From Anger to Laughter

[sereneorange]

I was appauled when I watched Zell Miller. Then I looked into him a bit more. He is clearly addled. I want to show a bit more flip floppage.

The real story of what happened to ‘We the people’ is that the Republicans sold us out, with a generation of trickle-down economics that blew the deficit sky-high, drove poverty through the roof, squeezed the middle class like a lemon at a county fair. They gave themselves the gold mine and they gave the rest of us the shaft.

--Zell Miller, 1996

Just two years ago, Miller expressed support for the creation of a 9/11 commission with "far-reaching powers," one that will deliver a "full and complete accounting of the circumstances surrounding the attacks." But last week, he took to the Senate floor to blast Richard Clarke and declare that the Commission will "energize our enemies and demoralize our troops." Miller went on to accuse the President's critics of treason

Miller is admirably contrite about his 1960s flirtation with Jim Crow. He expresses particular regret for having called Lyndon Johnson "a Southerner who has sold his birthright for a mess of dark porridge," and pleads guilty not to racism but to having "followed the Pied Piper into the quicksand of political expediency."

His interview with Chris Matthews showed what dementia does. And it is sad:

MATTHEWS:  Well, let me ask you, when Democrats come out, as they often do, liberal Democrats, and attack conservatives, and say they want to starve little kids, they want to get rid of education, they want to kill the old people...

MILLER:  I am not saying that.  Wait a minute. 

MATTHEWS:  That kind of rhetoric is not educational, is it? 

MILLER:  Wait a minute. 

Now, this is your program.  And I am a guest on your program.

MATTHEWS:  Yes, sir.

MILLER:  And so I want to try to be as nice as I possibly can to you.  I wish I was over there, where I could get a little closer up into your face.

MILLER:  But I don‘t have to stand here and listen to that kind of stuff.  I didn‘t say anything about not feeding poor kids.  What are you doing? 

MATTHEWS:  No, I‘m saying that when you said tonight—I just want you to...

MILLER:  Well, you are saying a bunch of baloney that didn‘t have

anything to do with what I said up there on the

(CROSSTALK)  

MILLER:  No, no.

MATTHEWS:  OK.  Do you believe now—do you believe, Senator, truthfully, that John Kerry wants to defend the country with spitballs?  Do you believe that? 

MILLER:  That was a metaphor, wasn‘t it?  Do you know what a metaphor is? 

MATTHEWS:  Well, what do you mean by a metaphor?

MILLER:  Wait a minute.  He certainly does not want to defend the country with the B-1 bomber or the B-2 bomber or the Harrier jet or the Apache helicopter or all those other things that I mentioned.  And there were even more of them in here. 

You‘ve got to quit taking these Democratic talking points and using what they are saying to you.

MATTHEWS:  No, I am using your talking points and asking you if you really believe them. 

MILLER:  Well, use John Kerry‘s talking points from the—from what he has had to say on the floor of the Senate, where he talked about them being occupiers, where he put out this whenever he was running for the U.S.  Senate about what he wanted to cancel.  Cancel to me means to do away with. 

MATTHEWS:  Well, what did you mean by the following.

MILLER:  I think we ought to cancel this interview. 

MATTHEWS:  Well, I don‘t mean...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS:  Well, that would be my loss, Senator.  That would be my loss. 

Let me ask you about this, because I think you have a view on the role of reporters in the world.  You have said and it has often been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.  Was there not...

MILLER:  Do you believe that? 

MATTHEWS:  Well, of course it‘s true. 

MILLER:  Do you believe that? 

MATTHEWS:  But it‘s a statement that nobody would have challenged.  Why did you make it?  It seems like no one would deny what you said.  So what‘s your point? 

MILLER:  Well, it evidently got a rise out of you.

MATTHEWS:  Well, I think it‘s a

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER:  Because you are a reporter. 

MATTHEWS:  That‘s right. 

MILLER:  You didn‘t have anything to do with freedom of the press. 

MATTHEWS:  Well, you could argue it was not nurses who defended the freedom of nursing.  Why did you single out freedom of the press to say it was the soldiers that defended it and not the reporters?  We all know that.  Why did you say it? 

MILLER:  Well, because I thought it needed to be said at this particular time, because I wanted to come on...

MATTHEWS:  Because you could get an applause line against the media at a conservative convention.

MILLER:  No, I said it because it was—you‘re hopeless.  I wish I was over there. 

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER:  In fact, I wish that we lived in—I wish we lived in the

day

(CROSSTALK)  

MATTHEWS:  I‘ve got to warn you, we are in a tough part of town over here. 

MATTHEWS:  But I do recommend you come over, because I like you. 

Let me tell you this. 

MILLER:  Chris. 

MATTHEWS:  If a Republican Senator broke ranks and—all right, I‘m sorry.

A Republican Senator broke ranks and came over and spoke for the Democrats, would you respect him? 

MILLER:  Yes, of course I would. 

MATTHEWS:  Why? 

MILLER:  I have seen that happen from time to time.  Look, I believe...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS:  What does Jim Jeffords say to you?

MILLER:  Wait a minute.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS:  Jim Jeffords switched parties after getting elected.

MILLER:  If you‘re going to ask a question...

MATTHEWS:  Well, it‘s a tough question.  It takes a few words. 

MILLER:  Get out of my face. 

MILLER:  If you are going to ask me a question, step back and let me answer. 

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS:  Senator, please.

MILLER:  You know, I wish we...

MILLER:  I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel. 

MILLER:  Now, that would be pretty good. 

Don‘t ask me—don‘t pull that...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS:  Can you can come over?  I need you, Senator.  Please come over.

MILLER:  Wait a minute.  Don‘t pull that kind of stuff on me, like you did that young lady when you had her there, browbeating her to death.  I am not her.  I am not her.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS:  Let me tell you, she was suggesting that John Kerry purposely shot himself to win a medal.  And I was trying to correct the record.

MILLER:  You get in my face, I am going to get back in your face. 

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER:  The only reason you are doing it is because you are standing way over there in Herald Square. 

MATTHEWS:  Senator, Senator, can I speak softly to you?  I would really like you to...

MILLER:  What?  No, no, no, because you won‘t give me a chance to answer.  You ask these questions and then you just talk over what I am trying to answer, just like you did that woman the other day. 

MATTHEWS:  Well, Senator...

MILLER:  I don‘t know why I even came on this program. 

MATTHEWS:  Well, I am glad you did. 

 

Comments

[thewordgirl.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna pounce you for that ICON!!!!!!

[serene-orange.livejournal.com]

take it. it was given free for the takins off bushwacked community