NY Times Reporter on 'Legendarily Dense' GOP Official Katherine Harris


New York Times TV-beat reporter Alessandra Stanley reviewed "Recount," the HBO film about the controversial aftermath of the 2000 presidential campaign vote in Florida. 

Many have commented on how the movie clearly visualizes the contest through a Democratic prism. Predictably, Stanley loved it, and let her opinion of one major GOP character (often loathed by liberals who accuse her of handing the election to Bush) very clear.

"Recount," an astute and deliciously engrossing film on HBO this Sunday night, retells the tale of Florida in all its bizarre and inglorious moments, from haggling over the "hanging chad" and "butterfly ballots" to the ruckus between the Florida secretary of state, Katherine Harris, and the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board. "Recount" is not satire; it's a mordantly serious look at a moment when character, political influence and luck fatefully collided.

Then it was time for some Katherine Harris-hating:

The casting of "Recount" is inspired. Kevin Spacey plays Ron Klain, the senior adviser to Vice President Al Gore who ended up leading the Democrats' Florida recount effort, and Tom Wilkinson is James A. Baker III, the silky-smooth Bush family consigliere who ran the Republican effort. Laura Dern is mesmerizing as Ms. Harris, the legendarily dense public official who also helped organize George W. Bush's Florida election campaign. Ms. Dern's portrait comes the closest to parody -- the role all but demands it -- but she manages to convey some glimmers of humanity behind the thick makeup and thicker skull.


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This from the BHO Loving MSM

And this Katherine Harris hating comes from the loving crowd of the stupid as a door knob BHO!

He sees dead people!

We are So Screwed!

It seems...

...HollyWeird has attempted to "rewrite", not "retell" history.

rewritting History??

 

When has hollywood NOT done that

VOTE REPUBLICAN

Does Stanley have any proof

Does Stanley have any proof that Harris was "legendarily dense"?

Instead of saying Dern plays Katherine Harris, the legendarily dense public official, she should have said Dern portrayed her as a legendarily dense.....

Sounds to me like Stanley took the way the makers of the movie chose to portray her as fact.

Needless to say, a lot of those who saw the movie came away with the same idea.

 

You want proof?

It doesn't take much, for liberals to prove your dense.  If they don't like you, you must be dense otherwise they'd love you and that's that. 

If Ms. Harris wanted to be loved by the NY Times, she wouldn't have followed Florida Law and would have consulted with Al Gore, et al. before doing anything.  Thank God for integrity.

I haven't seen this but I was wondering what they said about the battle with the Palm Beach Canvassing Board, since I'm aware of what happened here.  She opened her office, on a Sunday, to receive the ballots from the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, but they weren't ready, because they had to be reconciled.  The Democrats were screaming about her opening up on Sunday (it was a time thing where they had x days to get the job done and the time limit fell on a Sunday).  Now, during the movie, did they mention when Palm Beach County got their ballots reconciled?  Would you believe Wednesday?  Now, if they don't say that, who's dense?

Democrats: Stuck on Stupid since 2000.

Of course these idiots are

Of course these idiots are going to take Recount as the truth. Stanley even says so: ""Recount" is not satire;" I'm sure it never occurs to them that a movie produced by and cast with liberals might be biased regarding the actions of less-than-liberals portrayed therein. As we all know, liberals never lie, because when they do tell something factually false, it is actually "fake, but accurate". </sarc&disgust>

www.rhjunior.com Great comics with a hefty dose of Christian and anti-nutjob goodness.

"With your mind as high as Mt. Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things near to you." -Miyamoto Musashi

Just wondering...

...what kind of brain power is required of a NYT TV Beat reporter. C'mon, watching TV and then writing something about it; is that a fourth grade, or fifth grade, level assignment?

Keep trying Allesandra - maybe someday you'll get to cover supermarket grand openings. 

 

In Defense of Alexsandra

Oh come on. She used the worded mordant. Therefore she must be smart.  

 

Meh

I'll grant you - it's a prefectly cromulant word but it seemed forced. "Mordantly serious"? Phht. Why not go with "Mordantly earnest" if you want to show off?

