Good Lord, we were going to take the high road and let Kitty Harris kind of fade off in to a necessary oblivion with as much dignity as she could muster. Just let her corral whatever sense of decency she might have had left over after this humiliating campaign and never be heard from again. Maybe she'd take off with her husband -- who creeps us out, by the way -- Anders, back to his home country somewhere in Europe.
Well, we gave her the out, but she's still plugging along. And now it's obvious the dementia has gotten the best of her. Here's the headline from one of her most recent press statements:
Harris Beats Nelson -- Leads 54% to 45%
Yes, she's managed to finally round the bend and totally fool herself. It's tragic, in a humanitarian sort of way.
The first line of her statement sort of tells the whole story, really:
Congresswoman Katherine Harris, the Republican
candidate for the United States Senate, soundly defeated Bill Nelson
this evening by a 54% to 45% margin in the straw poll conducted at the
Lakeland Bi-Annual Politics in the Park.
Well, problem Number One is that it's a straw poll. And to vote in the Lakeland Bi-Annual Politics in the Park straw poll, you have to first pony up twenty-five bucks. And, not incidentally, here, does anyone really think that something with the words "Politics in the Park" can possibly taken seriously? It's probably sandwiched in between the Johnson-Bettison Family Reunion Picnic and the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce Division Five Softball Playoffs.
Well, the Lakeland Ledger was having none of it, anyway. Mr. Bill Rufty decided to call her out on it:
One of the biggest frustrations for public opinion pollsters and academics dealing with applied statistics is the misuse of and sometimes downright bending of the truth when it comes to poll results, especially by politicians.
Readers of poll stories then begin to doubt scientific polls and blame pollsters, writers, everybody, it seems, but the people who purposefully distort the numbers.
Well, that's the truth. And then Mr. Rufty finally reveals the two paragraphs that must've really gotten under his skin:
The truth is you couldn't vote at Politics in the Park unless you paid
$25. The Ledger even ran a picture of Harris helping a six-year-old
vote in the straw ballot.
Recent, scientifically-conducted polls
show that among most likely voters in Florida, Nelson still leads
Harris by double digits.
Yeah. The key words there being "scientifically-conducted."
Although it's intriguing to learn that Katherine Harris is for allowing children to vote. Maybe that could be her new campaign slogan: Give Kids The Vote!
Don't worry, Kitty -- just a little under four weeks, and your oblivion awaits. ts
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