Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Republicans: the ultimate fair weather friends

Remember Katherine Harris? The darling of the Florida Republican Party. The woman who handed the White House to George Bush.

Oh, yeah. THAT Katherine Harris. Now Congresswoman Katherine Harris. And little more than a month ago, buoyed by their sweep of southern Senate seats last year and her demonstrated ability to raise funds nationwide, the far right was all jacked up about her running for the United States Senate against Senator Bill Nelson. Their own rock star, about to get a starring role in Washington. So when she announced that she would indeed run, Republicans were quick to get behind her.

Only one problem. Early polls show that she is running behind Senator Nelson.

Now, this is August, mind you. August 2005, more than a year before the election. Anybody will tell you that a great deal can happen in that time to completely reshape a race. And it is rare this early on for any challenger to be running close to an incumbent. And with Harris' proven vote-getting ability, it should be nothing to get upset about, right?

Well, not if you are a Florida Republican. Today we learn that Republicans are recruiting right wing TV jock Joe Scarborough to challenge Harris in the Republican primary.

Maybe it's because they know that next year will not be a good year to be a Republican unless a miracle happens in Iraq and at the gas pump.

Maybe it's only because they know that George Bush's administration has been a disaster, and Harris, more than any other single candidate for office next year, is responsible for giving us this mess.

Maybe it's because the same 'chicken hawks' who are willing to send our troops into a place they weren't willing to go themselves, are now turning into cowards at the idea that they might lose, and there will be no 'Katherine Harris' working behind the scenes to swipe the election if their candidate out in front IS Katherine Harris.

Whatever the reason, Katherine Harris is finding out that if you are a Republican who is behind in a poll, your friends start to bail as soon as it gets a little cloudy.

1 comment:

shrimplate said...

Sounds like a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of thing. Maybe we can politically dispose of both Cruella and Scar-boy-with-the-dead-intern in one election.

Pass the popcorn.