January 10, 2018

Oprah 48%, Trump 38%.

Rasmussen.
Winfrey has the support of 76% of Democrats, 22% of Republicans and 44% of voters not affiliated with either major political party. The president earns 66% of the vote from Republicans, 12% of Democrats and 38% of unaffiliateds....

Fifty-five percent (55%) of all voters view Winfrey favorably, including 27% with a Very Favorable view of the longtime media personality and entrepreneur.... Thirty-four percent (34%) share an unfavorable view of her, with 18% who have a Very Unfavorable one....

Fifty-two percent (52%) of women prefer the TV host in a matchup with Trump, compared to 43% of men.... Winfrey leads among whites, blacks and other minority voters but has her widest victory margin among the black community.
This interest in Oprah feels to me like ceding the election to Trump. Oprah hogs so much attention, and she has her own money. If she doesn't get out of the way, how is any other Democrat supposed to fund raise and build name recognition?

93 comments:

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, regarding your last couple sentences, 😀

Bay Area Guy said...

2020 is gonna be a close election, whoever runs as a Democrat. Might as well be Oprah. She's a heluva lot more pleasant and interesting than Liz Warren or Bernie Sanders.

Gahrie said...

If she doesn't get out of the way, how is any other Democrat supposed to fund raise and build name recognition?

Oprah has publically announced several times that she has no intention of running for president. What more does she need to do?

Mr. D said...

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggioprah, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you, woo woo woo
What’s that you say, Mr. Stedman Graham, Joltin’ O has left and gone away, hey hey hey

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Wow. Even Crooked Hillary had better numbers than that, HRC vs DJT, until the primaries arrived.

Ann Althouse said...

"Oprah has publically announced several times that she has no intention of running for president. What more does she need to do?"

Schedule an announcement. Get the press there, and make an absolutely clear "Sherman statement."

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Put another way, I am shocked her numbers aren’t higher because this a name recognition game at this point and they weren’t polling likely voters. So I see skepticism of the O here. I mean all the gushing and MSM support for this and she didn’t crack 60 against the biggest target the MSM has ever gone after! With media nearly unanimous in Oprah support and almost always going negative on Trump? This ain’t great for her.

rehajm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Limited blogger said...

didn't Oprah once give everybody in the audience a car? Giving a car to everybody that votes for her would big a big hit.

Limited blogger said...

be a big hit

narayanan said...

oprah needs to anoint somebody - also known as christening

Ignorance is Bliss said...

rehajm said...

Trump is supported by 12% of Democrats?

Blue collar white men.

AKA deplorables.

rehajm said...

Trump is supported by 12% of Democrats? Who the Hell are these people?

Are there also Life Long Democrats?

Dave said...

"22% of Republicans"

That's a typo. It should read "22% of RINOs".

Infinite Monkeys said...

Limited blogger said...
didn't Oprah once give everybody in the audience a car? Giving a car to everybody that votes for her would big a big hit.

1/10/18, 10:53 AM


Until they all have to pay the taxes on the gift they received. http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/22/news/newsmakers/oprah_car_tax/

D.E. Cloutier said...

I supported Goldwater, Reagan, Kemp.

I said, "Obama is not nearly as smart and he thinks he is."

I understand Trump. I like Melania.

My opinion: Oprah would beat Trump in 2020.

---

P.S. More than a year before the 2016 general election, I said, "Trump will win the White House."

Nonapod said...

A poll based on telephone surveys 2 years out from an election with that many undecided is about as useful and reliable as an inflatable dartboard, but it generates traffic I suppose.

Comanche Voter said...

If the Hildebeest didn't get out of the way, how was any other Democrat to get any attention in 2016?

She'll belly up to the press trough big time--or maybe "bigly". But I do think that if the economy continues to run well, the Trumpster will be tough to beat in 2020. That would be true of any sitting President. It the economy ain't broke, don't fix it.

mockturtle said...

The polls were wrong in 2016. Why should we believe them now?

BTW, more college educated white men voted for Trump than for Hillary as did a narrow majority of white women. So there's that. Hillary only received 51% of the white, college-educated women's vote. The educational gap is vastly overstated.

mockturtle said...

