Zell's Zinger

It was one heck of a speech- best if you get to see it on video, but powerful on the written page.

The BBC trashed it as 'nasty', but they've never seen all the many expressions of Democratic 'righteous anger' against Bush- such as that from Al Gore- as 'nasty', so I don't see why they should start now with Miller's indignation against Kerry.

As a Brit I'm just glad that there are people in the US like Zell Miller prepared to stand up aganst the odds and put their experience and their hearts into dealing with the problems facing the West.

If Zell was motivated by anger at the past, as he hinted, that's a lot better than looking for future political/monetary advantage- though whether a man in his early 70's can be all that concerned about his future career is debatable. Ask Bobby. Or to be fair, Rummy.

All in all I can't think of a better person to have been endorsing Bush last night.

The BBC sneered that he looked bad compared to Barak Obama's speech. Oh really? If it was Barak endorsing Bush the only questions on the lips of journalists would have been how much he was paid or what he would be getting. The fact that it seems absurd to ask that question of Miller speaks volumes for how good it was to have him there. He didn't renege on his Democratic roots; he just endorsed Bush (which is of course, really nasty).

The BBC later reported what will doubtless be the standard Democrat line, that it was "a night of angry old men". That's not really so clever coming from the camp of the botoxified Brahmin in his sixties running on the strength of his 'long political experience' and his time in Vietnam.

Update: Michael Barone has an excellent and thoughtful take on why Miller's (but also Cheney's) speech hit the mark. If it seems like it was o.t.t. to you, this is a good one to read.