I was going to write a facetious column for April Fool’s Day, but deep thinker that I am, I couldn’t think of anything better than boring you with 2,500 words of scurrilous diatribe about how I’m damn well switching political allegiance to the Democrat party because it is more consistent with my political ideology than is the Republican party anymore. Hell, there’s actually some truth in that. However, that’s a column for another day. Instead, for the topic of today’s non-joke column, I’ve chosen Katherine Harris as Fool of the Year.
I won’t dignify the lib-duh-ral postulate that then Florida Secretary of State Harris threw the 2000 election to George W. Bush with more than a passing comment here. That isn’t my beef with Harris.
My beef with her is that she is a stubborn egotist, who is willing to go down in flames in hot pursuit of personal ambition, while screwing the rest of us in the ass.
Up against incumbent U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, she never had a chance. Nelson is pretty popular in the State of Florida, not only with Democrats. Nelson is a long-time politician, who was my congressman when I first got to Florida many, many years ago. In his district, consisting of parts of Brevard and Orange counties, the Republicans were never able to produce a viable candidate to run against him for the U.S. House of Representatives. Thus, even I, staunch Republican/Libertarian/whateverthehellelseIam, voted for Bill Nelson.
Although Nelson has somewhat substantially succumbed to the anti-administration bullshit of the Democrat Beltway powers that be in D.C., he’s still a cracker Democrat underneath it all. Cracker Democrats are significantly different from Northeast Liberal Democrats—they’re earthy, not spoiled filthy rich, and they actually care about people and business instead of merely paying lip service to them. Out of the mold of Claude Pepper came Bill Nelson, but I digress…
The subject here is Katherine Harris, who has defied her own party by running against Nelson. Now, her campaign is “imploding,” as most of her staffers have jumped off the sinking ship. The Orlando Sentinel reported this morning:
Harris, who is running against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, is likely to lose her chief political strategist, her campaign manager, her spokeswoman, her director of field operations and even a traveling aide who helps hand out stickers at campaign appearances.
Harris has little support from the state Republican machine. Her staffers are are abandoning her. The polls show Nelson winning easily. Yet, Harris persists. She has already ruined Republican chances to gain a seat in the Senate. What blind-ass personal ambition drives her?
I wish Ed Rollins, Harris’ chief political strategist who is expected to resign this weekend, would open up his mouth about what motivates this woman, because her persistence is a mystery to me. It transcends bravery, crossing over into the realm of foolishly stubborn stupidity. And that characterization doesn’t even touch her contempt for those who told her not to run. What could she be thinking?
Come November, I will write in Donald Duck rather than cast my precious vote for Katherine Harris. I propose that she give up on this ridiculous pipe dream.
In the unlikely event that happens, there is only one man in Florida who could enter the race at this late stage and mount a successful campaign against Bill Nelson. Although he is apparently not interested, I can have my pipe dreams, too.
Anyone for a Draft Jeb movement?
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Patricia Madden says
Maybe all that Botox has poisoned her brain!
The Nittany Turkey says
Jeez, Red…
Pete Hallman says
This one truly is a puzzler. The last time she was in the spotlight (trying to uphold Fla.’s election laws despite the state’s Supreme Court) she was absolutely savaged by the press, for everything from her makeup to accusing her of ‘handing’ an election to a candidate. Why she’d jump back into a similar situation is beyond me; I don’t think I’d have the stones for it.
I will give her this much: she’s apparently willing to risk one hell of a lot of her own money for her convictions. Foolish and misguided? Perhaps. But seeing someone stand up and put their (own) money where their mouth is isn’t something we see much of anymore. Unfortunately.
The Nittany Turkey says
I agree that if she’s willing to dump $10 million of her own money into this flagging campaign, she’s got some cojones. But unless her new staff can unearth some major flaw in Nelson’s character, I think she’s throwing the money away. The mainstream media continues to ravage her and if the dearth of outside contributions is an indication, she has little grass roots support. A recent Mason-Dixon poll had her at 35 percent to Nelson’s 51. Furthermore, enough Republican bigwigs tried to talk her out of running to indicate that there is almost no support for her at the top. For her to throw this much of her personal financial and emotional capital into the campaign suggests any of three things: 1) the net return on investment in a senate seat is quite large, 2) she is driven by some other motivation than money, call it blind ambition, or 3) she is crazy.
A senator’s annual salary is $162,000. Putting up $10 million to get back a little less than a million over the six-year term seems like a bad investment, unless the “fringe benefits” amount to about $1.5 million per year. If by some remote happenstance she is elected, she’ll be investing (spending) MY money. I hope to hell she does so more rationally.
Some of the words that have escaped her camp suggest that she wants to run her own campaign rather than hand the reins to her staff. Why she would hire Ed Rollins if she had no intention of letting him devise the strategy is far beyond my comprehension. Perhaps she just wanted the name recognition of having a top Reagan advisor on the staff?
I wish I knew what makes her tick. She’s an enigma alright, and her campaign reminds me of Paula Hawkins’ unsuccessful 1986 effort. But what do I know? I’m just a Turkey with an opinion on everything!