I would believe a Magic 8 Ball before I'd believe a poll.

MaxedOutMama said...

That's one reason I find myself wanting to shut it down. I concede that I find Oprah a better candidate than Hillary Clinton, but I would have voted for a box turtle or a rabid chipmunk rather than for Hillary Clinton. This is a low bar!

I think that the Democrats need a good strong candidate. Voting for Trump was a flipping risk. We would not have done it if it had not been that the Dems were running a candidate with the ethics of Jabba the Hutt, and similar personal appetites. Jabba the Hutt is not a winning candidate in the US. The Dem leadership ARE the Deplorables and many realize that.

So if the Dems were to run Oprah against Trump, we would have one candidate who is something of a known quantity and much less risky against the Great Unknown Risk. She's female, black, and popular, but would she be able to be a functional president? We do not know, and I doubt most voters would risk it in the end.

I do not personally think that Oprah would be a good president because her life experience is not such that it equips her to properly judge many situations, and Trump is clearly having his successes. I don't think it's a winning strategy for the Dems, and it is not the face-off I would want to have as a voter. I don't want to be forced to vote for an older, doddering Trump. If I have to I will do so, but please don't put me in that position again! Please!

I am very happy with Trump's presidency so far, and I can see myself voting for him again, but honestly, age is a real concern. He's old. He's not going to be getting any younger.

I would like to see a Democratic governor as the Dem candidate. Someone with experience and a track record. That is not an unreasonable expectation.

chuck said...

Things have been pretty crazy, I wouldn't discount the possibility that Oprah could take the nomination and win the election. No one knows what sort of President she would be, and maybe that works to her advantage. I think that things will start to clarify if she starts taking policy positions.

n.n said...

Black and feminist. In the order of Democrat leverage, advantage: Winfrey. Clinton may as well start crocheting, croqueting NOW. It's over.

Thuglawlibrarian said...

From November 2016 - The FiveThirtyEight.com site's projection saw Clinton with a 70.3 percent chance of winning the White House by late Monday afternoon.

Madam President, indeed....

MayBee said...

I'd rather have Oprah than Warren or Gillibrand. Or Harris.

Bay Area Guy said...

All "nice" guys and gals have high favorability ratings -- until they get punched in the mouth.

Romney was the squarest man alive. No drugs, no alcohol, no adultery, probably a virgin at marriage, no crimes, the literal antithesis of everything Bill Clinton was in his personal life. Yet, Mitt was still demonized by the Opp Research team of the Left, who could turn Mother Theresa into a whore, if it suited their political purposes.

Oprah is part of Hollywood and had some ties with Harvey Weinstein. If she runs, all that crap gets aired out. And then her numbers go down.

Not saying I like the "rules of the game," I'm just describing the "rules of the game".

Fabi said...

Trump has no path to 270 in 2020!

(Just wanted to be the first one to say that)

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

mock wrote:
"BTW, more college educated white men voted for Trump than for Hillary as did a narrow majority of white women."

No wonder all those white men at Google are so angry at white men!

Achilles said...

Oprah has a former starlet that will go out and say Oprah encouraged her to go to Weinstein's hotel room. Oprah clearly knew what Harvey was and knew what he was doing to women.

She also supports an assault weapons ban and gun control. When that comes out she loses at minimum 10% of her favorability rating.

Polls of likely voters are stupid.

Bay Area Guy said...

It's actually very smart of Dems to float this "Oprah" balloon. It doesn't hurt anyone, it's a creative idea, it starts the political juices flowing.

I'd really like to see the Dems insult and marginalize Bernie again. So, that he would run 3rd party. It'd be 1912 (Taft, Roosevelt, Wilson) or 1992 (Bush, Clinton, Perot) all over again.

n.n said...

Rasmussen sounds uncannily similar to Rasputin. Can we be certain that this poll was not done in collusion with the Russian Empire as a cover-up to denying the Democrat nomination to the Jew?

Achilles said...

Have fun beating a president presiding over an economy growing at 4% with consistent job growth and the first real wage increases for the working class in decades.

