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December
5, 2000
A Whole
New Meaning to Triangulation?
Jeb, W and the Secretary of
State
Forget all that talk about Jeb Bush
and Katherine Harris. Now the spotlight is on Katherine Harris
and W.
Jack McCarthy, a Friend of
CounterPunch resident in Tallahassee, and erstwhile political
columnist for the now defunct Florida Flambeau sends CounterPunch
this bulletin from Ground Zero, concerning the rumor, now being
intensely probed by some newspapers and news weeklies, of intimacies
between Governor Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris.
Here at CounterPunch we had
intelligence some time ago of such speculation in the form of
the Italian newspaper La Stampa blazoning reports of a carnal
connection between Gov. Jeb and the Medusa-like Secretary. We
were then alerted that the supposed affair was being given the
imprimatur, as it were, of an investigation by Newsweek's Michael
Isikof. Furthermore New York Observer's Ron Rosenbaum noted "veiled
references" to the liaison in the New York Times and New
York Post.
Now over to CounterPunch's
Tallahassee man, Jack McCarthy:
"I ran the rumor by one
well connected capitol politico in Tallahassee, and asked him
if he'd heard of the rumor.
He said it's true that there's a congruence between Harris and
the Bush family, but that it's W and Harris who for years have
been trysting at National Governors' conferences. He believed
that some Florida reporters have comparing Harris' infamous travel
schedule with W's. It seems the most promising lead was last
year's National Governors' meeting in New Orleans, but they weren't
able to nail down the hotel.
"He also said that a story
will soon appearing outlining the sexual activities of Jeb's
scion, Jorge, at last summer's Republican convention. Jorge,
who was the subject of adoring profiles in our national press
hailing him as the bright rising star of Clan Bush, was involved
in a 1994 incident described in a Metro-Dade police dept report
that surfaced on the Smoking Gun website.
"On Dec. 31 1994 Bush
showed up at 4 a.m. at the Miami home of a former girlfriend.
He proceeded to break into the house via the woman's bedroom
window, and then began arguing with the ex's father. Bush, then
a Rice university student, soon fled the scene. But he returned
20 minutes later to drive his Ford Explorer across the home's
front lawn leaving wide swaths of burned grass in his wake. Young
Bush avoided arrest when the victims declined to press charges."
Jack tells us that on recently
revisiting the Smoking Gun site he was "shocked" to
read that on October 7 of this year, Gov. Jeb's other young'un,
John "Jebby" Bush was caught humping away in the front
seat of his Cherokee jeep in the parking lot of the Tallahassee
Mall by security guards. According to the TPD Police report,
mall security noticed "fogged up windows" and found
them naked from the waists down, except for Bush who was wearing
"socks". Hopefully with suspenders in the Yale colors.
Ah, those patrician Bushes. Breeding will out.
Anent young Jebby's rampages,
Jack tells us that on October 24--only days after the arrest-
the following story appeared in the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel
under the headline: "Jeb Bush Too Tired to Campaign?"
"It's surprising that
the race is as close as it is," the
Sentinel quoted Florida political scientist Jim Kane. "But
the biggest surprise is that Jeb has not been out on the
campaign trail."
"I can't do anymore than
I am, I'm tired," Bush said.
Jack opines that "it's
perfectly logical that Jeb was afraid that the Jebby story would
get out in the midst of his support for his brother's pledge
to restore dignity to the White House.
"Imagine some reporter
asking Jeb if it wasn't time to
'restore dignity' to the Tallahassee Mall parking lot."
It all sounds like a return
to the Camelot years. Call it Bushalot. Given the way Jeb's boys
behave in their cars, can Chappaquiddick be far behind?
Meanwhile CounterPunch hears
that Gore, heatedly berating Gore junior at the VP mansion for
some discreditable escapade, pointed to a uniformed Secret Service
agent standing by the front door and said: "If you don't
get your act together you'll end up like him!"
Who would buy a round for this
guy? CP
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