Republicans Betray the Democratic Traitor

Published on September 3, 2004 By blogic In Politics

From MSNBC:

After gauging the harsh reaction from Democrats and Republicans alike to Sen. Zell Miller’s keynote address at the Republican National Convention, the Bush campaign — led by the first lady — backed away Thursday from Miller’s savage attack on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, insisting that the estranged Democrat was speaking only for himself.

Zell Miller was the featured keynote speaker at the convention, but now we're supposed to believe he was only speaking for himself?

For those who haven't been following this, Miller went on to all but challenge Chris Matthews to a duel, which has led to days of references, between my wife and I, to the "tomacco" Simpsons episode which also features Homer challenging everyone to duels.

Comments (Page 1)

kingbee

on Sep 03, 2004

i sure hope chris is a better shot--or more agile--than al hamilton

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 03, 2004

lol kingbee

jdjefferson

on Sep 03, 2004

Aren't all the convention speeches vetted before presenting? Probably personally by Rove?

Televised duels! Why hasn't Fox thought of that one yet? In the same vein as "Celebrity Boxing"--"Celebrity Dueling"!

vincible

on Sep 03, 2004

I'm sure the text is vetted, but the delivery isn't. And telling Chris Matthews that he wished he could shoot him was definitely not in the script.

Draginol

on Sep 03, 2004

I was actually watching Hardball when that happened and I could see why Zell Miller was pissed off. The guy is a 80 year old krotchety guy, and doesn't tend to put up with nonsense. A lot of that had to do with the remote interview thing (and if you've ever done a remote interview, you know what I mean).

vincible

on Sep 03, 2004

What about the remote interview thing? I think most of us haven't ever done one.

historyishere

on Sep 03, 2004

All the news networks should by Errol Morris-type "Interretrons". Basically it is like having a camera with a teleprompter screen on it, but instead of having words on it, it has the video feed of the person you are talking to, so you can look them in the eye as you are talking to them, and you can gauge their mannerisms and such.

Madine

on Sep 03, 2004

Aren't all the convention speeches vetted before presenting? Probably personally by Rove?

I heard the Democrats vetted their speeches (though Sharpton slipped his through) but I haven't heard that the Republicans did that.

insisting that the estranged Democrat was speaking only for himself.

Yes, the Republican party actually believes in letting people speak for themselves and have their own opinions.

jdjefferson

on Sep 03, 2004

I heard the Democrats vetted their speeches (though Sharpton slipped his through) but I haven't heard that the Republicans did that.

I'm not 100% sure either about the Rep. speeches being vetted. The reason I asked is I heard Mark Shields on the PBS RNC coverage ask Karen Hughes about it:

MARK SHIELDS: I just wanted to ask you. I mean, Sen. Kerry obviously is coming back with a blistering counterattack, and the speech last night by Zell Miller -- and we were told by Karl Rove that every speech had been vetted, every word had been approved -- was a speech that made Pat Buchanan's 1992 speech in Houston sound like Mr. Rogers. source:Link

She did not specifically reply that the speech had been vetted, so we cannot assume it had been. Just curious.

Daiwa

on Sep 03, 2004

Who, besides the First Lady, has "backed away?"

And what exactly about saying he was speaking his own mind is "backing away?"

And what are the specifics of this "insisting" you're talking about?

Do you really believe that he wasn't speaking for himself?

Sorry, blogic, but unless you have more evidence of people specifically disavowing or contradicting his remarks, your blog headline is totally bogus and a very weak attempt at diverting attention.

Cheers,
Daiwa

Daiwa

on Sep 03, 2004

[Kerry’s running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, told NBC News on Thursday that Miller went “way over the top.” In an appearance on CBS’s “The Early Show,” he said: “What we heard from the Republicans in that hall last night was an enormous amount of anger.”

“Anger’s not going to change this country and do what needs to be done for America,” he said in Norristown, Pa.

Joe Lockhart, a spokesman for Kerry, predicted a backlash. “Slash and burn politics didn’t work in 1992,” he said. “They won’t work now.”]

The above is excerpted verbatim from the MSNBC article linked in your blog. Now, that's funny.

The article does cite a few other Republicans who publicly disagreed with the tone, but that's a long way from "betraying" Miller. As for Miller being "disinvited" from the Presidential Box, read into it what you want. If Bush or those in charge truly felt he had gone overboard, and that they needed to distance themselves from his obviously heart-felt venom, maybe they did the right thing. Had the Dems "disinvited" Al Gore after his "HE BETRAYED AMERICA" speech, I'd have more sympathy. I'd also like to see Kerry/Edwards publicly scold Whoopy Goldberg and a few others for being "way over the top" (not to mention apologize for lauding them). Until then, it's all crocodile tears.

And remember, MSNBC now has a bone to pick.

Cheers,
Daiwa

JillUser

on Sep 03, 2004

Daiwa, I like the cut of your jib I saw the interviews with Laura Bush and I don't know how it was construed as turning her back on Zell. She out right said she had never met John or Theresa and didn't have the experience that Zell was working from.

I totally believe that Zell got flooded with requests for interviews. After his heated throw down with Chris Mathews, which I thought was thoroughly entertaining, everyone wanted to talk to him.

I can't help but feel like the Democrats are dishing it out but crying foul when they get served their own medicine. Kerry got his lawyers to put heat on the publisher of the Swift Boat Vet's book and any station that was playing any of the SBVFT ads. Kerry hasn't said anything to discredit what they have been saying. All he has done is try to silence the opposition by crying foul play. He didn't watch the President's speech at the RNC but came up with the juvenile line "RNC stands for Really Not Compassionate".

Somehow it is just fine for Kerry to keep saying that Bush mislead us into war (never mind that he himself voted for it and stated that he had been telling America for years that Saddam was an imminent threat) but Zell can't point out that Kerry voted against arming our soldiers. Kerry claims that the Republicans questioned his patriotism and called him unfit to lead. I would like to see the quotes because I sure didn't hear them first hand.

I think the whole "Repubs turning their backs on Zell" spin is intended to make Zell regret what he did. I highly doubt he did it for the REpublican party. I believe he did it based on his own convictions. Now "get out of my face!"

Daiwa

on Sep 03, 2004

Jill -

I nearly fell off my chair when Kerry showed up on TV not 30 minutes after Bush finished his speech and tried to occupy the good-ole-boy ground with his "All hat, no cattle" comment. Talk about sounding foolish, trying to be what he's not!

On a positive note, I got a huge kick out of Bush's comment about how some people accuse him of having a certain swagger "which in Texas we call walking." Absolutely perfect rejoinder. And I'm from nowhere near Texas, though I have a number of friends there who actually do walk like him.

Cheers,
Daiwa

Daiwa

on Sep 03, 2004

I think the whole "Repubs turning their backs on Zell" spin is intended to make Zell regret what he did.

I agree, Jill, but I doubt they'll succeed. If he budges so much as an inch, I'll eat my hat.

And thanks for your kind comments, BTW.

Cheers,
Daiwa

ShoZan

on Sep 03, 2004

I would still like to see the Zell Miller versus Chris Matthews Duel done on a comedy show, would be a good comedy sketch.

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