Katherine Harris, the woman who handed the election to George Bush in 2000 (as Florida’s Secretary of State….despite the fact that she campaigned actively for Bush), received her Republican party loyalty payback, and was elected to Congress.
Now, she’s running for Senate.
In an interview published Thursday with the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, she said, among other things:
“we have to have the faithful in government and over time, that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers.”
“And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women and if people aren’t involved in helping godly men in getting elected than we’re going to have a nation of secular laws. That’s not what our founding fathers intended and that’s certainly isn’t what God intended.”
” If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you’re not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin. They can legislate sin. They can say that abortion is alright. They can vote to sustain gay marriage. And that will take western civilization, indeed other nations because people look to our country as one nation as under God and whenever we legislate sin and we say abortion is permissible and we say gay unions are permissible, then average citizens who are not Christians, because they don’t know better, we are leading them astray and it’s wrong. …”
If you want to read the whole disgusting thing, click here.
Luckily, even her fellow Republicans don’t think she can win against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in November. Her fundraising has lagged, her campaign workers have been quitting by the truckload, and she received $32,000 in illegal campaign contributions, which has been all over the news. So, naturally, she’s appealing directly to the American Taliban for a last-ditch effort.
I wish I could be confident that it won’t work.
I feel dirty.
I sometimes wish I had the luxury to avoid politics, to ignore that other’s opinions differ dramatically from my own, but a big part of my life is a fucking political agenda. That’s just peachy.
I find this:
“that’s certainly isn’t what God intended.”
to be the most interesting. She’s just said that God chooses our rulers (and while I would debate the use of the word ruler) I don’t really have a problem with someone claiming that God chooses our leaders. I believe it myself, in a slightly altered fashion: I believe that there is a pattern to the world and that all things are interconnected, and I can easily credit the faith of a Christian who believes that God is omniscient and In Charge.
What this means of course, is that God chose Bill Clinton, too.
And beyond that – it means that there is NO POSSIBLE way for something to be anything other than what God intended. She’s contradicting herself. Surprise, frickin surprise. Either God’s omnipotent, or he isn’t. Period.
So, my history’s weak, Gareth…remind me, again, when the Divine Right of Kings went out of style?
An appeal to the American Taliban might work in her congressional district, but she’s running for the senate, which means a state-wide election. And in “God’s Waiting Room,” you do not piss off the elderly Jewish vote if you know what’s good for you. Her attempt at an apology (along the lines of “I was tailoring my comments to my audience,” was even more offensive than her original statement, in that she admits out-and-out pandering to the religious right and seems to be saying that an insult unheard is no insult at all.
Hey! I have that sticker…
That is truly unpleasant read.
D.
That’s the part I never understand — when people say “I don’t pay attention to politics” or similar statements. I can’t imagine my politics not being a part of how I live my life….and I wonder how they can ignore the fact that other people’s politics (like Mrs. Harris, above), directly affect their lives. How can they think that they can afford to ignore it?
Careful now: Critical thought and logical examination of situations Makes The Baby Jeebus Cry.
Whoops! Damn – he’s such a screamer, too.
Wait, wait, wait. Don’t you realize that most of the sheeple she’s addressing there believe that God is perfectly ominipotent, but only with monetary help from the Religious Right on earth? When Bill Clinton got elected, it was the evil Libruls who somehow thwarted God’s plan. Good thing God has eternal damnation cooked up for them after life on this rock otherwise they’ll never learn.
Sheesh. I used to think she was an everyday Republican tool-rod, but now evil nutjob comes to mind as well.
I must have become the minion of Satan somewhere along the line, because that many ‘God’s and ‘Godly’s was physically unpleasant to read…..
Or maybe I am just uncomfortable with ANYONE putting words in other people’s mouths… even people that may well be non-existant.
“[…]because God is the one who chooses our rulers.“
The last time I checked we didn’t elect “rulers” in this country. In fact, much of the reason our forefathers came to this continent was to get away from the idea of Divine mandate in government. And regardless of what she says, it’s been made pretty clear, that almost all of those who signed the Constitution were at best Deists, and certainly far more interested in a free country than they were in the religious providence of Christians.
Fucking bitch. I hate these people.
PS, Kathy, honey.
If God chooses our rulers, why do you need to vote? God will decide, and everyone can sit at home praying, content that His Will is done.
Bless your heart.