Blast from the past 2

While we pack up Chex Borepatch in preparation for our drang nach suden strategy, I'm re-posting older posts.  I have to say that politically, I'm likely a Zell Miler Democrat, and think that this is perhaps the greatest political speech since the early days of Ronald Reagan.

If the Democratic Party could come to grips with Zell's critiques, they would be a fearsome competitor to the Republicans.  Of course, the Republicans hear precisely this sort of thing from Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. They don't know what to do, either.  In ten years, we'll know better how the current changes play out.

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When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008 there were thousands of articles in the press about the "post partisan" promise of an Obama presidency. Rather than the bickering we had been seeing in Washington, Obama the outsider would be able to reach across the aisle to get things working again. Or something.

What we've seen is the most partisan administration that I remember - and I've been voting sinve 1976. Long enough to see real bi-partisanship:

Democrat Zell Miller at Republican Convention A MUST SEE!!!!!!!!


This is Zell Miller, Denocrat Governor and Senator from Georgia, at the 2004 Republican convention. It's long, but the part from 1:50 - 5:50 still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. And the part from 7:00 to 8:00 is as fresh today (about Afghanistan) as it was then.

And the bit at 10:50 speaks volumes about candidate Obama's rhetoric compared to his actions.

Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric. Campaign talk tells you what you want people to think you are; how you vote tells you what you really are ...

Zell is an Old School Democrat, as am I. You can hear this clearly at around 13:30. It has an anachronistic feel to it - like a fussy older gentleman who insists on wearing bow ties. You know that the world - or the Party - has moved on, leaving him (and me) behind.

He is not a slick talker, but he is a straight shooter, and where I come from, deeds mean a lot more than words ... Right now the world cannot afford an indecisive America. Faint hearted self-indulgence will put at risk all we hold dear in this world.

Of course, the Mastodon Main Stream Media was horrified by Zell's speech. Chris Matthews tried ambush journalism in a post-speech interview, and was thoroughly spanked:




Matthews tried gamely, even for as disappointing a candidate as John Kerry. No thrill running up his leg back then. Now with Obama it's a whole different game. Post partisan means submission. The Media has become an arm of the Democratic congressional Whips, used to enforce party discipline. No more Zells will be tolerated.

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The woman that Zell Miller refers to is Michelle Malkin, who needs no defending (she seems quite capable on her own, thank you very much).  But Matthews continues in a way that will be uncomfortable to Obama partisans - the bit about George W. Bush not being bipartisan:

This country was promised unity after the last election, by the President, that you're supporting.  And he urged the country to come together.

Obviously, Zell Miller did not cause a thrill to run up Chris Matthews' leg.