Decades.


Just saying.

Although if Trump caves on immigration he will probably not finish his term.

D.E. Cloutier said...

Remember when Obama ran against Hillary for the Democratic nomination in 2008? Who played a major role in encouraging Americans to take him seriously as a presidential candidate? Oprah.

We know what happened next.

Karen said...

My millennial daughter is pro Dem and Oprah lover all the way, but the anti-vaxx thing is a bridge too far, even for her.

n.n said...

#SheKnew. As did the other feminists in black apparel mourning at the tomb of the unknown baby... woman.

tim maguire said...

How did this poll differ from Trump vs generic Democrat? I have a generally positive view of Oprah and if I were forced to choose between her and Trump in 2016, I might have chosen her. But it will be 2020, Trump will have been president for 4 years with a (so far) pretty good record. Those numbers might seem good for Oprah, but I don't think they are.

As you say, Democrats are ceding 2020 to Trump. Which they are anyway so what's new?

Rob said...

I agree with MayBee. I'd rather have Oprah than Gillibrand, Warren or Harris. For one thing, Oprah hates white people less than they do.

tcrosse said...

This Oprah talk is certainly a shot across the bow of H>MS Hillary. Or maybe a torpedo to the engine room.

Rob said...

Actually, Oprah doesn't seem to hate white people at all. Unlike Gillibrand and Warren.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“My millennial daughter is pro Dem and Oprah lover all the way, but the anti-vaxx thing is a bridge too far, even for her.”

For me too. We already have an antivaxxer as a president, we don’t need another. Also concerning, the non disclosure agreements she makes her employees sign. Another concern is her promotion of the all the self help gurus and faux spiritual New Age leaders, bleh. I don’t take people who glom onto that nonsense as serious people.

cubanbob said...

So far the Democrat line up is composed of criminals, idiots, misandrists and Communists. Oprah is by far the best they have. She ought to run just as a public service before the Democrats go completely and utterly off the rails.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Oprah 48%, Trump 38%."

Imagine a post with this title 10 years ago.

Drago said...

Inga: "For me too. We already have an antivaxxer as a president,..."

I guess that explains why none of the Trump's have received vaccines and vaccines have been outlawed and Trump opines on it almost daily......

.....oh, wait.

I'm still trying to figure out if I want to answer the 80's, which was calling to tell me it wanted it's foreign policy back.

I mean, if I want to stand up to Russia that will mean opposing obama, which is racist.

What to do?

Drago said...

This poll "proves" beyond a shadow of a doubt that in 2020 Trump has NO PATH to 270!

Again.

William said...

I have a favorable opinion of Oprah but that might be due to the fact that I don't know all that much about her. Her selling point is her personality, not her policies-- --although to be sure she would do a better job of selling Dem policies than Hillary or most of the others......I don't see her wearing spandex and sticking on a diet for all those weary months of a long Presidential campaign. Sometimes public service demands too much........Not a single person has noted the irony of a former business partner of Harvey Weinstein delivering an impassioned speech about the rights of women to a room full of rapists and their enablers. It would ruin the beauty of the moment. Oprah knows how to produce beautiful, moving moments.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
Follow Follow @realDonaldTrump
More
I am being proven right about massive vaccinations—the doctors lied. Save our children & their future.
6:30 AM - 3 Sep 2014

Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that Kennedy told reporters yesterday that Donald Trump—who has, over the years, issued a stream of inaccurate and conspiratorial tweets on the subject of vaccines and autism—has asked him to “chair a commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity.’’

“President-elect Trump has some doubts about the current vaccine policies, and he has questions about it,’’ Kennedy said on Tuesday, in Trump Tower. “His opinion doesn't matter, but the science does matter. And we ought to be reading the science, and we ought to be debating the science. And everybody ought to be able to be assured that the vaccines that we have—he's very pro-vaccine, as am I—but they're as safe as they possibly can be. He asked me to chair a commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity.”


The New Yorker

n.n said...

They could pull an Obama. Select an unknown or poorly known candidate and use the Press to inflate his reputation to infinity and beyond. They could use another Jew as a stepping stone.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

There are more, here a just a few.

