“It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible.” Glen David Brin
Brin, a science fiction writer, very likely didn’t have the wickedly deplorable Katherine Harris in mind when he spoke those words. But he sure could have. If Harris, the United States Representative from Florida’s 13th Congressional District, isn’t the very definition of corruptible, then she’s at least the very definition of mindless suggestibility, a robotic drone programmed to do the bidding of the likes of the Bush Family and the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Representative Harris, the Bush Administration flunky, the GOP pawn, the big-business lackey, the right-wing stooge, the Karl Rove-controlled puppet, and the abominable sell-out to politics over principle, has announced her intention to run for the United States Senate.
As reported by Jeremy Wallace at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:
“Today, after months of encouragement from friends and constituents, colleagues and advisors, many prayers, and with the love and support of my family, the time has come to launch a campaign for the United States Senate,” Harris said.
Anita Kumar and Joni James from the St. Petersburg Times reported her announcement, such as it was, in a bit more detail:
Harris, the controversial former secretary of state whose name became synonymous with Florida’s 2000 presidential recount, announced her decision through political consultant Adam Goodman, who called reporters midday.
As Goodman placed calls from her Sarasota office, Harris could be heard in the background using another phone to reach supporters.
“I am not officially launching my campaign,” she told one, “but wanted to let you know today.”
Good people of Florida: we strongly urge you not to let this remarkably terrible thing happen. Do not elect Katherine Harris to the United States Senate. There are so many reasons why.
Katherine Harris 101
The 48-year-old Harris was born in Key West to Florida royalty, the Ben Hill Griffin, Jr. Family. Ben Hill Griffin, Jr. was a successful citrus and cattle baron, a philanthropist, a state legislator, and once even ran for governor. Over the course of his life, he built an estate estimated to be worth close to 500 million dollars. The hallowed ground of Gator football, known popularly as “The Swamp,” is in fact the University of Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. When he died in 1990 at the age of 79, his family began a quarrel of apparently Biblical proportions over the division of the vast Griffin enterprises. Katherine Harris is Griffin’s granddaughter – one of thirty-six heirs to the estate. In 2003, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Representative Harris and other family members against their fellow heirs. The Harris Clan had accused their cousin, J.D. Alexander (a Republican State Senator), his father, and their uncle, Ben Hill Griffin III (the only son of Ben Hill Griffin, Jr.) of committing securities fraud as it related to the settlement of the estate. In 2004, the matter was, to a degree, put to rest when Ben Hill Griffin III stepped down from a Florida agribusiness company as part of an agreement to settle the ongoing legal battle.
According to her recently reconceptualized website (visit, if you must, here: link), the Congresswoman is a former IBM marketing executive and vice president of a commercial real estate firm. It also notes that she holds a Master’s Degree from Harvard University with a specialization in international trade and negotiations. We desperately wish someone – preferably someone in the Nelson Reelection Campaign – would look in to this more, if only to correct us if we’re wrong (we’re not). There is the standard two-year track at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government for the Master’s in Public Administration (which Harris claims she has). There is also, apparently, a program within the prestigious Kennedy School that allows working professionals to fly in every once and again for a few weeks, drop in on some courses, and then waltz out with an MPA. We just can’t imagine privileged working people can get the same degree in a matter weeks that most students labor for two years to get. Her website goes on to tell us that she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in history from Agnes Scott College and that she studied abroad at the University of Madrid and at L’Abri outside Geneva, Switzerland.
Unfortunately, she left off our favorite credential, bestowed by Washingtonian Online in their “Best and Worst of Congress ‘04” Issue, (visit the site here: link) a regal title she shares with the likes of Representatives Duke Cunningham (R-CA) and Patrick Kennedy (D-RI): “No Rocket Scientist.” Aides and staffers on Capitol Hill, who cast their ballots in determining multiple ‘Best and Worst’ categories for the magazine, also left no chad hanging in naming Harris “The Worst Newcomer” to Congress. Worst newcomer? With a degree from Harvard? Why, it’s almost impossible to believe.