Clearly she's been waiting to use that word somewhere

:P

BDS

So the democrats were suffering from derangement syndrome before Bush won the election, and it's been proven many times that he 'won' the election. Now all of the democrats mental illnesses have been rolled into Bush Derangement Syndrome. Mental health workers (including my niece who graduates from UVA this year) are set to make millions of dollars from the crazies.

 

Old, Retired and glad of it.

NY Times

Ms. Stanley refers to Ron Klain, a nobody, as a Gore senior advisor. James A. Baker III, a cabinet member for two presidents and Reagan's first Chief of Staff, is called the Bush family consigliere. Like they're La Cosa Nostra. No bias there.

I'm waiting for Dern to

I'm waiting for Dern to play Monica Lewinski, the soul mate and intellectual equal of Bill Clinton. I'll even prime the pump with a psudo review of my own:

... Laura Dern is mesmerizing as Ms. Lewinski, the legendarily astute intern who helped entertain William Jefferson Clinton. Ms. Dern's portrait comes the closes to parody -- the blue dress all but demands it -- but she manages to convey some glimmers of self respect inspite of the pizza and cuban cigars.

The end doesn't justify the means

I agree, Harris wasn't "legendarily dense," but crazy like a fox. She was rewarded with a House seat for her hard work. She could have been a U.S. senator too but proved to be too much of a wacko.

If the situation had been reversed, and the Florida state official in charge of the state's elections had been Gore's state campaign co-chief, as Katherine Harris had been Bush's, wouldn't you have been howling about conflict of interest (to this day)? Wouldn't you be complaining how such a conflict was an affront to the democratic process? I guess Tom DeLay rushing congressional staffers down to pretend they were Palm Beach County residents protesting the recount was on the level, too.

Gaff

Remember that the United States is a constitutional republic, not a democracy.

It DID happen, in 1960,

It DID happen, in 1960, when dead people in Chicago gave the election to JFK over Nixon - who gracefully conceded because he knew contesting the election would hurt the country.

No such grace from DemocRATS.

I think more likely he

I think more likely he stepped aside because he knew he would be around to run again, and politically the smart move was to step aside. If the smart move politically was to contest the election he would have.

Nixon, unlike Gore, had a

Nixon, unlike Gore, had a legitimate complaint. The first recount was reasonable, but the Dems dragged the process out in order to do as much political damage to Bush as they possibly could - and they're still doing it.

Also, it's not as if Gore wasn't going to be around after that.  If the smart move was to concede, then why didn't Algore concede, unless he's stupid?

Nixon behaved as a patriot and a person of dignity, something Democrats should try sometime.

1960 election

While the dead people were undoubtedly counted in Chicago, that alone did not cost Nixon the 1960 election. Back then, Illinois had 27 electoral votes. the final electoral result:

Kennedy- 303

Nixon- 219

Give Illinois to Nixon and the result is as follows:

Kennedy- 276

Nixon- 246

I believe there were alot of shenanigans going on in Texas down in the Rio Grande Valley with LBJ's cronies shipping Mexican citizens across the border and paying them $5 to vote. LBJ's buddies definitely did that(amongst other tricks) in his 1948 Senate election.

 

You bet

In the book "Means of Assent" about LBJ and his rise thru the ranks of the Dem party they devote quite a bit of information about that election. It seems that ballot boxes disappeared from districts that were heavily favored in Nixon's favor. Boxes got picked up but never delivered for the count. A good read if you are interested in how LBJ got to where he was and the efforts he made to get there. He was called "Bull" in college,and not because of his size either.

Means of Ascent

Yeah, Robert Caro's book. I never read the whole book but it was very extensively excerpted in The New Yorker back about the time the book was released. One of the longest excerpts covered the 1948 Senate election with all its larceny. You're right, it was a good read. I should pick that book up and finish it

The One Caro book I did read was terrific; The Power Broker about Robert Moses, the guy, who although never elected, transformed modern New York City and Long Island more than any other man. Another good read. 

Bottom line: in both 1960

Bottom line: in both 1960 and 2000 the shenanigans were coming from the Democrats, and the Republican was the intended victim - so the continued Dem whining and lying about 2000 is utterly ridiculous and hypocritical.

mattm

Right on, mattm. Let's not forget the tricks the Dems pulled in 2002 in Jersey after the "Torch" Torricelli flamed out and they had to trot out Lautenberg to save the seat. I'm sure there are plenty other examples of Democrat treachery that have slipped my mind.