Donald J. Trump
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Autism rates through the roof--why doesn't the Obama administration do something about doctor-inflicted autism. We lose nothing to try.
11:19 AM · Oct 22, 2012

Donald J. Trump
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
"@OnlineOnTheAir: My friend's son, immediate #autism after #vaccines 10 yrs ago. So sad. Keep up good work Nay-sayers will understand soon."
6:39 AM · Sep 4, 2014

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump
So many people who have children with autism have thanked me—amazing response. They know far better than fudged up reports!
9:11 AM - Sep 4, 2014

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump
"@KimStagliano: @realDonaldTrump When will NYT write about vaccine damage and its price? 3 girls w autism here, Mr. Trump." They should Kim!
4:00 PM - Mar 30, 2013

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump
Many many people are thanking me for what I said about @autism & vaccinations. Something must be done immediately.
10:00 AM - Apr 13, 2012


Donald J. Trump
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
"@P01YN0NYM0U55: ! @vikdam @jamandatrtl imagine how mad you'd be to watch your healthy child crash hard after vaccine then doctors mock you"
4:34 AM · Sep 6, 2014 from New Jersey, USA

Achilles said...

Inga said...

For me too. We already have an antivaxxer as a president, we don’t need another.

Have Trump's children been vaccinated?

I know you are too dishonest to answer and to stupid to actually read his position on vaccination.

Bay Area Guy said...

It doesn't matter what Trump's theoretical position has been on vaccinations.

It matters where pockets of parents are deciding not to vaccine their kids.

Guess where?

Rich, liberal, Democrat, West-side Los Angeles

Any surprise?

Big Mike said...

didn't Oprah once give everybody in the audience a car?

It was a Pontiac, and five years later GM announced that the brand was being discontinued. Correlation is not causation, of course, but still ...

harrogate said...

Trump has embraced the anti-vax position on numerous occasions. So has Winfrey. Both have enormous cultural influence.

No amount of snark will make these facts go away.

If it doesn't bother you, that's one thing. Dissembling about what he's said multiple times is another.

And, Bay Area Guy is also right that there are lots of people on the Left who buy into the anti-vax craziness.

It's craziness regardless of who's buying into it, though. That's also an inescapable fact.

Sebastian said...

"This interest in Oprah feels to me like ceding the election to Trump.

It may "feel" like that, but the election is hers to lose.

When it comes to Dems in the WH, we cons could do worse.

stever said...

At this point, last cycle, plenty of people - dems and repubs - said "run Donald run" so I can't rule out any possibility but she's filling up the room so unless she's serious about going all the way, she needs to stop now. Kamala needs space to fly.

eric said...

Oprah isn't going to run.

But of course she beats everyone. This is always the case. Put anyone in place of Oprah who isn't known because we love to hate them. Jay Leno? I bet he does just as well.

But once they start running? Things will change quickly. The Democrats will be pissed. They will destroy her during a primary. They don't want another Obama. I mean, yes, they want another Obama. But they don't want someone new who replaces the old guard.

They only want another Obama in the sense of his charisma and charm.

The entrenched power of the Dem party wants Oprah's money. They don't want her running for president.

And she won't.

lgv said...

I think it would be great for her to run. One of the reasons Trump won was that many of the other primary candidates suffered when finally put on stage, e.g. Ben Carson. At some point people will realize how little she knows. Her best numbers will likely be right now.

Crap, I probably said the same thing about Trump.

I would rather have President Winfrey than President Warren, Clinton, Biden, Sanders, or Harris.

walter said...

Blogger MaxedOutMama said...
I would have voted for a box turtle or a rabid chipmunk rather than for Hillary Clinton.
--
box turtle = "Low energy"

Another Trump tweet on vax:
"To all haters and losers: I am NOT anti-vaccine, but I am against shooting massive doses into tiny children."

walter said...

"If I were President I would push for proper vaccinations but would not allow one time massive shots that a small child cannot take - "

MikeR said...