Anyway, if you think she’s a shitty Member of Congress, you should’ve seen her in her last job. In fact, you probably did.
Dude, Where’s My Election?
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting that vote.” Benjamin Franklin
In the year 2000, Katherine Harris was the Florida Secretary of State, in charge of election process and law statewide. No, wait, we’re sorry: she was the Chair of the Bush/Cheney 2000 campaign effort in Florida. No, wait, our bad: Secretary of State. No, sorry: Bush campaign operative. Secretary of State. Bush campaign operative. Secretary of State. Bush campaign operative. Secretary of State. Bush campaign operative.
Oh, snap! She was both!
Katherine’s grandaddy, old Ben Hill Griffin, Jr., said when he decided to run for governor, “I’m not the greatest orator in Florida, but I’m the workingest man who ever offered himself.” In fact, he may not have been much of a speaker, or much on grammar, but we’d be willing to bet the price of a Miami waterfront condo that he damn sure understood the concept of “conflict of interest.”
You know where this is going, and we will spare you the Election 2000 play-by-play, the legal minutiae, the withering outcome.
Said the defeated Al Gore after the contentious recount overseen by Harris: “I’ve seen America in this campaign and I like what I see. It’s worth fighting for and that’s a fight I'll never stop. As for the battle that ends tonight, I do believe as my father once said, that no matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shape the soul and let the glory out.”
After that speech, Gore immediately left the stage and promptly stopped fighting. In fact, he took quitting to a whole new level. Shifty-eyed, he leaned to the side, discreetly let just a little bit of glory out, blamed it on the dog, and totally dropped out of society. We were to understand that he was sincere in the thoughtfulness of his retreat because he grew some wicked facial hair. Gore so liked the America he saw, thought it was so worth fighting for, that he wasn’t seen or heard from for months.
Of course, it’s not entirely fair to pick on poor Al Gore for allowing a second-rate Bush campaign stooge to hijack the presidential election. We will forever wonder, though, why he never bothered to call for a state-wide recount. Even if he was certain it would’ve cost him the election, more to the point, it would’ve highlighted the gross irregularities (illegalities some claim though, confoundingly, no charges were ever filed) perpetrated in Florida. It’s pretty common knowledge that Harris hired a firm (run by Republicans) to “scrub” more than 8,000 registered voters who had been, at some point, convicted of a misdemeanor, and thousands of others whose only crime was having the same name as a felon. If you’re curious, neither of those criteria precludes you from voting. There were even a few in the database whose records showed that they had committed crimes in the future. She also certified some election results prematurely and wasn’t very consistent in her certification methodology. (Grand Theft America has a fairly nifty little music-video style featurette on the whole thing. Visit the site here: link)
Who was it that said, “The people who vote decide nothing. The people who count the vote decide everything.” Oh, yeah. That’s right. Joseph Stalin. Thanks, Joe, for the solid rhetoric that is applicable to the Florida re-count of 2000.
Her reward for using questionable means (questionable at best, that is) to seal the fate of Election 2000 in favor of George W. Bush was a virtually free pass to the U.S. House of Representatives. At least Gore had the decency to drop out and cultivate a beard. Perhaps Harris just had no glory to let out.
Katherine Harris Is Naughty! NAUGHTY!
Before she was so stinkin’ famous for perpetrating the Election 2000 fiasco, she was famous for a scandal popularly known in Florida as Riscorp. Actually, Riscorp is the name of an insurance company. A pretty rich insurance company. (Are there poor insurance companies?)
We forgot to tell you: before she was the Florida Secretary of State, she was a Florida State Senator. During her time in the Florida Senate, she took the CEO of Riscorp around to “meet” other members of the Florida state legislature. That’s a polite way to say she helped the Riscorp CEO lobby her colleagues, which is a polite way of saying that she was the Riscorp CEO’s pimp. And she was sure paid like it. She received over $20,000 in campaign donations from a number of Riscorp employees who had been given bonuses specifically to enable their donations. Can you imagine getting that bonus from your boss?
