Actress Dern: 'Loved' Making Katherine Harris Look 'Clueless' in HBO Film

May 22nd, 2008 7:27 PM

It's not often that a denizen of Hollywood is so crass as to admit that they enjoyed using their film work as a bludgeon with which to beat up a living person, but Reuters is reporting that the folks that made the upcoming HBO film "Recount" -- and actress Laura Dern in particular -- really relished making at least one person look like an idiot. Apparently Dern really enjoyed skewering Katherine Harris, the former Florida Secretary of State responsible for certifying the 2000 general election results.

Reuters helpfully informs us that actress Dern is a "self-described liberal" who "loved portraying (Harris) in the new HBO movie." And, why was it so fun for our "self-described liberal" to portray Representative, then Florida Sec. of State Harris? Because they made her look "clueless about the workings of her office," of course.

So, how is Harris depicted?

Throughout the TV movie, writer Danny Strong characterizes Harris as clueless about the workings of her office but shrewd about decision-making that would favor Republicans. Harris' dual nature, Dern said, is why she loved the role.

Yeah, she "loved" it alright. In fact she even resorted to that well-known style of denigration while talking about her victim.

"That's what made it even more fun to be honest, to get inside the head of that sort of person, to examine her look and be like her -- all those challenges make it more fun," Dern told Reuters in a recent interview.

You can easily see how Dern approached her portrayal of Harris with her "that sort of person" comment, can't you? To practice the politics of personal destruction is something that had Dern saying that she'd "..never had so much fun" in her life.

Just a reminder that "self-described liberals" think they are the most civil, caring, and tolerant examples of humanity. Naturally, all that gets tossed out the window when they have a political enemy to destroy.

Unsurprisingly, Reuters is attempting to make it seem as if this fictional depiction of the entire recount saga is an historical retelling as opposed to a dramatized, fictional account.

"Recount" goes behind closed doors and inside the minds of Republicans and Democrats to attempt to show how party leaders tried to manipulate the counting of votes to their favor.

In the end, after Florida and U.S. Supreme Court decisions, it was Harris' job to stop the recount and end the process. As the movie tells it, she did everything legally and within her government-sanctioned power to see that Bush won.

It "goes behind closed doors and inside the minds"? Behind the scenes of their made up story, and into the minds of their fictional assumptions of what was going through those minds to be sure.

But, wait a minute. This one line needs more focus: "As the movie tells it, she did everything legally and within her government-sanctioned power to see that Bush won." What does this really mean? OK, she did "everything legally and within her government-sanctioned power to see that Bush won." Let's think about that sentence. Doesn't this mean she was RIGHT? So, why did Reuters just write that sentence as if something nefarious and shifty was perpetrated? Bush won, fair and square. It was LEGAL and WITHIN HER POWER. Period.

Just as unsurprisingly, this film was written and acted without those involved in the movie actually talking to Katherine Harris herself.

This movie is shaping up to be just another example of BDS and hatred for conservatives and Republicans. Will the left and Hollywood ever just get over it?

(Photo credit: http://www.5cense.com/flash.htm)