Hmmm last time I looked

Hmmm last time I looked this "was rewarded with a House seat for her hard work" pretty much impossible because these are elected positions not appointed.  Also this "I guess Tom DeLay rushing congressional staffers down to pretend they were Palm Beach County residents protesting the recount was on the level, too" did not happen except in your mind.  If it did there would have been a stink from here to eternity. 

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

You need to get your facts straight.

You've got your facts wrong (Must have watched the movie and took it as the truth) so you need to bone up if you're going to make accusations.  DeLay sent people to Dade County and Harris was elected as a representative.  She lost her Senate race for many reasons, she had a good opponent, she ran a mediocre campaign, and had little support from the Republican establishment.  Finally, her job as Secretary of State, was to certify the election results.  Everything she did was done to follow Florida Election Law, that was in place at the time of the election, not the laws Democrats and the Florida Supreme Court were making up, at the time.  She did a good job of that and has been trashed by the Left ever since.  

Democrats: Stuck on Stupid since 2000.

The idiocy of Liberals on

The idiocy of Liberals on display:  Here's one of these super-intelligent geniuses claiming to have been outsmarted by a 'dense' campaign worker and an 'idiot' candidate.  Pitiful.

“The word hypocrite is infinitesimally inadequate to describe the Left.” - Publius

Another hypicritical witch (spelled with a "b")

  • Who has a fit when someone portrays women poorly in print, in films, in actuality? -- Women MSM types, that's who.

  • Who constantly lectures us on "don't stereotype women" because of their dress, their looks, their status? -- Women MSM types, that's who.

  • Who is it that warns us if we don't respect the work of women? -- Women MSM types, that's who.

  • And finally, who is the first to turn on women because of their looks, their behavior, their status? -- Why, the NYT women, of course.

___________________________________ 

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

You hit the nail on the

You hit the nail on the head. Worse than their politics is thier complete lack of integrity or morals.

WOW- Two opposing thumbs up!

IMO Laura Dern has never been 'mesmerizing', even when she was young.

But then again, I am shallow and have a preference for women who actually look like women, not transvestites...

Harris and Stanley

I guess Alessandra Stanley has a master's degree from Harvard. Oh, she does not...Katherine Harris does. As Forrest Gump's Mom taught him...stupid is as stupid does; e.g. Ms. Stanley

Perhaps there should be a corollary: mean, vicious and envious  is not the way to go thru life...with a thank you to Dean Wermer for inspiring the paraphrase.

Just as soon ...

I'll be glad to insult Ms. Harris ... just as soon ... as they can show where she botched the execution of the law. Liberals wanted her to decide their way. She decided another way.

  • If she misunderstood the law, then we'll all have a laugh at her expense.
  • If liberals simply had a different agenda, and blamed her for standing in their way, then we'll all laugh at the liberals for failing to understand democracy when it bites them on the ass.

Me thinks Alessandra needs

Me thinks Alessandra needs to take a long hard look at her own reflection, inside and out before speaking of others...

"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill

During her '06 run in FL

The state Republican party wasn't exactly behind Katherine, despite all the conservative love she's getting here on NB. Interestingly, after the election I found out she thinks Iraq would probably work better as 3 countries than one, just like me. Small wonder they hated her. ;)
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

Where's Wink Martindale?

Stay tuned for the new hit show: "Are you smarter than a Moonbat?"

Harris followed the law, but liberals only care about ...

Harris followed the law, but liberals only care about the laws they like (abortion, environment, etc) and disdain those they despise ... like immigration, election, etc.

Lawyers are paid to deceive. Never cast your ballot for a professional liar.

The Dems can't get over it

The better candidate Bush beat both Gore and Kerry and the Dems can't get over it.

The truth will set you free!

 I read "At any Cost" on how Gore tried to steal the election and was caught. He and his team even said count every vote except the absentee ballots of our military as most of them vote Republican.

