Posted on 09/02/2004 3:10:26 AM PDT by kattracks
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- Democratic senator Zell Miller is the featured keynote speaker at the third night of the Republican Party convention. His speech concludes a remarkable change from a pro-abortion governor who nominated abortion advocate Bill Clinton for president to a pro-life senator who supports pro-life President George W. Bush.Miller writes in his book, "A National Party No More," that he begin to change his mind on abortion with the birth of his great grandchildren.
"I believe the thinking of many Americans is changing on this subject," he writes.
"New science and technology can now show the heart of the unborn baby beating in the mother's womb," Miller says. "I saw it on the front page of Newsweek, no less."
The Georgia lawmakers says he remembers his twenty-year old grandson carrying a sonogram of his "yet unborn, but so alive daughter."
"It gave new meaning to the old Roberta Flack song 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,'" Miller explains.
"I began to seriously wrestle with where I was on the real question," he writes. "I began to pray earnestly for God's guidance."
In fact, Miller dedicates an entire chapter in his book to describe his conversion on the abortion issue.
In an interview with Human Events editor Terence Jeffrey in January, Miller said he had come full circle and was definitely pro-life.
"I watched the demonstrators as they came to Washington, and the advocates for life, and the number of 42 million human beings having been killed because of Roe vs. Wade," Miller explained, "and it just grabbed ahold of me very strongly that what if one of my four great-grandchildren or four grandchildren had been one of those that never did get to enjoy the life that they have now."
The clincher for Miller may have been from women who have had abortions and wish they could undo their decisions.
"The most poignant sight for me at this year's annual pro-life march and demonstration in Washington, D.C.," wrote Miller, "was the large number of women holding signs saying they regretted their abortions."
Miller says he regrets the years he supported abortion. During his career as governor, he supported legal abortion but allowed for some exceptions -- such as when he signed a ban on partial-birth abortions in 1997.
"I know it is wrong to take these lives. For me it is no longer a political issue but a moral one, as it should have been from the beginning. I hope someday Roe v. Wade will be reversed," Miller wrote.
Miller believes that it will and points to polls showing that Americans are becoming increasingly pro-life, especially young adults.
Instead of nominating the newly-minted Democratic presidential candidate, Miller has criticized John Kerry for opposing a ban on partial birth abortion. Tonight, he pledges his support for President Bush.
In 1992, a pro-abortion Zell Miller offered the nomination address for presidential candidate Bill Clinton -- who eventually became the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history.
Today's Zell Miller is a different man, though still a Democrat. He says he has lost faith in his party though he and many other pro-life Democrats remain members of it.
That statement doesn't good over too well with my girlfriends but when I tell the to carefullly think about it they sometimes agreed or we start an argument about semantics.
Welcome to the right side of the issue, Zell. Your right, it is a moral issue.
Dang, it's early.
2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person -- among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.
Catechism Catholic Church
Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list
I'm proud of this guy :-)
Wouldn't it be nice if more Democrats developed a sense of right and wrong?
Yes...but then they'd be Republicans :-)
Miller's account of what he experienced once he made the transition from being Governor to being a US Senator is truly compelling.
The Senate Democrats are Marxist ideologues, almost to a man.
At least there are still a couple of conservative Democrats left in Congress (though I can't name one offhand.)
Yes, the Dem. Party has changed, Zell. But so have you - for the better. Great work!
Dear kattracks,
Let's not forget that Mr. Miller seems to have found his conscience, quite conveniently, at the end of his long political career, when it costs him nothing politically.
sitetest
Let's also not forget that during his Senate career he has generally voted with the Republicans, when he had much to lose politically.
Dear kattracks,
Being from Georgia, he didn't have much to lose supporting the Republicans on many issues, and he had a lot to gain. Max Cleland proved that for a Georgia politician to keep getting elected from Georgia, you can't back the libs too often.
But staying pro-abort was what kept Mr. Miller in the good graces of the Party of Satan. After all, that is their premier sacrament. So long as he didn't wander off the reservation on the issue of baby-killing, they could forgive all the rest.
sitetest
Believe what you will. I will give him credit for what he did.
The same could be said for some of the Republicans who may be positioned to run for President in 2008. I'd love it if Rudy Guiliani, Colin Powell or Condi Rice had the same sort of epiphany.
Dear kattracks,
I don't deny him any credit he is due. I'm happy to have him aboard.
I merely wish that he'd had his attack of conscience when he could have been a force for good in his party.
I note that the timing of his "Damascus experience" is convenient, in that he'd decided to retire anyway. Since he has now forsaken Democrat Party politics, it is a conversion that costs him absolutely nothing.
sitetest
ping
You mean the party of Kennedy, clinton, Kerry, Daschle, Pelosi? His voice would have been drowned out by the majority.
His voice last night was not.
We enjoyed watching Zell take on Chris Matthews last night.
Charlie Stenholm? Ralph Hall?
KUDOS to Senator Miller. REGARDLESS Of when he changed, or his reasons, he now understands that abortion is wrong. Welcome to the fold.
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