RISCORP CEO: “Congratulations, and thanks for all your hard work here at Riscorp!”
EMPLOYEE: “Thank you so much! This check will go a long way towards helping me make that house payment, and the medicine my kid needs.”
RISCORP CEO: “Um, yeah, about that. There’s this state senator, see…”
That’d be a bummer, for sure. But we suppose, in a way, it was even more of a bummer for poor Katherine. Why, she had to return the money! At least she wasn’t the Riscorp CEO. He was convicted of some gnarly felony counts and did a bit of time in the slammer.
The Riscorp scandal affected Katherine so adversely that she was promoted by the people of Florida from State Senator to Secretary of State, the last elected Secretary of State in Florida.
There was also a mini-scandal, sort of, in 2004. Representative Harris was speaking in Venice, Florida and made the fairly alarming claim that a man of Middle Eastern descent had been arrested for attempting to blow up the power grid in Carmel, Indiana. The people of Venice were rightly alarmed. So were the people of Carmel, Indiana. But they were alarmed mostly because that never happened. That should really be embarrassing for her, but since she supported the issues of the Arab American Institute zero percent of the time from 2003 to 2004, it probably shouldn’t be too surprising.
She’s so immersed in the foul aroma of scandal, you almost forget that the woman has a record on, you know, actual issues.
The Representative Katherine Harris Issue-palooza Fest
How on earth can one woman be so wrong so much of the time and still be re-elected? How can she be wrong so much of the time and think that it’s okay to run for the U.S. Senate? It must be that, even though she’s a grossly conservative Republican, she has some sort of magical ability to fool enough of the people enough of the time (using a mechanism we call “lying”) to get ahead. But in fairness, it is difficult to pin these things down in terms of issues. We’ll try, anyway, for your benefit.
The biography of the Congresswoman on the House website reads, in part: Now serving her second term, Congresswoman Harris continues to build upon her progressive agenda, which includes the expansion of adequate and affordable housing opportunities for our workforce and low income Americans; the enhancement of homeland security; the creation of more higher paying jobs; the reform of America’s judicial system to better protect our children; and the strengthening of the Veterans Administration, Medicare, Social Security, and other federal programs upon which our seniors and our veterans depend.
It also says, interestingly: Congresswoman Harris has also sought to honor the service of the 13th District’s veterans – one of the largest populations of veterans in the nation – by working diligently to ensure that our nation keeps its promise to them.
First of all, if you didn’t stroke out after the words “progressive agenda,” then you’re doing pretty well. We think you’ll agree, there’s very little “progressive” about the Harris agenda. Let’s check in with our friends at the independent Project Vote Smart (visit the site here: link). We’ll also be checking with OnTheIssues (visit: here). Their mission, they say, is to provide non-partisan information for voters so that “votes can be based on issues rather than on personalities and popularity.” (The emphasis is, emphatically, ours.)
Let’s start with, as Representative Harris says, “federal programs upon which our seniors and our veterans depend.” According to the Project Vote Smart crew, from 2003 to 2004, she supported the interests of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees zero percent of the time. The Alliance for Retired Americans gave her a big ol’ zero, too. How about veterans? After all, she did take the time to point out that strengthening the Veterans Administration was part of her, you know, progressive agenda. Disabled Veterans of America gave her zero for 2004 as well as 2003. She supported the Retired Enlisted Association issues a resounding thirty-three percent for 2004. Vietnam Veterans of America: thirty-eight percent from 2003 to 2004. For someone who represents “one of the largest populations of veterans in the nation,” we find these rankings to be surprisingly lackluster, remarkably lackluster. Doesn’t that large population of veterans deserve better?
