Re: At the risk of losing friends, Kerry jokes are here!!!
Republicans cheer bipartisan critique of Kerry <br /><br />By Chris Casteel<br />The Oklahoman<br /><br /><br />NEW YORK -- A Democratic senator delivered a scathing attack on his own party's presidential nominee on Wednesday, telling Republicans gathered here for their national convention that Sen. John Kerry had been "more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure" on national security issues. <br /><br /><br />"George Bush wants to grab terrorists by the throat and not let go to get a better grip," said Sen. Zell Miller, of Georgia. "From John Kerry, they get a yes-no-maybe bowl of mush that can only encourage our enemies and confuse our friends." <br /><br />Vice President **** Cheney told the cheering delegates at Madison Square Garden that "time and again Senator Kerry has made the wrong call on national security" making for a bipartisan tag-team critique of Kerry's ability to be commander in chief. <br /><br />Cheney's speech, though critical of Kerry and mildly sarcastic, was tame compared to Miller's crowd-pleasing defense of American troops and President Bush's foreign policy and his withering put-downs of Kerry. After listing several weapons systems and accusing Kerry of opposing them, Miller said, "This is the man who wants to be the commander in chief of our U.S. armed forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?" <br /><br />Miller, 72, is a former Georgia governor and lifelong Democrat who is retiring from the Senate after this year. In 1992, at the Democratic National Convention, which was also held here, Miller spoke in support of Bill Clinton. His disenchantment with his party was detailed in his recent book, "A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat." <br /><br />Miller's and Cheney's rhetorical bombs came on the third day of the GOP gathering in Madison Square Garden; the convention will conclude tonight after Bush accepts the party's nomination for a second term and speaks about his first term and his plans for another. <br /><br />Bush arrived in New York on Wednesday and met with a group of firefighters who had endorsed his re-election. <br /><br />Cheney and Miller ridiculed Kerry's calls to work closer with the nation's allies to fight terrorism. <br /><br />"Senator Kerry denounces American action when other countries don't approve as if the whole object of our foreign policy were to please a few persistent critics," Cheney said. "As the president has made very clear, there is a difference between leading a coalition of many and submitting to the objections of a few. George W. Bush will never seek a permission slip to defend the American people." <br /><br />Just minutes into Cheney's speech, a protester was wrestled down by security agents in the media section; Cheney paused while the protester was removed and delegates chanted "Four More Years." <br /><br />In his speech, delivered in a city that has attracted tens of thousands of protesters in the past week, Miller said American soldiers, not agitators, had made protests possible. And he said it angered him to hear American troops referred to as occupiers rather than liberators. <br /><br />"It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag who gives that protester the freedom he abuses to burn that flag," Miller said. "No one should dare to even think about being the commander in chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home." <br /><br />Though Cheney made brief mentions of other issues like tort reform, education reform, tax cuts and health care, his speech was focused primarily on national security issues. He said Bush was the right man to occupy the White House at a defining moment in the nation's history. "We remember the president who came to New York City and pledged that the terrorists would soon hear from all of us," he said. <br /><br />"George W. Bush saw this country through grief and tragedy. He has acted with patience and calm and a moral seriousness that calls evil by its name. In the great divide of our time, he has put this nation where America always belongs -- against the tyrants of this world and on the side of every soul on earth who yearns to live in freedom." <br /><br />Jeff Cloud, state Corporation Commissioner, who watched the speech inside the Garden, said Miller delivered a "fire and brimstone on national security." <br /><br />"It was a historic address, especially as a keynote speech at this convention," Cloud said. <br /><br />Tom Dudley, a delegate from Edmond, said Cheney "gave a serious no-nonsense speech. It was also a message of hope and opportunity for the future." <br /><br />Delegate Nat Harding, of Norman, said of Cheney, "While, he's not as charismatic as Miller, he had a calming way of explaining things well to people." <br /><br />Delegate Rodd Moesel of Oklahoma City, said Miller's comments touched the Republican base and Democrats who support Bush. <br /><br />"Zell Miller gave an exceptionally remarkable speech," he said. <br /><br />Contributing: Carmel Perez Snyder and the Associated Press.
