Posted on 09/01/2004 7:20:11 PM PDT by NavySEAL F-16
The New York Times September 1, 2004 Remarks Made by Senator Zell Miller
The following is the full text of remarks made by Senator Zell Miller, as prepared for delivery.
Since I last stood in this spot, a whole new generation of the Miller Family has been born: Four great grandchildren.
Along with all the other members of our close-knit family -- they are my and Shirley's most precious possessions.
And I know that's how you feel about your family also.
Like you, I think of their future, the promises and the perils they will face.
Like you, I believe that the next four years will determine what kind of world they will grow up in.
And like you, I ask which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower and, yes, the backbone to best protect my family?
The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight. For my family is more important than my party.
There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man's name is George Bush.
In the summer of 1940, I was an eight-year-old boy living in a remote little Appalachian valley.
Our country was not yet at war but even we children knew that there were some crazy men across the ocean who would kill us if they could.
President Roosevelt, in his speech that summer, told America "all private plans, all private lives, have been in a sense repealed by an overriding public danger."
In 1940 Wendell Wilkie was the Republican nominee.
And there is no better example of someone repealing their "private plans" than this good man.
He gave Roosevelt the critical support he needed for a peacetime draft, an unpopular idea at the time.
And he made it clear that he would rather lose the election than make national security a partisan campaign issue.
Shortly before Wilkie died he told a friend, that if he could write his own epitaph and had to choose between "here lies a president" or "here lies one who contributed to saving freedom", he would prefer the latter. Where are such statesmen today?
Where is the bi-partisanship in this country when we need it most?
Now, while young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrat's manic obsession to bring down our Commander-in- Chief.
What has happened to the party I've spent my life working in?
I can remember when Democrats believed that it was the duty of America to fight for freedom over tyranny.
It was Democratic President Harry Truman who pushed the Red Army out of Iran, who came to the aid of Greece when Communists threatened to overthrow it, who stared down the Soviet blockade of West Berlin by flying in supplies and saving the city.
Time after time in our history, in the face of great danger, Democrats and Republicans worked together to ensure that freedom would not falter. But not today.
Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator.
And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.
Tell that to the one-half of Europe that was freed because Franklin Roosevelt led an army of liberators, not occupiers.
Tell that to the lower half of the Korean Peninsula that is free because Dwight Eisenhower commanded an army of liberators, not occupiers.
Tell that to the half a billion men, women and children who are free today from the Baltics to the Crimea, from Poland to Siberia, because Ronald Reagan rebuilt a military of liberators, not occupiers.
Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.
For it has been said so truthfully 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.
No one should dare to even think about being the Commander in Chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home.
But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of my party today. In their warped way of thinking America is the problem, not the solution.
They don't believe there is any real danger in the world except that which America brings upon itself through our clumsy and misguided foreign policy.
It is not their patriotism - it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking. They claimed Carter's pacifism would lead to peace. They were wrong.
They claimed Reagan's defense buildup would lead to war.
They were wrong.
And, no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.
Together, Kennedy/Kerry have opposed the very weapons system that won the Cold War and that is now winning the War on Terror.
Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts.
The B-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped 40% of the bombs in the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The B-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hussein's command post in Iraq.
The F-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot down Khadifi's Libyan MIGs over the Gulf of Sidra. The modernized F-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered missile strikes against Tora Bora.
The Apache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed, took out those Republican Guard tanks in Kuwait in the Gulf War. The F-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed, flew cover over our Nation's Capital and this very city after 9/11.
I could go on and on and on: Against the Patriot Missile that shot down Saddam Hussein's scud missiles over Israel, Against the Aegis air-defense cruiser, Against the Strategic Defense Initiative, Against the Trident missile, against, against, against.
This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces?
U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?
Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric.
Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people who you really are deep inside.
Senator Kerry has made it clear that he would use military force only if approved by the United Nations.
Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending. I want Bush to decide.
John Kerry, who says he doesn't like outsourcing, wants to outsource our national security.
That's the most dangerous outsourcing of all. This politician wants to be leader of the free world.
Free for how long?
For more than twenty years, on every one of the great issues of freedom and security, John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure. As a war protestor, Kerry blamed our military.
As a Senator, he voted to weaken our military. And nothing shows that more sadly and more clearly than his vote this year to deny protective armor for our troops in harms way, far-away.
George Bush understands that we need new strategies to meet new threats.
John Kerry wants to re-fight yesterday's war. George Bush believes we have to fight today's war and be ready for tomorrow's challenges. George Bush is committed to providing the kind of forces it takes to root out terrorists.
No matter what spider hole they may hide in or what rock they crawl under.
George Bush wants to grab terrorists by the throat and not let them go to get a better grip.
From John Kerry, they get a "yes-no-maybe" bowl of mush that can only encourage our enemies and confuse our friends.
I first got to know George Bush when we served as governors together. I admire this man.
I am moved by the respect he shows the First Lady, his unabashed love for his parents and his daughters, and the fact that he is unashamed of his belief that God is not indifferent to America.
I can identify with someone who has lived that line in "Amazing Grace," "Was blind, but now I see," and I like the fact that he's the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning.
He is not a slick talker but he is a straight shooter and, where I come from, deeds mean a lot more than words.
I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel.
The man I trust to protect my most precious possession: my family.
This election will change forever the course of history, and that's not any history. It's our family's history.
The only question is how. The answer lies with each of us. And, like many generations before us, we've got some hard choosing to do.
Right now the world just cannot afford an indecisive America. Fainthearted, self-indulgence will put at risk all we care about in this world.
