Posted on 06/25/2004 8:35:14 AM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON (AP) — Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, the highest profile Democrat to endorse President Bush for re-election, will speak at the Republican National Convention later this summer, a congressional aide said Friday.Miller drew a sharp rebuke from the dean of Georgia's congressional delegation, Democratic Rep. John Lewis, who called the senator's decision "a shame and a disgrace."
According to the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Miller will give his address on Wednesday night of the four-day convention in New York that begins Aug. 30. The Bush-Cheney campaign was expected to make an official announcement later in the day.
The speech by Miller, a former two-term governor, comes 12 years after he delivered the keynote address for Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic National Convention, also held in New York.
Miller, who is retiring in January, has voted with Republicans more often than his own party and has been a key sponsor of many of Bush's top legislative priorities, including the Republican's tax cuts and education plan.
In May, Miller spoke at the Georgia Republican convention and criticized Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry as an "out-of-touch, ultraliberal from Taxachusetts" whose foreign and domestic policies would seriously weaken the country.
"I'm afraid that my old Democratic 'ties that bind' have become unraveled," Miller said.
In 2001, Miller had told a Georgia Democratic Party gathering that Kerry, the four-term Massachusetts senator and decorated Vietnam War veterans, was "an authentic" American hero who had worked to strengthen the military.
Miller's recent book, "A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat," is now a national best-seller. In it, he assails members of his own party, including Clinton.
"I think he has sold his soul for a mess of pottage," Lewis said, a reference to a speech Miller gave 40 years ago in which he argued that President Johnson was abandoning his Southern roots by pushing some civil rights issues. Pottage is defined as a thick soup or stew of vegetables.
Bobby Kahn, the chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party, said he wasn't surprised.
"Maybe I'll switch to the Republican Party so I can speak at the Democratic Convention and bash Bush," Kahn said. "It makes about as much sense."
Kahn was a top aide to Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, who appointed Miller to the Senate following the death of Miller's predecessor, Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell.
"I advocated his appointment," Kahn said of Miller. "He said he would be independent and he was for a while, but he hasn't been lately. He's been in lockstep with the Republicans and I don't know what's happened to him. It's really kind of sad."
Miller was appointed because they knew he was the only Dem who could hold the seat in the election..
I'm sure that the Senate Democratic caucus is very eager to expel Zell ... but probably won't do it for fear of the impact upon conservative Southern Democrats; they're very optimistic of holding at least 2 or 3 of the 5 Democratic seats (including Zell's) which are coming vacant this November.
No Rep. Lewis, Senator Miller's decision is not shameful or disgraceful -- it's the party which left him that's shameful and disgraceful.
Has their been ANY Republican of similar stature who has expressed support for Kerry?
Zell is one of the few Dems that still believes in America.
The rest will whine that this is a partisan effort of the evil republicans. Which party is the inclusive party? Who is bringing true Americans together?
There are plenty of northeastern Rockefeller RINOs that are hoping for a Kerry win.
Believe you me.
As a Georgian, I can tell you that our great Senator's views represent the vast majority in our state. It's Democrats like John Lewis who are out of touch, and are rapidly becoming an endangered species in this state.
What Zell understands and what he writes about, the rest of the party has swept under the rug.
The Democrat party is no more. It is now the Socialist party. Conservative Democrats, even some liberal Democrats, once they finally understand what has happened will move over to the Republican party.
They will have no choice. Either accept the Socialist agenda, run on that platform and hope that your constituency are idiots, take back your party or change to Republican.
What's so confusing? He's a Marine, and we are at war.
what, pray tell, is your source for the Dem's optimism about holding the senate seats?....Do you recall Terry McAuliffe, the day before election day 2002, on all the nets saying that Jeb would lose, and the Dems would retake the HOuse and the Senate..
And maybe the "star" Arnold?
Maybe they are rinos but both of them have publically supported President Bush. If in fact they want Kerry to win they have not said so. Miller and Koch are very vocal about their support for President Bush.
Has their been ANY Republican of similar stature who has expressed support for Kerry?
I'll bet good money that if mclame had agreed to join kerry on the RAT ticket, lewis would call such a decision "bi-partisan and courageous".
"...conservative Southern Democrats; they're very optimistic of holding at least 2 or 3 of the 5 Democratic seats (including Zell's) which are coming vacant this November."
Zell's seat will go to a republican; the democrats have very little chance to hold it.
I just finished Senator Miller's book, and it's refreshing to find a democrat with the backbone to stand up to the socialist democrat leadership. Still wish he'd come over to our side though.
Good for you Zell. And here I thought the term "loyal opposition" was dead.
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