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Katherine Harris came to my little town of Palatka Florida this morning. She visited the Golden Corral Restaurant.
As I pulled into the parking lot I thought that the lot didn't look much different than any other Saturday. The marquee only had the breakfast special for the day. I thought for sure they would have "Putnam County welcomes Katherine Harris", but no special welcome for our guest.
Arriving at the door, I was greated by one of her campaign workers and was asked "If I was there to see Katherine Harris". Yes, I replied and they told me where the gathering was to be held. Others that were going into the restaurant were asked the same thing and they said no, they were asked if they wanted to see Ms. Harris. They still said no.
It was a small room with a dividing wall that could be opened if needed. There was a group of tables put together to form a U-shape. I was told that those seats were for the ministers that were going to be in attendance. In front of the U were about 8 seats, which I assumed would be for Katherine and her entourage. On both sides of the U were tables for guests and behind the U were about 6 seat for guests. I sat in those seats to be able to see everything from that vantage point. At that time there were about 10 people in the room.
Around 9:30, her campaign assistant came into the room and I heard him tell the other assistant that Katherine was here, but since there were so few ministers in attendance to get the people who were in the tables to sit on the U. The young girl said to me that I could move up to the table and proceeded to tell the other assistants to leave 2 empty seats that they were for a minister.
I moved up to the U-shaped table and so did a few other folks and there was the two empty seats to the right of me. Another assistant came into the room with a plate of breakfast food and asked where is Ms. Harris sitting. The girl pointed towards my way and said "next to the lady with the red sweater", which was me. I almost had a heart attack right then and there.
With that Katherine came into the room in a whirlwind, shaking everyone's hand and thanking everyone for coming even though it was so early in the morning. When she shook my hand, I kept praying to myself, just don't hit her. I just said "You're so tiny". She really is tiny. Couldn't be more than a size 1.
Katherine ate very quickly as a woman was introducing her. "Blah, blah, blah, Katherine is a Christian woman, blah, blah, blah, I prayed for her during the 2000 election to make the right decision, blah, blah, blah and it is my pleasure to introduce to you our next Florida Senator, Katherine Harris". OMG, my heart was beating so fast. Here she was sitting right freaking next to me. The next thing I know the newspaper is snapping pictures of Katherine. So I imagine the pictures will be in the newspaper with me.
Katherine spoke and she sounded no different than any of Bush's canned speeches. She said that the economy is booming, more home ownership in this country than ever before in our history, lowest unemployment in decades, the war in Iraq and against terror are going swimmingly and that democracy is flourishing in the Middle East. She spoke of Bill Nelson being one of the most liberal senators in the likes of Hillary Clinton. The crowd ate that up. She said that Hillary was fundraising for Nelson in the state today as well as Al Gore, who just gave a speech in Saudi Arabia accusing our soldiers of torture against Arabs and that she was furious. I was fuming inside. She said that Nelson voted against the marriage act, against Judge Alito and against the drilling in Anwar and that he wants to raise taxes and supports more governmental programs. She told of her recent visit to Iraq and how the liberal press does not report all the wonderful things that are happening there. And she said that every single soldier or troop that she spoke to away from their command begged her not to stop this important mission until the job was done. She said that they need our support. She spoke about tax relief.
Ms. Harris took questions from the audience which ranged from Neil Boortz's tax program, which she is for to our dependence on foreign oil, to which she said we need to develop alternatives but that Florida is not able to utilize wind or solar power because it is not consistant (Solar, I thought, the Sunshine State?) but that she will vote for drilling in Anwar because that could solve alot of our energy problems for years to come. Another question was from a minister asking how his church could gather funds from the Faith Based Initiatives Act, that he has been symied at every turn. She asked him to give her staff his card and she will direct him. Then she spoke of how wonderful the Faith Based Initiative Act is and how it used to be the churches who provided for the poor and underprivileged, but that the Liberals took that from them and made the government responsible for these programs and she said we see how well that is working out. The people liked that answer.
There were no questions on the new prescription drug plan even though the crowd was elderly, I was one of the youngest people there and I am 50. No questions on the selling of the Ports, the new increases of violence in Iraq, nothing about homeland security.
My question to her was going to be: In light of the scandals of lobbyist and the new revelations in the morning papers of her connection to Duke Cunningham and the taking of illegal contributions, can she unequivocally tell us that she has not done anything wrong and that there would be no further actions against her should she be elected. I didn't want to ask the question right off the bat and be escourted out of there, but by the time I was going to ask my question, her campaign advisor thanked us for coming and said that Ms. Harris needs to leave because she has other functions to attend. With that she thanked us again and said she would return to Putnam County real soon. She ended by saying that the polls in the paper show her trailing Bill Nelson but that those polls are not true and that the Liberal press is shilling for Nelson. Her polls show her even with Nelson and some higher than Nelson. So don't believe what you are reading in the papers.
It was a surreal experience being in her presence and in the enemy camp. This was my first time doing so. There was no more than 30 people there which included her entourage. It was so weird hearing people talk about Democrats and Liberals. I was in awe at the fact that they were so unabashed in their feelings when they are among their own. I know that I am leaving out things but if I think of anything else I will post. What an experience and it was the most difficult thing not saying to her what I would have loved to have said to her face.
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