Now might be a good time to point out some demographic information about Florida’s 13th Congressional District. In Sarasota County – by far the largest part of the district – there are roughly a few more women than men, according to census data, about fifty-two percent to forty-seven percent. That’s roughly reflective of the national average. It’s nearly ninety-three percent white. The in-labor force (meaning the people who are currently working) is about fifty percent, but the national average is just about at sixty-four percent. The most important statistic (at least to make our point here): people over the age of 65. Nationally, it’s about twelve and a half percent. Sarasota County? Thirty-one and a half. So, what have we learned here? That the population, generally speaking, of the 13th District of Florida is white, retired, and old. We wonder just how many of them are familiar with their Congressional Representative’s record as indicated in our previous paragraph.
Back to the issues, then. One of the things you might deduce from our limited reporting of the census data is that this may be a conservative district. It surely is. Voter registration, last we checked, was something near two-to-one, Republican over Democrat. Still, like many places, they have their idiosyncratic pet issues, and the environment is one. These retirees love their shores, love their beautiful environment, and love their beachfront condos (and their beachfront condos alone). Business and development is a tricky issue in Florida, but most of the time, voters there are pretty interested in protecting their magnificent environment. So, how did the Congresswoman do with the environmental community?
In 2004, she supported the positions of the American Wilderness Coalition and the American Lands Alliance zero percent of the time. You might suggest to her credit that she voted for issues most important to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance zero percent of the time. Utah is a long way from Florida. From 2003 to 2004, she supported the interests of the League of Conservation Voters a paltry ten percent of the time.
Well, that sort of report card seems cause for concern if you represent a place of delicate environmental beauty like Florida. Somehow we don’t think Katherine is too upset right now. You might be wondering: If she is not a champion of Florida’s beautiful west coast beaches and waterways, just what exactly does she champion? What a good question. Give yourself a little gold star, or a smiley face. We’ll take this opportunity to remind you now that Katherine Harris used to be the “vice president of a commercial real estate firm.” (Would it really be too much to ask of her to just say she was a real estate agent?) That said, you will be totally not surprised at all to learn that Congresswoman Harris supported the interests of the League of Private Property Voters one-hundred percent in 2003. Screw the beaches. Build a home.
Anyone know what raw materials it takes to build a home today? Stone. Sand. Gravel. Thus, following our logic, you’ll also not be surprised to learn that she supported the issues of concern to the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (we know, we know – trust us, they’re real) seventy-nine percent of the time in 2004. How about an association with a less dorky name. The Associated Builders & Contractors gave her ninety percent from 2003 to 2004. The American Forest and Paper Association (remember, these are the paper producers, not so much on the forest) gave her a whopping one-hundred percent. She voted to support the positions of the National Association of Manufacturers ninety-five percent of the time. Back to funny names: the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors National Association has a friend in Harris and she supported their issues ninety percent of the time from 2003 to 2004. One-hundred percent from the Business-Industry Political Action Committee. According to OnTheIssues, she voted yes to speed up approval of forestry-thinning projects. By the way, you’ll never guess which group qualified as the second-largest giver to the Katherine Harris Campaign (the first was “retirees”). The header reads, “Real Estate.”
Well, let’s forget the environment (Katherine Harris obviously has). Perhaps she is the champion of something else. How about something less complicated, even, than Florida environmental politics. Something, big, something we can all understand and relate to. Crime and justice would work. According, again, to Congresswoman Harris’ website, she said she has “proposed legislation designed to take aggressive action against the repeat criminals who would use society’s second chances to commit acts of violence against our children. Entitled “Carlie’s Law,” this legislation expands the grounds for the mandatory revocation of probation to include violent crimes, explicitly defining any sexual abuse of a child as a “violent crime.” Carlie’s Law also creates a national registry of sexual predators. Congresswoman Harris continues to fight for measures that will protect children across America and throughout the world from the evil that stalks them, including horrific crimes like human trafficking and sexual slavery.”
