Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Censure Zell Miller
Democratic Senator Zell Miller has set a new standard for pernicious political speech--no mean feat in this current atmosphere. Here's the A.P. report of his remarks:
This is the president, let's remember, who opposed the creation of the commission in the first place, who until yesterday refused to let his national security advisor testify under oath while letting her go on countless television programs to call Clarke every name in the book, and who until yesterday refused himself to meet with the entire commission.
We're talking about the commission charged with determining how it was that 3,000 people died on 9/11 despite the fact that several government agencies had significant prior knowledge that could very well have led them to prevent the attacks.
But this is secondary, in Zell Miller's opinion, to protecting president Bush's political ass. And he's ready to accuse anyone who feels differently of comforting our enemies.
"Wimps and warriors"? How dare he.
Let us return the favor: Zell Miller is a hack and a scoundrel. While he pretends to care about the future welfare of "our troops", it's clear that the only welfare he cares about is that of his political master.
Noting is more un-American, more disgusting, than accusing political opponents of treason; it is an act of political cowardice and demagoguery almost beyond comparison. For Miller to do it now, placing George Bush's political career ahead of the rights of the 9/11 victims, and possibly ahead of the safety of all Americans, is among the ugliest things we have ever witnessed.
Zell Miller should be censured by the U.S. Senate.
March 30, 2004 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- The 9/11 commission's public quarrels with the Bush administration could "energize our enemies and demoralize our troops," Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., said Tuesday.Zell Miller has decided not only to use his Senate perch to grossly politicize the 9/11 commission and to attribute motives to Richard Clarke; he's saying that he considers anyone who questions the details of president Bush's highly questionable "war on terror" an "appeaser" who is "energizing" our enemies
In a speech on the Senate floor, Miller, the Senate's lone Democrat to endorse Bush for re-election, also denounced former Bush counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke, who has criticized the president as being slow to act against the al-Qaida terrorist network.
"The vindictive Clarke has now had his revenge, but what kind of hell has he, his CBS publisher, and his ax-to-grind advocates unleashed?" Miller said. Miller has backed Bush on practically every major foreign and domestic initiative. He said if there were intelligence breakdowns, Clarke was most to blame because he was in the "catbird seat" for a decade.
"It's obvious to me that this country is rapidly dividing itself into two camps -- the wimps and the warriors," Miller said. "The ones who want to argue and assess and appease, and the ones who want to carry this fight to our enemies and kill them before they kill us."
This is the president, let's remember, who opposed the creation of the commission in the first place, who until yesterday refused to let his national security advisor testify under oath while letting her go on countless television programs to call Clarke every name in the book, and who until yesterday refused himself to meet with the entire commission.
We're talking about the commission charged with determining how it was that 3,000 people died on 9/11 despite the fact that several government agencies had significant prior knowledge that could very well have led them to prevent the attacks.
But this is secondary, in Zell Miller's opinion, to protecting president Bush's political ass. And he's ready to accuse anyone who feels differently of comforting our enemies.
"Wimps and warriors"? How dare he.
Let us return the favor: Zell Miller is a hack and a scoundrel. While he pretends to care about the future welfare of "our troops", it's clear that the only welfare he cares about is that of his political master.
Noting is more un-American, more disgusting, than accusing political opponents of treason; it is an act of political cowardice and demagoguery almost beyond comparison. For Miller to do it now, placing George Bush's political career ahead of the rights of the 9/11 victims, and possibly ahead of the safety of all Americans, is among the ugliest things we have ever witnessed.
Zell Miller should be censured by the U.S. Senate.
