The Political Education of Zell Miller
Sunday, August 29th, 2004I’m looking back at what usenet users thought of Zell Miller through the past fifteen years, and what news articles they deemed relevant.
Start with a 1992 Political Profile of Georgia politics, which Zell Miller dominates.
Jump to Zell Miller’s 1992 Democratic National Convention Keynote Speech. Keep this in hand when he makes his 2004 Republican National Convention Keynote Speech — the most conservative speaker in primetime.
And An Analysis of how he won re-election in the uber- Republican year of 1994.
Any signs of Democratic discontent toward him? Republicans embracing him? Unexplainable flip flops? Democrats loving him? Republicans hating him? And… why is he so thin-skinned about his southernness?
Leave aside the fury that greeted him after signing into law what now looks incredibly anachronistic, from 1996: a bill that would bar a person from linking websites without permission, and require your email address have your name in it. For the curious, my name really is Dhowiec Andisestablish.
His great contribution, and his legislative legacy that Bill Clinton ran with, is “The Hope Scholarship”. Beyond that, he expanded pre-kindergarten education in Georgia and brought in the Lottery to pay for education.
He defended Hillary Clinton’s book It Takes A Village. ““They (the Republicans) see no shame in criticizing movies they have not seen, songs they have not heard, books they have not read.” I await his apology to Kid Rock at the RNC Convention — unless you want to go with the other, more recent hypocrisy there, in which case I await his berating of Kid Rock at the RNC Convention.
1992-03-01 On the CBS news program “Face the Nation,” Georgia Gov. Zell Miller said the average voter worries about being able to send his children to college, having health insurance and paying for a nursing home for his parents, rather than whether Democratic candidate Bill Clinton avoided the draft 30 years ago or not. He now defends the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, saying they have a right to be heard.
The singular issue over the years from the Usenet threads is the controversy over the Georgian flag. 1997/07/11 It is interesting to note that while lieutenant governor in 1987, Miller opposed such a change saying he did not think the flag was racist any more than the playing of Dixie was. I’m guessing this is the influence from being Lestor Maddux’s protege. But, the nickname “Zig-Zag Zell” exists for a reason. 1992-05-29 “What we fly today is not an enduring symbol of our heritage, but the fighting flag of those who wanted to preserve a segregated South in the face of the civil rights movement,” he said. “It is time we shake completely free of that era.” I cannot ascertain the degree to which this change of opinion comes from personal courage and conviction, finding himself in the National Democratic Party, or wanting to improve Georgia’s reputation as the world spotlighted Atlanta in the 1996 Olympic Games. Whatever is the case, 1996/06/28
Miller retreated from that noble stand
and hasn’t said boo about the flag since. For a flavour of the kind of opposition he met, well…
Caller: Yes, Mr. Grant, as a Yankee American I am outraged that there is an effort to remove the Georgia state flag because it has the Confederate battle flag on it. I think it’s an outrage. It’s a part of Georgia history, and it belongs there.
Grant: Well, uh, the people of Georgia are retaining it at least for now…
Caller: Thank God.
Grant: In spite of this wild-eyed Zell Miller, the Governor–
Caller: You said it.
Grant: –who’s trying to curry favor with his liberal pals up in the nation’s capital.
Caller: Definitely.
Grant: Uh, it stays, I don’t know why they make such a big issue out of it…
Caller: I don’t know, but I’ve also come to the conclusion that earth’s endangered species are not the spotted owl, nor the humpbacked whale, it is the white race. But there is an organization fighting for us, and it’s called the National Alliance, headed by the honorable Dr. William Pierce, in Hillsborough, West Virginia. P.O. Box 90246. Hail victory, blood and soil!
Grant: I’ve never heard of William Pierce, but, Dino, okay. He hung up after he delivered his message. I’m surprised young guys don’t just ride around in open cars with megaphones.
The NRA members are well over the map on him. July 1992 example: Georgia is a pretty good state for firearms owners. […] Our biggest problem now is Gov. Zell Miller who, as you saw at the DNC, thinks he is a Kennedy-in-waiting. But, he seemed to later regain their trust…
I have every confidence that he voted “yah” on the Gay Marriage Abolishment Amendment. To wit, compare and contrast from April 23, 1994. Gov. Zell Miller, who is seeking re-election, has said he doesn’t plan to “get in to lifestyles” in his campaign. His campaign manager, Jim Andrews, said Friday, “The Republicans can debate this issue if they want. We want to improve people’s lives.”