That’s quite something. It sounds like Congresswoman Harris is a real leader on this important issue. Unfortunately for her, the OnTheIssues people have only four words to describe her stance not just on crime but on drugs, too: “No stance on record.” Oops. That’s not good news for someone who serves on the Speaker’s Task Force for a Drug-Free America. Project Vote Smart tells us that “Representative Harris supported the interests of the Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants forty percent in 2003-2004.” It is the only entry under the heading “Crime Issues.” That is a real shame, especially considering the fact that she really did sponsor the Carlie’s Law legislation, named after Carlie Brucia, the 11 year-old Sarasota girl who was kidnapped, brutally raped, and murdered.
Perhaps Florida’s Representative from the 13th Congressional District has focused her issues on gun safety, or on preventing guns from falling in to the wrong hands. No. She probably hasn’t. She voted yes on a measure that would prohibit you from suing gun manufacturers and gun sellers for misuse. According to OnTheIssues, the National Rifle Association gave her an “A” rating. Via Project Vote Smart, she supported their interests ninety-two percent of the time. How about the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence? She got a zero on their positions in 2003. Same thing from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Now on to some really fantastic, much less depressing issues. We suspect you’ll begin to piece together a fairly vivid picture of just who Katherine Harris really is. She supported the issues of the conservative National Taxpayers Union seventy-two percent of the time in 2004. In 2004, she helped the unbelievably named American Shareholders Association one-hundred percent of the time (You remember shareholders. They’re the ones that are rich.) Americans for Tax Reform, the outfit run by the socially outcast, functionally retarded, and absurdly conservative Grover Norquist – Mr. Drown-Government-In-The-Bathtub man – gave her one-hundred percent for 2004 via Project Vote Smart. The National Tax Limitation Committee – gee, I wonder what their deal is – was supported by the Robot Harris eighty-six percent of the time. Sometimes you’re just too weird, even for the weirdos. The John Birch Society (yes, they’re still around) was supported by Harris only thirty-eight percent of the time in 2003. But aren’t you pleased to know that by the end of 2004, she’d managed to get that up to fifty percent! Come on, Katherine! Let’s get to one-hundred percent with the absolute crazies.
You’d be hard pressed to find a more loathsome bitch than Phyllis Schlafly (sorry, Representative Harris). Her Eagle Forum was supported by Harris some seventy-eight percent of the time in 2004. The nutjobs at the Family Research Council had a friend in Harris some ninety-two percent of the time in 2004. The Christian Coalition felt the Harris love one-hundred percent of the time. The American Conservative Union (it really is better when they just come out and say it) had her ranked with their issues at ninety-two percent. Concerned Women for America got Harris on board one-hundred percent of the time.
You have to wonder how those Concerned Do-Gooder Women and the Family Eagle Good Time America Team or whatever the hell they’re called can be so far apart from other groups that really do advocate and push for family, education, and children’s issues. Apparently it was easy, though, for Congresswoman Harris. The National Parent Teacher Association (the PTA – they’re not just in Harper Valley anymore) discovered that Harris voted their preferred position zero percent of the time. The Children’s Defense Fund had their interests supported zero percent, too, from 2003 to 2004. The National Education Association gave her an anemic twenty percent in terms of their interests that she supported (their interests being “education”).
Finally, Harris makes a big stink in her biography about being on the House International Relations Committee, not to mention the Committee on Homeland Security. Well, that certainly suggests to us that she must be some sort of accomplished diplomat. It’s too bad the Arab American Institute got zip, nada, nothing from her in 2003 and 2004. OnTheIssues blesses us with those four magic words again: “No stance on record,” under the heading that says – no kidding – “Katherine Harris on Foreign Policy.” You can tell by the way that she doesn’t have a stance that she must be a real powerhouse on that committee. Did we miss anything in the, you know, international relations area? The Armenian National Committee of America got her to support them forty-six percent of the time in 2004. Hooray, Armenia! The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation got a remarkable thirty-three percent (credit where credit is due, we suppose). The Center for International Policy: zero. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: zero. Peace Action: zero. American Muslims for Jerusalem: seventeen percent. Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel: six percent.
