Thanks for stealing 25 electoral votes; now get out of my way

May 10, 2006

Talk about awkward.

President [tag]Bush[/tag] was in [tag]Florida[/tag] yesterday trying one last time to cut the political legs out from under the woman who helped put him in the White House in 2000.

Rep. [tag]Katherine Harris[/tag] met the President when he landed at MacDill Air Force Base and they chatted briefly while she gripped his hand, but the body language said it all: Bush’s face was grim and he didn’t bestow the usual kiss.

Sources in Washington said Bush would make a final attempt to nudge Harris out of her doomed Senate race.

Now it’s even worse. Florida House Speaker [tag]Allan Bense[/tag] (R), the Bushes’ top choice, has announced he will not run. The GOP is apparently stuck with Harris, whether the president wants to be seen hugging her or not.

Let’s also not forget the broader context here. Harris wanted to run for the Senate in 2004, but Bush was worried that Dem turnout would be higher in Florida if her name was on the ballot. The GOP establishment made her an offer: stay out of the ’04 race, and you’ll be the GOP candidate in ’06. Harris agreed, but is learning now that she’s the only one holding up her end of the bargain.

Slate’s Brian Montopoli explained last year that the Bush gang only keeps its word if it’s politically advantageous. As he put it, “[tag]Jeb[/tag] and George W. are apparently kicking Harris to the curb without the slightest reservation.”

It’s a reminder about how the Bush White House approaches the idea of “loyalty.” All Harris did was help steal a presidential election for these guys. In all likelihood, Bush literally wouldn’t even be president right now were it not for Harris’ “help.” Now she’s calling in her favors — and Bush wants to literally keep her at arms’ length.

I wonder if the spurned Ms. Harris has the balls to exact revenge. She could recoup her campaign losses, surely, by writing a “tell all” book.

  • Goss came from Florida, the old stomping ground of CIA(Tampa).

    He was chosen over others from florida becasue he was an operations officer in CIA. The idea was he’d go ahead and axe the CIA. Congress
    tried while he was Director. Florida is’nt much to worry about, it’s the same as before, but Goss was a loser and should be easy to recover from.

  • “Bush’s face was grim and he didn’t bestow the usual kiss.”

    The “kiss of Bush” sounds creepy.
    Not many politicians these days are lining up for a big wet smooch from W.

  • “Bush wants to literally keep [Harris] at arms’ length.” – CB

    How can he get closer with her surgical enhancements? 😉

    You know what I keep forgetting to say about Porter Goss (for Senate in Florida)? I keep forgetting to point out that he was sent to the CIA to stop the leaks, said leaks being “We’re not responsible for bad intelligence on WMD in Iraq.”.

    It’s really sad that everyone will forget that.

  • What candidate would want a Presidential endorsement at this point anyway? He acts as if that somehow carries weight.

    It doesn’t.

  • Interesting…if Harris were somewhat creative, she could use this to show Florida that she isn’t in fact one of the increasingly unpopular Bush’s lackeys. If Bush gave any kind of endorsement, it would be with the expectation that she toe the Bush line. All the more so because her campaign is on life support. But since there will be no message of support, she could–if she wanted–join the growing crowd of “disgruntled” GOP who are trying to tell us that they weren’t really on board the whole time they were gorging at the trough.

    That’s what makes this so pathetic. She wants to be his lackey sooooo badly. And Bush is like that ugly kid nobody even likes. The pain of Bush’s rejection must therefore be quite galling.

  • I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the meme, “Bush doesn’t pay his debts.” It’s certainly true of his life before politics, and it’s pretty much true of life after too.

    Bush simply refuses to recognize obligations to anyone. Even with his inner circle, he’s not loyal so much as stubborn. As long as insiders don’t openly revolt, he’ll usually keep people on the payroll so he doesn’t have to admit that he made a mistake hiring them. He’ll make token gestures like giving George Tenet a medal, but I just don’t see him as the sort of man who stays true to people through thick or thin.

