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DEL.ICIO.USThe difference between Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Tuesday night speech by U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, only eight years ago the Democratic nominee for vice-president, on behalf of Republican presidential pick John McCain brought up a half-dozen comparisons to Zell Miller’s role in the 2004 convention that nominated George W. Bush for a second term.
(Governor, if you’re reading this, we really did try to call you. Give a shout.)
The Los Angeles Times blog was most fulsome in drawing a comparison:
Miller took the stage at Madison Square Garden to launch a frontal assault on the Democratic nominee trying to deny President Bush reelection. He eviscerated Kerry’s voting record on defense systems, suggesting that if the senator from Massachusetts had his way, the U.S. military would be armed with spitballs.
Lieberman, by contrast, came to Minnesota more to praise John McCain than to attack Barack Obama. And for the voters both camps are targeting — independents — there’s a good chance Lieberman’s message will resonate more effectively.
At the least, it ought to lay the groundwork — if any was really needed — for Lieberman to land a high-ranking post in a McCain administration (after all, his welcome in the Democratic Senate caucus is bound to grow even more strained than it already is).
This is the key difference between Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller. The former Georgia senator, while vilified by his former Democratic colleagues since that address, has been warmly embraced by Republicans, here in Georgia and elsewhere.
For at the heart of Miller’s shift was a late-in-life religious transformation that included a new opposition to abortion. Republicans still seek his support — U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss being the latest.
But Lieberman has undergone no such conversion. His alliance is with McCain, not the Republican base. It’s a matter of friendship and foreign policy — and, as the Connecticut senator said last night, country over party.
David Yepsen wrote this for the Des Moines Register:
It took courage for Lieberman to deliver such a speech. His fellow Democrats in the Senate suffer him only because they need him to control the place. If Democrats make gains in the 2008 election, as seems likely, look for an effort to be made to strip Lieberman of his committee chairmanships.
While McCain likes Lieberman and may have even wanted to put him on the GOP ticket as his running mate, rank-and-file Republicans have made it clear that can’t stomach Lieberman’s left-of-center positions on social issues.
So what you saw Tuesday night was a courageous, politically homeless man giving an address that assures he’ll likely wander forever in the wilderness.
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Comments
By charlie boy
September 3, 2008 8:47 PM | Link to this
Gooooooood morning/ Zell, better known as Zig-Zag, would like to be remembered as the father of the Hope schlorship but since he was against it when he was lt. gov., he will be remembered as a short guy who wore built up shoes and womens underware and got out of the marines when the enemy started shooting back. Little Joe. Thank God Gore didn’t get elected. What ever happened to Proverbs 22:1
By St. Peter
September 4, 2008 12:32 AM | Link to this
Foreskin?
By Oscar Lewis
September 4, 2008 6:12 AM | Link to this
It’s one thing for Zell and Lieberman to oppose Democratic proposals and policies, but Zell fell off of the turnip truck when he supported the misrepresentations (lies) of the so-called Swiftboat Vets. After the election of 2004 Zell even spoke to a gathering of these unpatriots.
Check out my videos on YouTube about Chambliss, Isakson and Tom Price. http://www.youtube.com/user/OscarLewis
By Churchill
September 4, 2008 6:19 AM | Link to this
Lieberman (Laquid, Isreal) & Zell (Democrat, Ga.) both betrayed their party. I sure am happy that the Old Man did not pick him for VP.
By Copyleft
September 4, 2008 8:17 AM | Link to this
Nah, Lieberman had the honesty to actually quit the party once he realized he was a Republican in wolf’s clothing.
Zell’s just ga-ga insane.
By rufus Foshee
November 21, 2008 5:33 PM | Link to this
How could anyone look around and disagree with abortion. Just think if their mother had found a doctor at the right moment we would not have W, Zell Miller or Joe Lieberman.
Better yet for their poor mothers if they had had a good pill.