Merci, Katherine Harris – vous rock notre monde.
We Fought Katherine Harris And All We Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.
Of course, Anne Lewis and the good folks at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have shown their outrage at Harris’ bid for the U.S. Senate by asking for seventy-five dollars:
[T]his is the same Katherine Harris who was Florida’s Secretary of State during the 2000 election debacle and was simultaneously co-chair of George Bush’s Florida campaign. It’s the same Katherine Harris who ordered the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of voters - mostly African Americans and Latinos - simply because their names or birthdays were conveniently similar to that of a convicted felon.
Mad yet? Then you’ll want to help the DSCC beat Katherine Harris and her ideological allies running for Senate all over the country in 2006. Click here to make a secure contribution of $75 or more today. (We suppose if this has somehow actually raised your ire, you can donate at the site, visit: here)
Patrick O’Connor reported:
Even though the district leans Republican, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) will keep a close eye on this race.
“The open seat created by Rep. Katherine Harris’s decision to run for the Senate presents a key opportunity for Democrats,” said Adrienne Elrod, a spokesperson for the DCCC.
Adrienne, as it happens, is a friend of ours – we know Adrienne. Please, Adrienne, really do keep an eye on that seat. I think the people of the 13th District deserve it after two terms with Katherine Harris.
Well, you might say, you smug Spencerian Editor People, it sure looks like the DSCC is doing something and it looks like Adrienne and the DCCC are on the case. Why don’t YOU do something about it, besides take up massive space on this site?
The answer is simple.
We already did.
In 2002, your editors were in the 13th Congressional District of Florida working for Jan Schneider, the woman who would become the Democratic nominee against Harris in the general election. In fact, your editors met on that campaign. We fell in love on that campaign. And next year we’ll get married (visit our site here: link).
One of us was managing that difficult campaign for Schneider. We thought that perhaps Al Gore – the guy who Harris gypped out of the presidency – might come down and rally Democrats to Jan’s side. We thought maybe the Democratic National Committee would send down a truckload of money. After all, only two years prior, Harris had been the very poster child for acts of Republican evil. Instead, we were told that our district wasn’t “targeted.” Well, you’d think that if they weren’t going to target the district, they’d at least target Harris. Apparently not. The Florida Democratic Party gave us much the same nonsense. We were told that there were other, better races to invest in. We were told again and again that the district was too conservative and that investing in a Democrat in that district was unwise. No one ever bothered to explain to us why giving Katherine Harris a free pass to the U.S. House of Representatives was a better investment. And now someone has to explain that to Senator Bill Nelson.
Wouldn’t you hate to be the poor staffer who has to explain the improbable rise of Katherine Harris to Senator Nelson? We’re so sorry, Senator – no one ever thought the investment to beat Katherine Harris in 2002 or 2004 was really worth it. Fight, Bill Nelson, fight hard and keep that Senate seat. (visit his site here: link) But if our experience is any indication, it’s sure going to be a lonely fight for you, sir. Sorry about that.
In 2002, Harris beat Schneider by 24,323 votes – 138,952 to 114,629 (that’s 55% to 45%, for those of you who like percentages). Schneider was the nominee again in 2004, and Harris beat her again by roughly the same margin. There were other races that were, in fact, targeted that lost on election night 2002. Bill McBride, who was expected to give Florida Governor Jeb Bush a run for his money, lost pretty handily. Democrats lost some House seats nationwide, too.
At one point, we took advantage of a special opportunity to lobby Bill Clinton’s current Chief of Staff, and former Chief of Staff to then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Maggie Williams. It turns out that Jan went to Yale Law School with the Clintons. When we explained exactly what it is we would be doing in Florida, the response – in fact, all we got, ever – from Ms. Williams was: “You sure are doing the Lord’s work.” The Lord’s work, indeed. The thing about the Lord’s work is that you know it will be hard. But nobody ever tells you just exactly how lonely it will be.
