Leave it to a Democrat to steal the show at a Republican gathering. In contrast to last night's fluff, Senator Zell Miller delivered a serious speech at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night.
Miller hammered away at three winning issues for Republicans: faith, sovereignty, and a strong military. These used to be winning issues for Southern Democrats too, which does a lot to explain why a Georgia Democrat addressed a Republican convention. The Democrat Senator delivered his old-school oration with a scowl and a Southern accent. The red-meat may have been off-putting to lobotomized couch potatoes, but its substance and rhetorical flair grabbed the attention of anyone paying any.
Why did the keynoter at Bill Clinton's 1992 nominating convention deliver the keynote address for George W. Bush twelve years later? "For my family is more important than my party," Miller answered, implying that Americans are more secure with Bush in the Oval Office. Miller outlined a laundry list of weapons systems that Kerry opposed, and how they were later used to defeat our enemies. He noted that Kerry hopes to "outsource" our national security, citing an ancient Kerry remark that the US should get UN approval before deciding to use military force. Miller also spoke of faith and family values, noting that Bush is "the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning."
What was best about Miller's speech is that it provoked genuine emotion from those gathered, as opposed to the obligatory applause that greeted other speakers. No line seemed to generate more enthusiasm than Miller's observations that "it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.... It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.... It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag who gives that protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag."
True dat.
As Zell spoke it became very apparent that the conservative movement is quite dead. May it rest in peace.
I think that Senator Miller was just in what he said. If anyone thinks that Kerry would actually be a strong enough Commander in Chief to properly run and support this country, I personally believe that they are being misled. It is not normal to see such a controversial move to name a key note speaker as happened with last night, but in the long run I really do think it will pay off for Bush. Miller strongly recounted all the records of import with happenings as of late that Kerry went against because in his apathetic view it was not a sensitive way to go about defending ourselves from other countries.
If you look at how long both Kerry and Miller have been in the Senate, I think that Miller had the right to say what he did last night, and the records are public for the votes that he mentioned last night. Kerry says he supports defense and making sure that this country moves forward but look in his eyes when he speaks about it, the eyes tell you that he is only giving lip service and means nothing of what he is saying.
As an ex-military man I, myself, would not want John Forbes Kerry being my Commander in Chief, because I would never believe a word he said. Not only that I would be scared that like Zell said we would only be armed with spitballs while our enemies would be armed with the latest weapons they could get their hands on.
He stated it right, our family comes first; but we must be able to defend ourselves from them whether it is at home or abroad (meaning that our beloved soldiers need the best offensive and defensive cabalities available), and to realize that just like when we were founded, we are one nation under God (no matter what you may call him).
Zell in '08!
He may be, but the Pres kicked major bootay tonight and sounded glib, intelligent, strong and ultimately presidential.
Zell is a racist dixecrat. i wish he's go over to the republicans. he belongs there.
