Feel that soothing relief…

HT Atrios.

Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) is absolutely, unequivocally, unmistakably off her rocker. She’s saying crazy things again.

From the Associated Press:

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris told a religious journal that separation of church and state is “a lie” and God and the
nation’s founding fathers did not intend the country be “a nation of secular laws.”

The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate also said that if Christians are not elected, politicians will “legislate sin,” including abortion and gay marriage.

Harris made the comments — which she clarified Saturday — in the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, which interviewed political candidates and asked them about religion and their positions on issues.

Separation of church and state is “a lie we have been told,” Harris said in the interview, published Thursday, saying separating religion and politics is “wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers.”

This woman wants to be a United States Senator? We (the royal we) should all chip in, rent a 15-passenger van from Hertz and take Sen. George Allen (R-VA) and Katherine Harris on a long drive around America. You know, meet some nice people, see the historic sites and hopefully learn something about real America and about real Americans. These two career politicians are divorced from reality.

Nancy Pelosi = bad ass?

Time Magazine writes a great profile of the woman who may just be the Speaker of the House in a couple of months. Pelosi has been an outspoken leader for Democrats and has, it seems, mastered the inside legislative strategy in the U.S. House.

From Time Magazine:

The 66-year-old San Francisco lawmaker is an aggressive, hyperpartisan liberal pol who is the Democrats’ version of Tom DeLay, minus the ethical and legal problems of the former Republican House leader. To condition Democrats for this fall’s midterm elections, she has employed tactics straight out of DeLay’s playbook: insisting other House Democrats vote the party line on everything, avoiding compromise with Republicans at all cost and mandating that members spend much of their time raising money for colleagues in close races. And she has been effective. House Democrats have been more unified in their voting than at any other time in the past quarter-century, with members on average voting the party line 88% of the time in 2005, according to Congressional Quarterly. That cohesion enabled Democrats to hasten President Bush’s slide in the polls when they blocked his plan to reform Social Security by allowing retirees to eschew guaranteed benefits in favor of private accounts. Bush’s approval rating remains depressed–38% in a TIME poll last week–and the Democrats are in their best position to win the House since Republicans took control of it in 1994.

If Democrats are successful in November, it will be mostly the result of Americans’ increasing frustration with the Iraq war and with the perception that Bush and congressional Republicans have bungled everything from Terri Schiavo to Hurricane Katrina. But Pelosi has made sure Democrats didn’t break the Republicans’ fall. And if Democrats win back the 15 seats they need to form a majority, Pelosi will be richly rewarded. She would almost certainly become the first woman to be House Speaker.

Let’s all work to make sure that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are able to take control of the House in 2006.

Could George Allen’s (R-VA) career in politics be over? Let’s hope so. Jim Webb (D) still has a massive uphill battle, but Allen can’t stop hurting himself with his racist mouth. Ryan Lizza of the The New Republic found this article on Allen’s Jewish roots. Interesting stuff.

One of the questions I had about Eve Kessler’s fascinating look at Senator George Allen’s Jewish roots is whether Allen has known about this heritage but played it down, or whether it was news to him.

Bob Gibson, a longtime columnist for the Charlottesville Daily Progress, relays the following anecdote, which seems to clear things up:

It’s funny, but the only time that George Allen ever wanted a correction from me in 27 years of covering his races was when I wrote about his mother’s Jewish family origins. He insisted, through a press secretary, that his mother was raised a Christian.

As I said, this controversy is taking a toll on Allen. A Zogby poll released yesterday has Webb up 1%. Not significant in numbers, but it’s the movement that counts. Even if the spread is 4-5% in reality, this race is tightening and putting enormous pressure on Allen. This is a good thing!

Tom Suozzi, who is running against Eliot Spitzer for the Democratic nomination to be Governor of New York was interviewed by the good people over at Gawker. They took his interview and cut three hard-hitting TV commercials that could help cement victory over Spitzer in the September primary. Check them out- pretty funny stuff. (hey, why didn’t we think of that…)

Yes, Suozzi is running far behind Spitzer in the polls, but he’s a solid candidate and he has a bright future in New York State, and maybe even on the national stage as well.