We worked with local volunteers, and a couple of the smartest students around (from New College), and a fairly fractured local Democratic committee to try and piece together a campaign not just against the despicable Katherine Harris, but for the people of the 13th Congressional District in Florida. We thought they deserved it. In August, another campaign in another state called, and your editorial team was apart for some time.
We sort of think of Harris’ 2002 victory as one of the death knells, maybe the death knell, of the Democratic Party we believed in. The party of barnstorming activists, the vocal party that banded together to stand on the mountaintop and call for justice and fairness and equality. The party that would never stand for the unquestioned promotion of the likes of Katherine Harris (or even, we must point out, the re-election of a George W. Bush). Instead, we found the beautiful west coast of Florida to be virtually desolate, an isolated place, devoid of helping-hand Democrats, devoid of fair-minded activists, or even on anyone who could take half a glance at Katherine Harris and recognize that she was not only not a good public servant, but a despicable self-promoting machine of unimaginable ambition and a loathsome programmed robot of an increasingly conservative, out-of-the-mainstream Republican Party.
Bess Myerson said, “The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.” Wise words, and from a former Miss America, no less. We agree with her, strongly. Democratic indifference has served as an accomplice to the crime of electing Katherine Harris again and again and again. It’s a pretty safe bet that indifference will do the same thing to that Senate seat in Florida in 2006. ts
Yes, I have a comment. While looking for some other subject on the internet I accidentally came across this blog. I must say I am duly impressed. I had no idea that Ms. Harris was such a rotten-to-the-core rascal.
I am re-educated after reading part of the post. Part, because I surely couldn't stand to read all of it. My brain can only tolerate a small amount of liberal, ignorant,sleazy bullshit, so I quickly scanned the most scathing parts and decided to post a comment. Dude, you need a life, cause you surely do got too much free time.
TahTah.
Posted by: David L. Reese | July 07, 2005 at 03:11 PM
You know what, David L. Reese? You're probably right. We done surely do got them there too much free time.
All kidding aside, thanks for your delightfully mean-spirited post, demonstrating with great effectiveness almost everything that’s wrong with conservatives in about one hundred words. We are particularly pleased at how you finished your last sentence with what can only be called a grammatical nightmare, but then bothered to sign off with the uppity “TahTah,” of all things. It is fantastically entertaining work, David L. Reese. Of course, we can’t forget our favorite part: that you are “re-educated” after reading only “part of the post”! Finally, the long awaited confirmation that our writing is *just that good.* You naysayers of The Spencerian, take note! David L. Reese was re-educated after just a partial reading! Think where he’d be had he bothered to read the whole thing.
Finally, David L. Reese, we realize that you came across The Spencerian’s comments on Representative Katherine Harris purely by accident while “looking for some other subject on the internet.” You may as well quit looking now, because believe us: there are just NO naked pictures of Katherine Harris out there.
We sign off with the trustworthy if tired,
Sincerely,
The Editors
Posted by: The Editors | July 07, 2005 at 04:10 PM
I really enjoyed reading that.
Posted by: Matthew | July 15, 2005 at 08:12 PM
Dude, you DO need a life, but that was already said, Tahhhh, tahhh, Ta. Drum roll, please, by another David L. Reese.
While searching the internet to check on my obituary (to see if it was there, you know) my name (well, not actually MY name, as I find there are dozens of us in the country) showed up in your blog. Really makes you feel kinda weird to see yourself getting tagged for saying something you didn't say......but which someone with your name did, oh well, never mind.
Anyway, you were doing pretty good there until you got to Riscorp and there, dude, you showed yourself to be misinformed (or full of shit, whichever) because Bill G. never (no, not Gates, dumbass, Griffin) spent a day in jail. He signed all of the liquor stores he had bought with the money he stole from Riscorp into his wife's name and walked away free as a bird. You know, dude, like the cat who got caught with 30 lbs of blow in his briefcase in Seattle and never spent a day in the slammer, yeah, DeLorean, he of the stainless steel, Irish car.
