the Republican Convention

I give GOPers this, they are disciplined in their approach at all times, they are rigid to the point of stubbornness, but it works for them usually. Fitting the preverbial square peg into the round hole has been the key to the organization of this Convention, as we have seen in the case of disparate ideologies such as Rudy Guiliani and Zell Miller.

However, watching Zell Miller last night, you have to give him credit, he knows how to beat a point to death. His speech was filled with vitrole, vile anger towards what he deems a eastern-liberal conspiracy to steal his party and move it to the left. From the man I knew as perhaps the biggest fan of Bill Clinton to a man who's ideology would make Bob Barr blush, I thought he was almost too angry. His speech, while effective in galvinizing the conservative base, might have driven away a moderate to conservative undecided body that is seeking levity at this point in the race. His speechs and demeanor remind me of the ol' demogogues that I remember seeing in history videos like George Wallace or Huey Long, fiery, but not quite playing with a full deck of cards. The guy flipped, reminiscent of Strom in '48, angered by the party that has strayed from their ideology.

Following his speech, Sen. Miller appeared on an episode of Hardball, and as Chris Matthews proceeded to question the factual nature of Zell's argument with many soundbites and news quotes from the past 7 or so years that showed a Senator, not only praising of John Kerry, but also an ideological brother. It was very bizarre. Zell at one point told Matthews in no uncertain terms to shut up and wished he could challenge Matthews to an ol' fashioned pistol duel. He has lost his touch on reality.