"This interest in Oprah feels to me like ceding the election to Trump."
"This interest in Trump feels to me like ceding the election to Clinton." - circa 2016

But I repeat my earlier comments. It makes no difference who the Democrats run. Either you hate Trump with a deranged passion, or you're okay with how he's doing. Either way, you don't care which opponent he has. Rasmussen could rerun the poll w Trump vs. Tipper the Lizard and get the same numbers.

Lewis Wetzel said...

How in the world can Oprah get 22% of Republicans to support her? There is no intersection between "Oprah" and "Republican."
I notice that this is about the same percentage as Democrats who believed that Obama was born in Kenya. People are nuts, we need a political system that can work when 10% of the voters will always be looney tunes.

Rae said...

It'll be fun to watch the Clintonites Bernie Oprah in the primary.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Let’s test Buckley’s “phone book maxim” via a third and maybe fourth Senator per state that are called up via a lottery like jury duty. You can’t opt out but could delay service once if called, and each Citizen Senator would serve one three-year term. Like Jury Duty your employer would have to allow you leave (same salary as all senators) and keep your job afterward. This would also allow exceptional citizen-senators to build a record on which they could run if they wish. To paraphrase Buckley, I would trust these common congressmen more than the egomaniacs who generally run and win.

FullMoon said...
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FullMoon said...
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tim in vermont said...

The best thing for the Democratic Party would be to wake up one morning to the news that Hillary was found in Ft Marcy Park. Then they could move on the way they need to do.

tim in vermont said...

If we walked away from the Trump presidency with Oprah coming in, that would be fine with me. A pretty good outcome. A lot of the stuff Trump is doing only needs one term. We need to shut out the Clinton Machine until it starves and dies from distance from power and graft.

Of course that could just be the martinis I had at lunchtime talking... It sort of feels like it is.

robother said...

A chicken in every pot, updated to a car in every garage. Oprah has a natural feel for Democrat politics. What is Hillary or Pocohantas' motto? A wonk for every policy? She knows better than you? At least show folk know how to promise real people what they want.

tim in vermont said...

Kamala needs space to fly.

Besides being born good looking, what has she accomplished?

Thuglawlibrarian said...

Hey Inga, that's President Donald J. Trump.

He beat the most qualified person since Thomas Jefferson in the 2016 presidential election.

And don't you forget it.

Jim at said...

If you think the professional politicians on the left aren't going to go after Oprah Winfrey with knives in both hands, you don't know the left.

She is an outsider. They will treat her with the same contempt as they do other outsiders.

If she runs, she will spend most of her time in the primaries pulling those knives out of her back.

Hagar said...

The problem is that all the Democrat men standing by may at some time in their life have shook hands with Epstein.

holdfast said...

So Huma and Weiner have called off their divorce.

Spousal privilege is a beautiful legal thing.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Ann Althouse said...
"Oprah has publically announced several times that she has no intention of running for president. What more does she need to do?"

Schedule an announcement. Get the press there, and make an absolutely clear "Sherman statement."

1/10/18, 10:47 AM


Maybe, like you, it would displease her to be forced to do something that didn't please her.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

I still think the D's will run Hillary again in 2020. Hillary won't rest until she persists.
Plus $$$$$$ paybacks, kickbacks, and favors owed.

Fabi said...

Jim -- I'm curious about that myself. After seeing that an outsider can win, maybe they'll be happy to try an Oprah-type one time -- considering that they don't have a superstar back bench.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Joe Biden already has perv recognition ;)

Thorley Winston said...

didn't Oprah once give everybody in the audience a car? Giving a car to everybody that votes for her would big a big hit.

It was a promotion by the automaker who provided the cars out of their marketing budget . . . and also provided 1099s to the audience members so that they could pay the taxes on it (about $7000 apiece as I recall).

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Hey Inga, that's President Donald J. Trump.

He beat the most qualified person since Thomas Jefferson in the 2016 presidential election.

And don't you forget it.”

LOL! He’ll always be Trump to me. And don’t you forget it.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Although yesterday, I did call him President Trump for acting Presidential for a short while. Too bad he just can’t keep it up.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

And remember....THERE WAS NO COLLUSION!