    Bush isn’t loyal, he just doesn’t want to lose face. He’ll boot you out of the lifeboat if ever you become inconvenient. Bush can’t tolerate the thought of owing anything to anyone. He doesn’t pay his debts.

  • “Interesting…if Harris were somewhat creative, she could use this to show Florida that she isn’t in fact one of the increasingly unpopular Bush’s lackeys.” – Mr. Flibble

    She could always say she would vote to convict an impeached Boy George II.

  • “She could always say she would vote to convict an impeached Boy George II.”

    But why would someone whose highest ambitiion was to become GW Bush’s perpetual fuck doll want to do that? This broad’s too stupid to know that she’s been used like a $20 whore, told that she was going to get the Pretty Woman treatment, and then kicked out on the street corner to the sound of Jeb and George laughing as they speed into the distance. And they ain’t coming back.

    You know, Neil Young could probably write a tear-jerker follow-up single on Harris’ heartbreak…

  • Shrub hurts, Shrub scars,
    Shrub wounds, and marks,
    Any heart, not tough,
    Or strong, enough
    To steal a lot of votes,
    Steal a lot of votes
    Shrub is like a cloud
    Holds a lot of rain
    Shrub hurts, ooh ooh Shrub hurts

    I’m old, I know,
    But even so
    I got plastic surgery too
    I need help from you
    I really need a lot,
    Really need a lot
    Shrub is like a flame
    It burns you when it’s hot
    Shrub hurts, ooh ooh Shrub hurts

    Some fools think of happiness
    Blissfulness, togetherness
    Some fools fool themselves I guess
    Shrub was foolin’ me

    I know it isn’t true,
    I know it isn’t true
    Shrub just says lies,
    Made to make you blue
    Shrub hurts, ooh,ooh love hurts
    Ooh,ooh Shrub hurts

    [guitar solo]

    I know it isn’t true,
    I know it isn’t true
    Love is just a lie,
    Made to make you blue
    Shrub hurts, ooh ooh Shrub hurts
    Ooh ooh Shrub hurts
    Ooh ooh…

  • It’s what we used to call “upward loyalty” in Corporate America.

    “Upward” loyalty means loyal to your boss. “Downward” loyalty is loyalty to your employees. A good and wise manager tries to practice both in equal doses.

    Everyone has at one time or another worked for someone for whom loyalty goes only one way. The Bushes appear to be that type.

  • There is a dirty rumor running around some portions of Fl. this PM that our beloved Gov. might throw his hat into the ring for the Senate run. There are still morons in this state who believe he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. One small piece of me wants to see a Rethug primary but the thought of another Bush holding national office is disgusting.

  • Isn’t Harris in the periphery of the Duke Cunningham, MZM scandals? Maybe Bush is taking preemptive action so that he doesn’t have to disavow knowing Harris if she goes down with the rest of the rats. After all, he can only use the lie that he hardly knew the person, like he did with Abramoff and Ken Lay, so many times before the public catches on.

  • Shrub is like a flame
    It burns you when it’s hot
    Shrub hurts, ooh ooh Shrub hurts

    Dan,
    Is that a reference to Bush having a case of the clap? 😉

  • Kat Harris is just one more example—atop a smelly, nauseous heap of other examples—of why the Congress should, as a matter pertaining to their fundamental survival as a political entity, drag the moronic pretender from the White House—kicking and screaming if that’s what it takes—and hurl his mangy hide into the Potomac.

    And I’d pay good money to see them do it, too….

  • No. I wish I were that deliberate and insulting.

    I think it should be:
    He burns you when it’s hot.

    These work out better when I’m not looking over my shoulder in case the boss wonders why I’m snickering at the screen ;->

  • George Bush and his brother should be reminded that hell hath no
    fury like a woman scorned. And there is a lot of fuel to keep that
    hellfire burning for a long time.

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