He’s retiring. He’s a Democrat. I have to believe that what he said tonight came from the heart, not calculated for his political advantage.
But I wish I could vote for him. After that speech, I would.
That was a very well-spoken gentleman up there. Not a half-bad speaker, either. Hard to see what he would gain from this speech, so I’d have to agree.
Didn’t see the speech but I’ve read a few of his fawning pieces regarding George Bush on the Wall Street Journal editorial page over the past few years from which I can safely conclude that Zell Miller is an idiot.
From the N.Y. Times text of his speech:
Does this guy even read and know what’s going on?!?! What freakin’ planet does he live on?
I think a lot of people fell off the fence with that speech. Hard to find any criticisms with the pacing, forcefulness, language, and delivery. If Bush was my man, I’d say it was a great speech. Ah hell, it was a great speech.
Of course it was a one note speech: Bush is the defender of your children, with steely resolve to kick ass. Kerry is a pussy, a dangerous man to your family.
But I gather that’s all he was asked to say.
Currently watching Cheney kill the whole vibe.
What a grumpy old man. He looked angry the entire time he was up there, and was just plain hateful. It’s like he was a charicature of an old man ranting about how kids these days don’t respect anyone, and he knows best, we’re going to hell in a handbasket, etc.
I wish I could vote against him.
Zig Zag Zell is no idiot. Bitter and disillusioned would be more descriptive.
Please, I don’t understand one word of German. What the fuck did Miller say?
COUGH/nazi/Cough
His voice gave me the creeps. It was like listening to Falwell talk about Jay-zus.
I read his book. The speech pretty much accurately reflects what he’s been thinking for a long time.
This is a man who believes deeply that the Democratic Party cannot be trusted to defend America, as it once could. This is deeply troubling to him.
Agree or disagree, the man came to this conclusion honestly.
I think his speech was a miscalculation by the Republicans. It reminded me of Buchanan in 1992, which turned off more potential voters than it brought in, so the conventional wisdom was at the time.
I thought his being tethered to the teleprompter had the unfortunate (for him and the Republicans) effect of making him appear particularly beady-eyed and shifty.
Frankly I was glad that Miller gave the speech he did. I think it will ultimately help Kerry. Perhaps some of the pundits are right, and the Republicans figure that they can win by solidifying and energizing their base. This speech would have done that, but I think it will turn off moderates and push away undecideds.
Thanks, Zell. Now go Cheney yourself.
And btw, this Washington Post story makes it sound like Kerry’s campaign came up with “Zig Zag Zell”. Ain’t so. It was developed by one of his previous campaign adversaries.
He came by it honestly.
I think the GOP got a better trade: Zell Miller for Ron Reagan.
Don’t forget that a great many Americans still conflate the war on terror with the war on iraq. Even a great many undecideds.
Zell’s speech was hardcore. The most forceful attempt at polarization thru appeals to militance and fear that I’ve witnessed in this campaign. I think it was effective in that regard.
This may be true…But, it is sort of a sin of omission. It is not like Zell has broken with the Dems over just this one issue. He has just completely broken with them on just about everything. He supports Bush tax cuts and wants to make the permanent. His League of Conservation Voters ratings for the second session of the 107th Congress (2002) and the first session of the 108th Congress (2003) were 6% and 0%. His American Conservative Union rating in 2003 was 75% and at least some if not all of the things he broke with them on, like the prescription drug plan, were still voting in support of Bush.
He may think that the Democrats have somehow dramatically changed in the last few years and abandoned him…But that notion is whacked! Hell, he has even abandoned the bipartisan center, voting against the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Bill for example.
There are people like this who are just not politically stable. Wasn’t Bork once practically a socialist and then a libertarian before becoming an authoritarian conservative?
Are you suggesting that he came to his political conclusions any more honestly than anyone else, say for example, John Kerry?
Was he speaking from the heart, with his hard won honest convictions, when he said this in 2001:
Yah, the Southern Democrats really hate Zell. :rolleyes:
If the Dems have any other speakers from their last convention I think we can work them in. We’ve run out of newly elected Republican Governors from large Democratic states so I guess we’ll have to make some more.
Zell Miller’s post-speech appearance on Hardball was an unmitigated disaster for Zell and the Republican Party. Miller went completely unhinged; select quotes:
“I’m not gonna take this!”
“I wanna get in your face!”
“I think we oughta cancel this interview!”
“You’re hopeless.”
“Get outta my face!”
“I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel!”
The focus tonight was supposed to be Cheney. He is, after all, the vice president. But the focus is now on Zell Miller.
However, the speech itself may have been effective, at least for some. While his Democratic credentials are suspect at best, he is still presented as one, and when he speaks strongly against Kerry as a Democrat, I think it really does convince people. Especially as emotionally as he did. Give it a few days at we’ll see how it turns out…
I would really like to post a counter to each and every bald faced lie Szell spewed tonight. But we’ll have to arrange some kind of tag team, I can’t type more than about six pages without more crank…