Carpe Datum

Zell on Earth

Republicans Have a Lot to Be Angry About.
After All, They're Responsible for the Mess We're In.

They replayed the Zell Miller fiasco on "The Daily Show" last night (stole my post title from them, by the way), and it was awesome. I couldn't believe how much anger that guy was radiating from the podium. One part of his speech that bugged me (and Jon Stewart commented on it, too) was the part in which he criticized Kerry and the Democrats for trying to "bring down" the commander-in-chief in a time of war. As Stewart put it, "How DARE the Democrats field a candidate! And during an election year! How DARE they!"

And to be honest, that's pretty close to the gist of the speech. William Saletan has a very good analysis of the whole convention, and I'll quote just a small part of it that relates to my point today. Really, though, the whole thing is excellent.

In a democracy, the commander in chief works for you. You hire him when you elect him. You watch him do the job. If he makes good decisions and serves your interests, you rehire him. If he doesn't, you fire him by voting for his opponent in the next election.

Not every country works this way. In some countries, the commander in chief builds a propaganda apparatus that equates him with the military and the nation. If you object that he's making bad decisions and disserving the national interest, you're accused of weakening the nation, undermining its security, sabotaging the commander in chief, and serving a foreign power—the very charges Miller leveled tonight against Bush's critics.

Are you prepared to become one of those countries? [...]

So now you have two reasons to show up at the polls in November. One is to stop Bush from screwing up economic and foreign policy more than he already has. The other is to remind him and his propagandists that even after 9/11, you still have that right.

Even the Republicans are getting smart and backing off from Zell's nutty speech (he was disinvited from his special box seat for Bush's speech). But I thought it was great. Summarized the whole pro-Bush nutball mindset perfectly and let everyone know what they'll be voting for (or against) come November.

I didn't see Bush's speech, but I figure since he didn't swallow his tongue, the pundits will be falling all over themselves to call it "masterful" and "remarkable"

Posted by Observer at September 3, 2004 02:19 PM