I received another weird e-mail from Florida Democratic Party chair Karen Thurman. She started off gloating over Republican national party chair Mel Martinez stepping down after only nine months on the job:

Remember how he had big plans to resurrect the Republican Party and rehabilitate its image? It appears that was an insurmountable task.

But we shouldn’t be surprised. Martinez ignored the Floridians he was elected to represent by siding with President Bush over the people on just about everything.

One of the biggest debacles occurred this week, when Martinez and 14 Republican Representatives from Florida ripped away the promise of medical coverage for half a million uninsured Florida children and millions more children across the country.

Okay, I can understand that, and Thurman’s point is valid. Then she goes on a bit about how the SCHIP was passed on her watch in Congress. Then she begins to level accusations against the Republican Party:

Now the Republicans have put the program and millions of children in grave danger. I believe their decision to block healthcare for children will go down as a major turning point in history. No amount of spin can cover up the simple fact that these Republicans, like Feeney and Keller, chose Bush over Florida’s kids.

This vote demonstrates, in the starkest of terms, why we’re Democrats.

But here Thurman (and the FlaDems) go off the rails:

Rank-and-file, right-wing Republicans are so fed up with their candidates blustering, flip-flopping and backtracking that they’ve become desperate for another option. They need a Real Republican.

We’re giving them one.

What humdinger of an idea is coming? It’s a Web site called Draft Katherine Harris. Clever, huh? It’s ironical!

Yep, in a letter where Thurman asks for a contribution no less than six times, she unveils a Web site plastered over with unflattering photos of former Florida attorney general, erstwhile gubernatorial candidate and certifiable whack-job Katherine Harris that is intended to be humorous. I guess it would be if this were something besides a presidential election.

Does the Florida Democratic Party have so much money and resources that it can waste it on a spoof Web site that appears to serve no purpose beyond entertaining members of their team? I’m certainly no fan of Katherine Harris, but I’m even less a fan of Karen Thurman, whose judgment and leadership are certainly questionable in this instance.

Here you’ve got the state Democratic Party, which has already been put through the wringer by the Republican state legislature (oh, wait, that’s right — it was a Democrat who filed the bill to move the state’s primary to Jan. 29, incurring the wrath of the national party and rendering its primary meaningless) and the Democratic National Committee, paying to design and host a “satirical site” that is neither funny nor in good taste.

Seems to me the only joke around here is the Florida Democratic Party. And it’s not funny, either.