I Wish I Was

From Wiki:

"Harris graduated from Bartow High School in Bartow, Florida in 1975, and then attended Spain's University of Madrid in 1978. Harris received a bachelor of arts degree in history from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia in 1979, and then studied under Christian theologian Francis Schaeffer at the L'Abri community in Huemoz, Switzerland, not far from Lausanne. While in college she was an intern for U.S. Representative Andy Ireland. Harris received a mid-career masters degree in public administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 1997 with a concentration in international trade. Before entering politics, Harris was a marketing executive at IBM and a vice president of a commercial real estate firm."

I wish *I* was that "legendarily dense". I suspect that Ms. Stanley wishes she was, too. Instead, she's just a glorified movie reviewer, pimped out by the New York Times to do their bidding. I feel kind of sad for her pathetic life.

Well said

Well said.

Recount

I didn't see it because I don't subscribe to HBO.  My neighbor asked me about it and I replied that if it did not show that Florida 2000 was an attempt by Democrats to steal a presidential election, then the movie was a lie.  Which, I gather, it is.

Idiots and Devils

After watching for a few decades, it is clear liberals can only see a world in which ONLY two kinds of people are Republican:

One is the complete morans that can't be trusted with a grill job at McDonalds. That makes up 99% of the Republican party - to them - and they love to loathe them and belittle them and make themselves feel better by joking about how ignorant the Republicans are.

But to really see them in action, to see them go apoplectic, foam at the mouth, and spasm all over themselves --- show them a conservative they can't dismiss as a dunce.

That person they really have to loathe. They have to obliderate them. They have to destroy them. Those are Satans. Hitlers. Nazis. Devils. Supernatural beings bucking human nature ---- because anybody with a brain would naturally see that the liberals are the righteous ones.

To have a brain and be conservative? ---- is just unholy....

So they must be destoryed. (The Gingriches, Wolfowitzes, Roves, Rumsfelds, and so on......)

kinda sad

It's sad that they think that way.  If only they could abandon their ethos politics, they would see that more often than not the right has more logical propositions.  Also, you can pass anybody off as a moron.  It's something they do constantly when material is viewed and a different conclusion is arrived at.  I doubt that I'd be the first here to admit that there are plenty of liberals whose intelligence I respect.  The issue is how well someone is able to review all angles and find where they best intersect.  This is the main reason I've turned to talk radio and sites like this one.  Aside from the overly religious on the right (no offense to anyone, I wanted Huckabee) I find the primary difference between the two parties to be this: Democrats think in emotions, and Republicans derive their thinking through logic. 

Anyone can use lofty words.  It takes an attentive mind to sort through them and find the substance.

Paul Wellstone

From what little I saw of him, I had respect for Wellstone - even though I disagreed with him on his policy issues.

When he died in that plane crash, and the Dems used his funeral as a bash-Republicans party, someone wrote in the press that it was a service Wellstone himself would not have stood for, and that said a lot about the man - and a lot about the majority of the liberals...

More of the same

More of the same self-delusional crap from the media that only liberals can possibly be intelligent. Plus, to denigrate a woman's looks and personal style just to run her down politically is beneath contempt - especially from another woman - who probably proclaims herself a "feminist". If a conservative man wrote the same kind of thing about a liberal woman, you'd accuse that conservative of being a knuckle-dragging neanderthal.

I Wish I Was . . .

Joel - great investigative work on the CV of Katherine Harris.  I'd like to see what someone could dig up on the scholastic achievements of Allessandra Stanley.  This is reminiscent of the comparison of test results from the military records of poor, bumbling, tongue-tied GW Bush and the great Vietnam military hero and undistinguished Senator John F Kerry.  Don't confuse those liberals with the facts - they just get in the way of a good hate-filled rant!

Harris Already Disgraced Herself Without The MSM's Meddling

It's always bizarre to me how producers can miss so many flaws of a character like Katherine Harris when she has done plenty of things the media would just eat up if they were not so blinded by their own crusade over what happened eight years ago. They would still have a field day with just some of the soundbites that came out of her disgraceful campaign for the Florida seat of the US Senate. I mean, if you can't even pounce on a soundbite like "If you don't elect a Christian into the legislature, then you are legislating sin", I don't know what will. I know, it was primarily addressed to those who support same-sex marriage and abortion, but still, how could such a liberal media miss such a juicy clip like that? It just confirms to me that some people in the media are fairly insane.