Katherine Harris has become GOP 'pariah'

[Veronica.Franco]

NYT Weds: Katherine Harris has become GOP 'pariah'

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday June 6, 2006



Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) has finally made the front page of the New York Times, RAW STORY has learned, and it doesn't look good.

"Undaunted by a run of horrific poll numbers, staff turmoil and public doubts from leaders of her own party about her ability to win election to the Senate, Rep. Katherine Harris is thinking confidently beyond November," the Times' Mark Leibovich will report on Wednesday front pages.

"Harris is the former Florida secretary of state who is best -- or worst -- remembered for her role during the state's election recount of 2000. The incumbent Democrat, Bill Nelson, leads Harris by upwards of 30 points in recent polls. In her insistence on running anyway, Harris has become something of a pariah among many of the people whose power she indirectly helped ensure six years ago."

DEVELOPING....

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/NYT_Weds_Katherine_Harris_has_become_0606.html

[Canuckistanian]

1. Why has she become this pariah?

The Repubs will snuggle up to the ugliest human biengs you could imagine if their ideology is in agreement with theirs.

And KH did them a HUGE favor with the voter rolls. Probably one of a half dozen people who made the Dubya presidency possible.

So, why the shunning? I don't get it.

[ThomCat]

4. Because she's now a liability.

Too many people hate her, and she seems to encourage that hatred with over-the-top behavior. If she had any value to them they would ignore everything else, but once you provide no benefit they have no use for you.

The fact that she helped them in the past is irrelevant. Would you expect loyalty from this bunch? They demand it, but don't provide it.

[Pale Blue Dot]

7. ...and she's a woman.

I'm sure that doesn't hurt.

[ThomCat]

39. If she was a woman with a following I'm sure

they would be promoting her and using her. But she's a woman who is being ridiculed.

I'm sure that her being a woman is part of the reason her career is crumbling so easily. There is a huge amount of sexism out there. But despite that, she'd still have their support if she had Hillary's level of public support.

[formactv]

11. What have you done for me lately?

[Orsino]

41. Discarded tool.

When you've electrified your house, you can throw away your oil lanterns and candles.

[LeighAnn]

42. Just another Chalabi

Personally I think it's all an act... to distance herself from the Bushes so that people that hate Bush won't hate her so much... kind of like the way the US "turned" on Ahmed Chalabi, making it seem like he was on the outs with dubya so as to make him more appealing to the Iraqis.

I'm not buying one single bit of it.

[Olney Blue]

5. Bad makeup. It's an embarrassment to the GOP.

[roguevalley]

15. she believes that god will help her because he wants her to win.

[Canuckistanian]

35. So Rove doesn't want God muscling in on his turf?

That would make sense, in a bad acid trip sort of way.

[BillZBubb]

29. Bad makeup can't be it.

Matalin, Rice, Hughes, etc. etc. Seems more a common trait than a liability for repukes.

[Benhurst]

14. The Bush Crime Family demands loyalty, but gives none. NT

[TomClash]

38. She was already paid back with a House seat nt

[truthisfreedom]

2. "and it doesn't look good..." bwahahahahahaha. "it puts the lotion on its

body."

[LearnedHand]

27. Omigod! That line SO creeps me out!

(one of my favorite films...)

[Tom Joad]

3. Pariah? You mean like Bush?

[Rex]

6. Couldn't happen to a better asshole IMO.

nt

[Judi Lynn]

8. Is it because she got greedy and wasn't content to remain a junior

Congressperson for another term or two before making the leap to run for the Senate?

Is it because she took her moment of glory, when both the Florida House and Senate had a joint meeting for her right after she threw the election to _Bush and gave her a standing ovation with armloads of roses, too personally?

I hope she won't let them push her around like this. I hope she wants revenge. Big time! Go get'em, Katherine.

[AndyTiedye]

31. SING! I Want To Hear Them Shrubbie-Done-Me-Wrong-Blues! Sing It!

[raccoon]

44. Well said! That thought crossed my mind too. nt

[Captain Hilts]

9. My boss refused to be her pollster and that was 2001.

Yes, it was - and is - a Republican polling firm.

[Olney Blue]

16. You probably have some interesting stories to tell!

:)

[fshrink]

10. She thought that her illegal actions

were going to propel her to the top. Wrong. She's just a tool that's supposed to stay on the rack until next time. Her advising has been extremely poor.

[iconoclastic cat]

21. Heh...heh...you said, "rack"...heh....

[NastyRiffraff]

12. Didn't work, did it, Katherine

All you had to do was use you office as Sec. of State in Florida, to help elect Bush, using that office to (yes, you knew that) tell the voters of Florida to just fuck off.

Yes, it got you into the House. Now, you think you call up your chips with THESE people? And they're dropping you like stinking landfill.

