(Newser) – Christine O’Donnell tried to deflect attention to her Democratic challenger last night in an appearance on Sean Hannity’s show. After laughing off her comments that she “dabbled into witchcraft," she said that Chris Coons had done some questionable things in his youth, too. “He made some very anti-American statements apologizing for America and calling himself a ‘bearded Marxist.’” She also added that Harry Reid had once referred to Coons as his “pet.”

So is the Marxist bit true? Not exactly, says the Christian Science Monitor. Coons did indeed write an article for his college newspaper entitled “Chris Coons: The Making of a Bearded Marxist,” but it was a joke. Coons was explaining how a sojourn in Kenya had shaken his faith in Republican ideals, which led his Republican buddies to mockingly call him a Marxist. “It’s clearly a joke. I am a clean-shaven capitalist,” Coons told MSNBC. (See video in the gallery.) He also added that he was “nobody’s pet.”