Zell Miller Comes to Youngstown

He gave a press conference. I shook his hand and got to listen to his speech right there in the same room. It was quite an honor, the speech was great.

There was an interesting dynamic in the room though. I was referred to the event by a worker at the Republican HQ, but it was a Democrats for Bush event. Towards the end of the Q&A time, one of the local reporters wanted to know how many people standing behind the podium with Sen. Miller were actual registered Democrats. A few of the people raised their hands and Miller was quick to add, "You should really be asking how many of them used to be Democrats."

Now, Sen. Miller has a good point there, but the reporter asking the question seems to not understand how Ohio's party registration works. In Ohio you can change your registration during any primary election (and perhaps in a general election, but I'm not sure). In fact, though I consider myself a republican, I am currently a "registered" Democrat because I took a Democrat ballot in the spring Primary so that I could vote for the democrat presidential candidates. So, had I been standing behind the podium when the reporter asked the question, I could have raised my hand. But the point is, my registration doesn't relate directly to my true party affiliation here in Ohio. Many in attendance were angered at this reporter for trying to imply that they were presenting themselves falsely. One elderly couple even went over to chew the guy out for it. With party registration being so fluid here in Ohio, the guy was deliberately baiting these people.

But aside from all that, it was really great to get to hear him speak. It was well done and informative. Beverly, who came with me and had not been able to see Miller's speech at the Republican Convention, commented that his conviction was clear in everything he said. She's right. Zell Miller has been displaced by his party. The party of Kennedy and Scoop Jackson is no more. He was right to say that John Kerry does not take national security seriously. Zell cited John Kerry's vote against the 1991 Gulf War, as well as the various other weapons systems and defense initiatives.

If you're not sure about those John Kerry votes, tune in to Sean Hannity any day of the week and I'm sure he'll list them for you. Speaking of which, I heard radio host Mark Davis say on Hannity's show today that we are not focusing enough on John Kerry's preference for disbanding research for the bunker buster bomb. Well, I talked about it when it came up in the debates, but he's right to say that it deserves more attention. Kerry's plan is to stop that research, setting a precedent for North Korea. Then we would just trust North Korea to follow our path and disarm and stop nuclear weapon research.
Yeah...
Does anyone else think it's strange to plan to trust North Korea consider they flouted all previous non-proliferation agreements they have signed?


Again, a special thank you to Zell Miller for coming out to the Democratic Youngstown stronghold to show his support for the President. Whether the reporters want to admit it or not, Democrats are losing power in this area. Jim Traficant's family can put Kerry/Edwards' signs in his yard in Poland, but they can't make people forget the corruption of the party in this area.

Go Bush! :)