You live and learn. Or you don't live long, Katherine. Your political career is over, and you can thank your Republican friends, whom you helped getting Bush into the White House. They used you when it mattered to them. Now, you're an embarrasment. And you're gone.

[Jacobin]

13. Damn. How bad do you have to be to get kicked out of

the forking republican party these days?

WTF do they know that we don't?

I thought she was just an average looney compared to kay bailey Hutchinson, Rick Sanctimonious, et al

:shrug:

[UpInArms]

28. ummm... ask Ken Lay and Jack Abramoff ... eom

:hi:

[Olney Blue]

17. Found an article about her unusually high staff turnover.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051128/NEWS/511280339




She's looks like a disaster.

[NJCher]

43. that article probably nails it

She's a micromanager. Nothing worse.

But her turnover rate is so rare it prompted longtime GOP consultant Rick Wilson to describe it as "chewing through staff like an industrial wood chipper."

Harris' former staffers give her mixed reviews, saying she is personable and engaging, but also complaining that she micromanages them and that communication breakdowns in the office happened too often.

Harris failed to tell her congressional staff that she planned to run for U.S. Senate before she announced it to the media.

That shows her respect and regard for her staff: that she failed to tell them she was running for Senate. To me, that just says it all. The staff is there not for consultation or support: they are there as minions. No self-respecting adult would stay in a situation like that.




Cher

[emulatorloo]

18. TIME TO TELL ALL, KATHERINE HARRIS

I know you kept good notes and all the documents. . .LET IT ALL GO.

[meow2u3]

19. Bushco used her to get into office

Now they don't need her anymore, so they threw her in the can like the trash she is.

[Thor_MN]

20. They called the witch pariah

Away out here they got a name
For brain and witch and liar
The brain is Rove, the liar Snow,
And they called the witch pariah

[Raster]

30. Nice one. very nice.

[ladywnch]

49. Bravo! Hope to see you on the Great White Way someday! LOL

[onehandle]

22. American Pariah.

She's a joke.

[msongs]

23. let's hope she will SPILL the beans on the gop to get even nt

[cstruthers]

33. How do you think the Bush clan will deal with Katherine Harris

Katherine Harris should be worried about flying on private airplanes. It seems that whenever someone threatens the Bush families strangle hold on power they tend to become involved in mysterious airplane accidents. When I first saw the article about her meeting GWB’s plane with Jebby Bush a few month’s back I first thought “well there is another plane wreck waiting to happen.” These “evil doers” called the Bush’s are very bad people and should always be treated as such.

[jerry611]

36. Hell, I'd hide under the bed!

Not only did she probably break the law, but if she even dares to "spill the beans" she may end up in a very unfortunate accident.

[GodlessBiker]

46. Fall on the sword, perhaps, and tell all?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. Payoff= One House term.

:cheap:

[Patsy Stone]

25. And you say that like it's a bad thing. :) n/t

[americanstranger]

26. I thought that said she'd become a 'piranha.'

Then I remembered she was one of those already.

Poor Busty. She's now officially the Crazy Aunt of the GOP.

- as

[Veronica.Franco]

32. Senate Contender in Florida Presses On ... ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE ...

Senate Contender in Florida Presses On
E-MailPrint Single Page Reprints Save

By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: June 7, 2006
VENICE, Fla. — Undaunted by a run of horrific poll numbers, staff turmoil and public doubts from leaders of her party, Representative Katherine Harris is thinking confidently beyond November.

Skip to next paragraph

Chip Litherland for The New York Times
Representative Katherine Harris, a Republican, with Fred DiMasi, a World War II veteran, at a Memorial Day event in Sarasota, Fla.


Chip Litherland for The New York Times
Katherine Harris, who plans to participate in a program to train guide dogs, greeted Lucy, a poodle from Sarasota, on Memorial Day.
Once Ms. Harris wins her race for a Senate seat, she says, she plans to travel everywhere with a guide dog.

"Before I hire anyone to work for me in the Senate, I tell them I'm going to do this," said Ms. Harris, the former Florida secretary of state best — or worst — remembered for her role in the state's election recount of 2000.

Ms. Harris explains that she intends to participate in a program that provides guide dogs for volunteers to train. While cynics may assign unflattering symbolism to a politician who is not blind being led around the Capitol by a guide dog, Ms. Harris is undeterred — by this or by the perception that her role in 2000 makes her too divisive to lure the swing voters necessary to defeat the incumbent Democrat, Bill Nelson.

In her insistence on running, Ms. Harris has become something of a pariah among many of the people whose power she indirectly helped ensure five and a half years ago, as overseer of the recount that sealed George W. Bush's victory.

Top White House officials, Republican operatives and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida have urged her not to run. When Ms. Harris ignored those entreaties, a Who's Who of national Republicans begged a Who's Who of Florida Republicans to oppose her in the primary, to no avail.