Friend Bill lives in a mansion (he owns several around the world) and lives like a king. Not bad for a guy who started out not too many years ago selling insurance as an agent.
And Katherine is NOT a stooge. Flunky perhaps, but not stooge, that is a slam against Mo and his boys.
And do you think Ol' Ben would have done anything the least underhanded? Nahh. He was one of the Florida good old boys. And everyone knows they are all gone. Tee Hee.
Who the hell runs this state, you think? Certainly not the nouvo riche, pain in the ass, Johnny's came lately who think they do. They get to swagger and look cute in their New York City clothes at the galas in Tampa and Sarasota, but the crackers still run things. Take a look at the way we pass laws around here. Liberal, New York City rich folks don't pack pistols and kill bad guys who break into their homes, nor electrocute criminals (damn stupid, using painless needles; dude, can you tell me why they swab some asshole's arm before they put in the i.v. through which they are gonna pump the potassium chloride with which they are gonna kill the sucker????). Nah, we crackers are the ones who shoot folks who try to rob us and that sort of thing.
But, back to Kathy girl. She ain't got a prayer of beating good old Bill, cause Mr. Nelson is an honest, decent man. Seriously. But, then, again, Katherine knows how to work with Florida good old boys when you need something taken care of, so who knows, huh? Wink..
But, you bein' a liberal Democrat, you wouldn't know anything about how things really get done, now would you? But, I suspect you really cooked Kathy's goose with all your knowledgeable rhetoric. I did appreciate the quote from Ben, though. In fact, I sent it out to a whole passel of folks. Really did. And the next time you Liberal assholes try to disarm us crackers, remember what Ben said, oh, yeah, remember, we'uns got the guns, fools.
Posted by: David L. Reese | May 22, 2006 at 01:44 AM
Oh, I forgot to say that I really will vote for Bill Nelson, who I think really IS a decent, honest man. Katherine Harris IS a flunkie of the Republicans, but the idea she could throw the 2000 election is pure bullshit. Al Gore did that.
If the Democrats (yeah, I know, my grammar sucks) don't get their heads out of wherever they have them stuck and put some intelligent semblance of a legitimate candidate or forty up for elections (John Kerry, for crying out loud) then we are gonna have more of the Katherines in office. Along with idiots like Georgie boy. And, here you thought I was pro Bush and all that stuff, dude.
Posted by: David L. Reese | May 22, 2006 at 01:52 AM
OK, so here's the deal: When Katey girl was backstabbing her family during the BHG III trial, I was a court reporter. I witnessed her slimy, water-mocassin antics front and center. Anybody - conservative, liberal, whatever - who would sit in the witness seat and point a Cruella DeVille-styled finger at their own flesh and blood to weasle their way out of trouble bears no place in our government. Having said that, let's not forget the Kennedies of this world, nor the other big political families from other regions who so quickly sold out their own. It isn't just a Republican thing, in other words; it's a slimeball thing. As for who did what in the 2000 vote, I'll leave that to you poor, bitter, desperate devils who have nothing better to do than continue playing the blame game after all this time. Here's a hankie; cry me a river.
Posted by: Fla Native | June 08, 2006 at 09:07 AM
As a member of the John Birch Sociey, I take issue with your statements that the JBS supported Katherine Harris 38 percent of the time. For your information, we are a non-partisan, non-political organization, and do not support candidates.
To clarify, our flagship magazine, The New American, issues a 'Conservative Index' 3 times a year. This is where we rate each Congressman or Congresswoman 3 times a year, based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglemements. In the October 30th, 2006 issue Katherine Harris was listed in the 109th Congress as having an overall rating of 25%. This was the third for the year.
By the way, she voted for every unconstitutional trade agreement which came up for a vote.
Posted by: Maddy | March 11, 2007 at 08:01 PM