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Katherine Harris, an inflexible Bush hack?

Katherine Harris, an inflexible Bush hack. In her Primetime Thursday interview with the Florida Secretary of State, ABC’s Diane Sawyer pressed her: "Is it possible that Al Gore did win this election?" Sawyer complained: "From Day One she seemed completely inflexible, insisting on the narrow letter of the law. She enforced strict deadlines even when one county asked for just two hours more."

The top of the January 11 show started with Sawyer suggesting: "Do you think you won this election for George Bush?"

Sawyer soon portrayed Harris as the impediment to the truth: "As everyone knows, George Bush was ahead by only a few hundred votes. At the request of Al Gore some counties were launching hand recounts which were gaining votes for him. So what did she do? Well from Day One she seemed completely inflexible, insisting on the narrow letter of the law. She enforced strict deadlines even when one county asked for just two hours more. And she tried to block the hand recount of those punched but disputed ballots. The Bush team was thrilled, the Gore team was outraged."

Sawyer presented the Gore case: "Did it worry you that for two hours it would look like an extremely rigid thing you were doing." Harris explained that the county, apparently Palm Beach but never said, took not two hours but days more to determine its final count.

Returning to her original theme, Sawyer soon tried again to get Harris to admit Gore really won: "But given the uncertainties is it possible that Al Gore did win this election?" Harris: "You know I can’t speculate. I have no idea." Sawyer: "Is it possible? Possible?" Harris: "Anything’s possible in this. I can’t say it is or not. I mean there’s simply no way I can know. Many times there were statisticians on both sides. One said that based on their early counts of the precincts in highly Democratic areas, at the end of the day Al Gore would not have won..."

Sawyer then reminded viewers of how the Florida Supreme Court overruled Harris and Sawyer asked Harris to defend herself against their finding that she had "summarily disenfranchised innocent electors."

Moving on to ridicule of her, Sawyer noted how Democratic partisans like Paul Begala called her "Cruella de Vil" and showed some clips of Jay Leno and David Letterman making fun of her heavy make-up.

After a rundown of her family background and political career, Sawyer wondered about pressure from Austin and the Bush camp. Harris denied any, but Sawyer wasn’t satisfied: "Jeb Bush recused himself. Do you think that maybe there should be some rule by which, in a situation like this, somebody completely from the outside is brought in?" Harris: "Absolutely not. The people of Florida elected me to serve as their chief elections officer." Sawyer: "But even if you are Gandhi himself, you’ve got to be worried at some level that this thing is starting to roll toward Gore." Harris: "If you’re Diane Sawyer or Mahatma Gandhi you have to follow the law. You can have your preferences, but you’re not going to do something illegal or go around the law."

Sawyer next brought up how Harris received death threats and had to deal with very negative attacks on her, such as a Saturday Night Live skit. Harris recalled a particularly vicious attack: "Perhaps the most difficult moment was when one person said they were disappointed the Ryder truck, that everyone was watching on TV, that OJ Simpson hadn’t murdered me, or something like that." ABC played a brief clip of Bill Maher: "And for a few brief moments, America held the hope that O.J. Simpson had murdered Katherine Harris." Harris commented: "That was not pleasant...."

The MRC at the time publicized the "joke" aired on the November 30 Politically Incorrect on ABC, the very same network with which Harris chose to favor with the exclusive interview. The joke in full: "Now earlier today, a rental truck carried a half a million ballots from Palm Beach to the Florida Supreme Court there in Tallahassee. CNN had live helicopter coverage from the truck making its way up the Florida highway, and for a few brief moments, America held the hope that O.J. Simpson had murdered Katherine Harris."

To view a RealPlayer clip of Maher telling it, go to: Maher is a dick...

Back to ABC’s Primetime Thursday, Sawyer wrapped up on the up side by showing how Harris got many positive e-mails and deliveries of flowers and on November 21 she also earned a standing ovation from both parties at a State House ceremony.

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), January 13, 2001

Answers

Good idea Bob! Let's play... "Fun with Heiress the Whore"!

Can you guess what the guy is thinking?

-- jeb (had@that.bush), January 13, 2001.

"Damn bitch, gave me frickin gonorrhea"

-- (sheeesh@what.a.tramp), January 13, 2001.

"Is this what they mean by "equal pay for equal work"? I worked 15 friggin years to get here, this ho sucked 15 high-ranking cocks."

-- (going.to.washington@with.presidential.kneepads), January 13, 2001.

I am proud to announce my engagement to Ms Katherine Harris of Tallahassee, FL. She gives good chad.

-- (nemesis@awol.com), January 13, 2001.

lol - good one nemesis!

-- (heiress@pregnant.chad), January 13, 2001.

Why thank you "heiress".

And I want everyone to know that my Kate is very flexible. Why she can do a back-bend to the floor and then stick her head between her legs. I can't explain how this affects me.

-- (nemesis@awol.com), January 13, 2001.