggling for something to latch onto in a world that doesn't seem to understand you not only describes virtually every teenager in existence, but Lisa Simpson as well. A sweet intellect in a family of average to well-below-average intellects, Lisa has never fit in at home or at school. So, as long as she can be fairly certain that there's no actual witchcraft going on -- because that would be too scary -- she's in.