And, while we’re on the topic of scary homos:
June 10, 1999 brings us:
He attempted to incite local rage and terror about AIDS when he noted that Georgia Gov. Zell Miller’s invitation to hold the Gay Games in Atlanta “threatens the health, safety and welfare of the community.” (In a characteristically malicious jocular aside, Wysong added: “It is mind-boggling to imagine what activities constitute ‘gay games.'”) He exploited the combined homophobia and patriotic fervor of Cobb County’s conserva…
I think the new version of Zell Miller would consider gays as one of the extreme special interest groups that has hi-jacked his beloved Democratic Party.
Law And Order, Law and Order, Law and Order. He was at the forefront of the “3 Strikes and you’re out” craze, had a mandatory boot camp program (citing his experience in boot camp as putting him on the straight and narrow in his youth), (this ain’t impartial poster), and then there’s…
July 23, 1994 Most wanted posters for Georgia’s “10 top deadbeat parents” have been arriving by the hundreds this week at state office buildings. Already, a second printing of 1,000 posters is under way. And hundreds of women wanting to nominate their ex-husbands have called child support enforcement offices since Gov. Zell Miller announced the program last month.
Zell Miller played a key role in writing the Democratic Party’s warm milk platform in 1996. And he saideth:
“Republicans see America’s greatness through a rear view mirror,” said Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, co-chairman of the Democratic Platform Committee leading off platform speeches. ”Democrats see America’s greatness on the horizon just ahead.” (Along with repeating his barb against Dole on the topic of It Takes a Village.)
Like so. We Democrats are proud of our platform, and the Republicans are justified in being ashamed of theirs. They talk a lot about shame, the Republicans. Yet they see no shame in criticizing movies they have not seen, songs they have not heard, books they have not read, and a first family they cannot match — all in the name of a platform they will not even admit they’ve read,” said Gov. Zell Miller of Georgia.
AND “They want to abolish the Department of Education,” Miller shouted. “They bash schoolteachers and want to cut student loans. Abolish, bash and cut – those are the Republican ABCs for education.”
Apparently Zell Miller once took a more liberal stance toward sex ed. March 3, 1997
Ga. Gov. Miller stupidly says teens are going to fornicate (Jesus and Paul said fornication is sin, are not vulgar) anyway so help, encourage them.
If you look over his senate website, you’ll find that Zell Miller is quite proud of his pre-natal Music Appreciation Program.
from 1998
Gov. Zell Miller proposed Tuesday the state issue tapes or compact discs of classical music to parents of every newborn in Georgia as a way to help boost the baby’s intelligence later in life. “I propose that the parents of every baby born in Georgia — over 100,000 a year — be given a cassette or CD of music to be played often in the baby’s presence,” said Miller. “Research shows that reading to an infant, talking with an infant and especially having that infant listen to soothing music helps those trillions of brain connections to develop,
especially the ones related to math.” The governor’s $105,000 allocation for the free music was part of the $12.5 billion budget proposal he presented to the state General Assembly. Miller, who cited the study of classical music helping to increase IQ scores for college students as the reason for the allocation, said he asked the Atlanta Symphony conductor to help select music for recordings.
I recall Rush Limbaugh bashing this as big gummint gone amok.
Restoring the honor of Georgia against Jane Fonda. Later, he’d go after the cartoonists behind Snuffy Sniff. And, though I must agree here, the reality program based on The Beverly Hill-billies.
He probably now has enough wiggle room to claim that he wanted Bill Clinton to resign. Speaking out for the first time Monday, Democratic Gov. Zell Miller of Georgia called Mr. Clinton’s actions “shameful,” saying that he has “debased himself … and diminished the presidency. He has shattered his credibility,” said Mr. Miller, who refused to say whether he thinks the president should resign.
According to this, and comments I vaguely recall him making, “9/11 changed everything.” Which wouldn’t explain why he’s been a loyal Bush backer from Day 1 of the Bush Administration, backing every major policy proposal — he co-sponsored the Bush tax cuts. He was ever-so-eager to confirm John Ashcroft, early bi-partisan facade that the right wing used as ammuniation.
You know the rest, I think, by now. The New Republic picked up on the Zell Miller Effect early on in 2001.