Her campaign has been marked by aides leaving en masse, disclosures of her ties to a contractor caught up in a lobbying scandal and the fund-raising handicaps inherent to any enterprise perceived as a lost cause or, worse, a joke.

Ed Rollins, one of Ms. Harris's many former campaign consultants, claimed she had told him that God wanted her to stay in the race. (Ms. Harris denies making the statement.)

She promised to finance her campaign with $10 million of her own money. Popular wisdom says that will not matter. Mr. Nelson led Ms. Harris by more than 30 points in recent polls.

"She has absolutely no chance of winning," said former Representative Joe Scarborough, a Pensacola Republican who was courted strongly by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to oppose Ms. Harris but declined. Mr. Scarborough, the host of "Scarborough Country" on MSNBC, said Ms. Harris "seems to be detached from reality these days."

Because of her role in the 2000 recount, Ms. Harris still enjoys devotion from many Florida Republicans, enough to make her the likely winner over three little-known opponents for her party's nomination. Her supporters applaud avidly at Republican events and cannot understand her sudden unpopularity among party leaders.

"She acted exactly the way the Republicans wanted her to act," said Stanley Tate, a Miami businessman who serves as her campaign's finance chairman. Mr. Tate said he was "completely confused" by the party establishment's snubbing of Ms. Harris. He tells of a recent Republican dinner in Miami where Ms. Harris received a standing ovation from the crowd yet was not acknowledged in a speech by Governor Bush.

On Memorial Day, Ms. Harris rode in a parade and visited two Veterans of Foreign Wars halls and one American Legion post, and was not audibly jeered or heckled by anyone, a fact that surprises even her, "based on the press I get."

Between stops, Ms. Harris portrays herself as something of a populist under siege from "Washington Republicans" and a liberal news media. "I don't have the Beltway mentality," she said. "And I never go along to get along. So I think it's a little threatening to those in power."

She said that given the difficult environment for incumbent Republicans in November, it could be an asset to be perceived as a nonfavorite of the party establishment.

"O.K., so President Bush does not support her," said Representative John L. Mica, a Florida Republican who is close to Ms. Harris. "President Bush is at 30 percent." Mr. Mica added that Ms. Harris was previously criticized for being "a tool of the Bushes," which should not be a problem anymore.

Even so, the role of anti-establishment figure is unusual for Ms. Harris, the product of a well-to-do Central Florida family and a granddaughter of a cattle and citrus baron. She became a well-known socialite in the Sarasota area and has long been active in the state's Republican Party. She is married to a Swedish businessman, Anders Ebbeson, and they have listed assets of as much as $37 million.

In Congress, Ms. Harris has been a reliable ally of the Bush administration on issues like tax cuts, Iraq and opposition to same-sex marriage. She has done little in her three-and-a-half-year tenure to win notice beyond her district — one exception being a speech in which she spoke of a foiled terrorist plot against the city of Carmel, Ind. (Federal officials said the plot never existed; Ms. Harris later said she had heard of it secondhand.)

The belief among top Republicans was that Ms. Harris's presence in 2006 would galvanize Democrats still eager for revenge after 2000.

"The campaign can't be about her," Governor Bush told reporters last month. "I gave her that exact advice. Since then, it's gotten worse."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/washington/07harris.html?ex=1307332800&en=ad13f16b5a186d3c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[cliss]

34. Don't forget -

this is a little gal with a BIG sense of entitlement. The Repubs OWE her for everything she did.

Damn it, they'd better support her, or she might just hire a ghost writer and.....

For the longest time, I thought she might do a little blabbing. But now, it looks like THEY might decide to do some Kiss and Tell...

[JackDragna]

37. I can't see how.

She's such a niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice lady.

[Orsino]

40. It could only happen to a nicer person. n/t

[tinfoilinfor2005]

45. :Getting word out about how liberal Bill Nelson is."

Number one: That's not true. Nelson is one of the least liberal dems in the Senate. Wish it WERE true.
Number two: Don't you love it when repugs run on only one thing: "That Dirty Word: Liberal!"?

[Bake]

47. What??? No post with a shot of The Twins???

Dammit, we want to see Spunk and Moxie!! We cannot have a thread about Harris without a shot of the Twins!

Bake

[jmowreader]

48. I'll tell you exactly what the problem is

Forget all the conjecture about Ms. Harris' vote-rigging history, her ability to apply makeup (which, admittedly, has improved greatly since someone sat her down and told her that you can't win an election if you do your makeup with a roller), whatever.

It comes down to simple reality: the Florida GOP wants to send a "pure" all-Republican delegation to Washington, and Bill Nelson is going to beat Katherine Harris by double digits. They are attempting to piss her off enough that she leaves the race so they can install someone who might actually win, but all they're doing is stiffening her resolve.

I'm gonna agree with the person who said she should stay out of small airplanes for the next six or seven years.