In this hour of danger our President has had the courage to stand up. And this Democrat is proud to stand up with him. Thank you.
God Bless this great country and God Bless George W. Bush.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | RSS | Help | Back to Top
THe irony is that Zell was replaced by Paul Coverdale who died in 2000. After the defection of Jim Jeffords, it tilted the Senate. You know the Democrats were giddy when Senator Coverdale died, but I am sure it is a different story today.
Zell was just dynamite on everything last night. I chose the first part for two reasons. One was the look on the face of President Bush when he was told about the second plane crashing into the Trade Center. I will never forget that look.
Second is a picture online a couple of months ago. President Bush was working the rope line at some event. He shook hands with a girl about 12, her father and their neighbor. As he was moving along someone told him the girl had lost her mother in the Trade Center attack. He stopped, went back, asked her how she was and just gave her a big hug. The father was able to snap a picture. You could actually see into the soul of President Bush at that moment. It showed the pain and suffering and anguish he felt for all the victims and the nation.
Saved a copy of the picture but have no way at the moment to post it.
Zell's speech delivered more than a flesh wound!
And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.
Now we know Iraq's infrastructure needs to be rebuilt and we face the challenge of forging a new government and giving it legitimacy under circumstances that were entirely predictable and entirely ignored by this administration. We were told by this administration, in their confidence--and, may I add, in their arrogance--that the Iraqis would see us as liberators.
They see us as occupiers --again, something many predicted absent the effort to try to globalize our effort. They see us as a foreign power ruling over their country, preventing self-determination, not providing it. We were told to expect elections and quick transition to self-governance. But now we know those elections may be many months away at best.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, 6 months ago, President Bush took the country to war with Iraq, without the support of key allies other than Britain, without the support of the international community at large. We didn't need international support to win the war. We all knew that our brave fighting men and women would defeat Saddam Hussein's forces easily. But we did--and we do--need the international community to help us win the peace--a painfully obvious truth that this administration has steadfastly refused to accept.
As long as Iraqis see us as occupiers rather than liberators, our troops will remain at increased risk and our efforts to rebuild Iraq's economy and political system will be suspect. The process of reconstructing Iraq and creating a new Iraqi government must be an international process--not an American process. Only then will it gain full legitimacy in the eyes of the Iraqi people and the world.
The Bush administration's brazen go-it-alone policy has placed the burden and the bill for rebuilding Iraq almost solely on the shoulders of the American people. They don't deserve it, and they don't want it. We need an immediate change of course.
(Senate - October 17, 2003)
This administration's brazen go-it-alone policy has placed our soldiers at unnecessary risk and our hopes for success in jeopardy. It has turned American liberators into occupiers in the eyes of many Iraqis. It has created a terrorist presence in Iraq where none previously existed and made Iraq a recruiting poster for terrorists of the future. It has undermined the legitimacy of our efforts at home, abroad, and in Iraq. And it has left Iraqis wondering when they will get their country back. We cannot continue on this course. The stakes are too high--for our troops, for the Iraqi people, for the region, and for American security.
Wow, I didn't know that. Jumping Jim gave us Zell?
I watched his speech last night and was amazed with his delivery and conviction and choice of words. Also the fact the he seemed to have memorized it or just knew it from the heart.
It was a speech to remember, wish I had taped it. He shredded Kerry and definitely brought some votes to us. He also gave Kerry voters a guilty conscience, provided they have one and watched the speech.
My favourite political speech ever.
I'm smelling burnt toast coming from John Kerry's Waffle House.
The media says some did and some didn't. The media of course pointed out that there were more protestors for Bush's arrival than Kerry's.
Yep, that's why algore lost Tennessee. Everyone despised the way he held up traffic EVERYTIME he came "home".
As Truman said in response to: "Give em Hell, Harry."
"I give 'em the truth, they think it's Hell"
Er, he's got it all backwards ...
Paul Coverdell gave the Governor the opportunity to appoint a Democrat to replace him ... Zell Miller.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/07/27/miller.senate.ap/
"I will serve no single political party, but rather 71/2 million Georgians," Miller said. "And every day I serve, I will do my best to do so in the same spirit of dignity, integrity and bipartisan cooperation that were the hallmarks of Paul Coverdell's career."
Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Coverdell and Miller have many similarities, despite their political differences. "Like Paul Coverdell, Zell Miller builds bridges, not walls," Daschle said.
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I am sure Daschle is deeply saddened when Zell Miller blamed Daschle for forcing 17 nay votes on the Homeland Security Bill, because they wanted to put labor union special interests above national security. He did that on Hardball last night.
Er, should has said:
Paul Coverdell's *death* gave the Governor the opportunity to appoint a Democrat to replace him ... Zell Miller.
Great speech. No doubt the best of the convention. The Democrat Party of today is not the same my grandparents belonged to.
Sean Hannity warned everyone that it was going to be powerful. But that was an understatement. His speech absolutley blew me away. I could not believe it. I still am pinching myself this morning.
Is anyone here "Mad as Zell and not going to take it anymore?"
Is anyone here "Mad as Zell and not going to take it anymore?"
LOL!
Great line!
I saw it on another thread. Wish I could claim ownership.
Wasn't it great seeing Zell taking on spitting Christine Matthews?
Matthews is such a horse puck. And when Zell mentioned he had seen what Matthews did to Michelle, Zell was livid in his condemnation.
Of course, the weakknee'd MSBNC hosts made fun of Zell when Zell wasn't around to hear them. What wusses!
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