Alex said...

Honestly I don't 65yo Oprah barnstorming around the country giving 60-minute rallies to 10K people night after night like Donald J. Trump did. What Trump did in 2015-2016 was amazing for a 70yo not-fit-looking guy. The sheer stamina to make 200 appearances, shouting the whole time? I'd faint if I had to even talk for 5 minutes at one of those big rallies.

Never underestimate DJT as 'campaigning monster'.

Alex said...

Drago, the best gift for a 2020 Trump win is if the Dems take Congress in 2018. The Dems will go so OVER THE TOP in 2019 that the 'path to 270' voters will come back to DJT in Nov 2020!

Stoutcat said...

Oprah has stated several times that she won't run. I'm guessing there are a few skeletons in that there closet.

tcrosse said...

It's possible that Oprah is too damn smart to want the job, or do what she'd have to do to get it.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I am getting a low level, street-grade vibe from these comments.

You wanna know what's up, you gotta figure out how to get me a bunch of money. In the end, it will be the most efficient thing you will have ever done.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

It makes no difference if you use his title or not, Inga. He is still your President.

Your side lost, thank Christ.

Unknown said...


Oprah is just the thing to drive every last blue collar working man from the Democrat party.

Funny note: Kimmel used to dress up in black face as Oprah on the "Man Show".

One memorable bit showed Oprah Jimfrey on the toilet, and when she stands up, ding dongs are shown floating in the bowl..

The Man Show writers knew Oprah is the opposite of "man" - Oprah is the pink pussy hat of candidates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1TQP9gjtZs - Oprah Jimfey Man Show Season 1


Bad Lieutenant said...

If Oprah really really wanted it she might be able to get it but let's not forget that Warren Harris Biden Clinton whoever else is out there also want this job and they're not going to lie down and give Oprah Winfrey the nomination because she's popular. Nobody gave Donald Trump the nomination in 2016.

Candidate Oprah Winfrey is going to have a fight on her hands. She's doing very well as she is. She doesn't need this job. I'm going to say that I know hardly anything about her but I assume she is sensible and decent enough not to try to be president unless she was going to see it through, endure all the blows, and do a good job, and she has no reason to do that.

Anonymous said...

Ok,

1: It's Rasmussen, so it's total crap

but

2: She hasn't been "roughed up" at all, and she's still below 50%?

As a Republican, I'm really happy for her to suck all the Democrat Oxygen out of the room, for as long as possible

Anonymous said...

We're only about 12 to 15 months away from exploratory committees and it still feels like Hillary has an interest in running again and will once again threaten to suck up all the oxygen and money from other potential candidates.

Getting out ahead of that requires somebody with a lot of name recognition and wealth who could bump Hillary out of the way without triggering the feminists in the party. Hence the Oprah trial balloon - one of the few women who a) has outstanding name recognition and b) has enough money to get a run off the ground without needing a boatload of fundraisers.

The reason Oprah feels like a possible concession is that it is a turn to a political neophyte not by the will of the party's voters, but by choice of the party leadership. Republican party leadership never wanted Trump, but they got stuck with him because their voters told them to go to hell in the primaries. Turning to Oprah by the Democrats and their media allies sends the message that the Democrat leadership isn't confident in running and winning with any of their veteran politicians and would rather stake it all on someone with celebrity, popularity, and no political baggage from being in office.

It may well be a winning hand, but it doesn't speak well of the party if they feel they have to turn to Oprah and have nobody either holding or formerly holding office they'd rather see run.

wendybar said...

I hope she runs....All of her skeletons will be fair game. I also wonder how come I or my friends and family who all like Trump, have NEVER been polled. Polls also said Hillary was going to win...the day before she lost. Polls suck..The silent majority is awake now.

MB said...

Michelle Obama would be a better choice: same name recognition and more experience with statecraft and high-level politics.
Maybe Rasmussen should conduct a poll on this.

Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said...

@Bay Area Guy: I think the late Christopher Hitchens already turned Mother Teresa into a whore. At least a "fanatic, a fundamentalist and a fraud."