ABC's Crystal Ball: Defeat of 'Mainstream' Castle 'Eliminates' GOP Chances for Winning Senate

Published: 9/15/2010 11:03 AM ET

Good Morning America's Juju Chang switched into prognostication mode on Wednesday and proclaimed that, along with other Tea Party wins, Christine O'Donnell's upset victory in Delaware "pretty much eliminat[es] the Republicans' chances of taking back the Senate." [MP3 audio here.]

She trumpeted, "We begin with an upset victory for the Tea Party and maybe for Democrats." The news anchor announced, "Christine O'Donnell has defeated a mainstream Republican candidate for the Delaware Senate seat, thanks to help from Sarah Palin."

Mainstream? Mike Castle's lifetime American Conservative Union score is 52. He has an F grade from the NRA, supported cap and trade and is aggressively pro-abortion. These are generally not known as "mainstream" GOP positions.

Chang closed by predicting, "Most [tea party candidates] are not expected to prevail in the general election, pretty much eliminating the Republicans' chances of taking back the Senate." It's not clear what the journalist is basing this on.

Senatorial candidates such as Joe Miller and Rand Paul are ahead of their Democratic opponents. Sharron Angle in Nevada is tied with Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Additionally, isn't it the job of a supposedly straight news anchor to simply tell what has happened, not predict events 48 days in the future?

A transcript of the segment, which aired at 8:02am EDT on September 15, follows:

JUJU CHANG: We begin with an upset victory for the Tea Party and maybe for Democrats. Christine O'Donnell has defeated a mainstream Republican candidate for the Delaware Senate seat, thanks to help from Sarah Palin. Tea Party candidates have now defeated establishment ones in at least seven Republican Senate primaries, with New Hampshire undecided. But, most are not expected to prevail in the general election, pretty much eliminating the Republicans' chances of taking back the Senate.