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Look Who's Standing Behind U.S. Sen. Zell Miller
By Dennis LaRueYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Standing behind U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., in the Youngstown Club Friday were 10 people holding "Democrats for Bush" signs as Miller assailed the Democratic Party's nominee for president, John Kerry, and his record in the U.S. Senate.Following Miller's remarks, a reporter asked the 10 against the wall, standing behind the senator, how many are registered Democrats living in the Mahoning Valley.Only former state Rep. Mike Verich, who introduced Miller, acknowledged that he is a registered Democrat. Only he responded that he resides in the Mahoning Valley. (Verich's term on the State Employee Relations Board soon expires and he is seeking reappointment to the post by Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican.)Afterward a woman who stood in the rear of the dining room and had held a "Democrats for Bush" sign asked a reporter whether having changed her party affiliation affected her claim. All 15 or so who held the signs, she said, are former Democrats who recently re-registered as Republicans.Miller wowed his audience of 20 or so (excluding the press) in a small private dining room at the Youngstown Club. As he entered the Commerce Building, and later the antechamber on the fifth floor, admirers repeatedly told him how much they liked his speech at the Republican National Convention last summer where he explained why, in good conscience, he could not support Kerry, the junior senator from Massachusetts.Miller's response to the accolades was, "Some people disapproved of that speech," or, "You know, some people didn't."Verich spoke for the senator's admirers when he called Miller's address "one of the greatest speeches I've ever heard" and declared that it took courage for the senator from Georgia to break with his party over its standard bearer.After expressing regret that Mayor George McKelvey, another Democrat supporting Bush, was absent, Miller began his polemic by declaring, "I'm a Democrat for George Bush. I've never voted for a Republican [for president] before in my life." He's voted in every presidential election since 1952, he said.Offering a thumbnail sketch of recent party history, Miller noted that Georgia was second only to Rhode Island in 1960 in the percentage of citizens who voted for John F. Kennedy. One reason Kennedy won in 1960, Miller said, was that "he came across stronger on national defense" in the televised debates with Richard Nixon.Miller claimed to be the same Democrat he's always been, in the mold of John F. Kennedy, Henry "Scoop" Jackson (a former senator from Washington who chaired the Armed Forces Committee and a hawk on defense) and others in the party's conservative wing."They [the Republicans] let this old Democrat" speak at their national convention last August, Miller told the audience who hung on his every word. After his address, "the pundits and talking heads [who reviewed his performance] said I looked mad and sounded angry. [Pause.] How perceptive."Miller's relationship with Bush goes back to the 1990s when the former was governor or Georgia, the latter governor of Texas. That's when he also came to know George Voinovich, then governor of Ohio, today seeking re-election to the Senate as a Republican. "I know both men well," Miller said in his endorsement of both.Appointed to fill an unexpired Senate term 4 1/2 years ago, Miller pronounced himself less than impressed by Kerry, a U.S. senator 20 years. At the Democratic National Convention in Boston last July, Miller noted, only 27 seconds of his acceptance speech touched on Kerry's record in the Senate.He attributed this brief mention to Kerry being "very liberal, out of the mainstream, out of touch with America. I've never seen anyone more out of touch with the public than John Kerry." Kerry, Miller charged, is like a character out of The Wizard of Oz. "You know where Oz was, don't you?" he asked. "Not Kansas. On the far side of the moon."The senator from Georgia couldn't be sure if the Democratic nominee is The Tin Man "who had no heart," the Scarecrow, "who had no brain," or the Cowardly Lion, "who lacked courage," a swipe at Kerry's voting record on votes for defense spending.A majority, in some cases an overwhelming majority, of Americans, favor allowing prayer in public schools, Miller said, and are against so-called "partial-birth abortions," both positions shared by President Bush, whom Miller described as "a man of faith." The implication was that Kerry is not because, as senator, he voted against allowing the re-introduction of prayers into public schools and voted to allow doctors to perform late-term abortions.Taking reporters' questions afterward, Miller refused to concede the possibility that Kerry will be elected. Could the Republic survive a Kerry presidency, he was asked, only to answer with a grimace and that he doesn't deal in hypotheticals.Asked about the huge deficits the Republicans have run up under Bush and reminded that the Republicans, in their years in the wilderness, presented themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility, Miller responded, "I think you'll see the deficit reduced. We've got to get the economy moving again. The best way to get the economy moving is to create jobs and leave more money in their [wage earners'] pockets." As a result, Miller said, he fully supports the tax cuts granted under the Bush administration."