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Text Of Zell Miller's RNC Speech (Full Text)
CBS ^ | 9/01/04 | Sen. Zell Miller

Posted on 09/01/2004 7:34:41 PM PDT by kattracks

(AP) Below is the text of Sen. Zell Miller's keynote speech as prepared for delivery at the Republican National Convention:

Since I last stood in this spot, a whole new generation of the Miller Family has been born: Four great grandchildren.

Along with all the other members of our close-knit family, they are my and Shirley's most precious possessions.

And I know that's how you feel about your family also. Like you, I think of their future, the promises and the perils they will face.

Like you, I believe that the next four years will determine what kind of world they will grow up in.

And like you, I ask which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower and, yes, the backbone to best protect my family?

The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight. For my family is more important than my party.

There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man's name is George Bush.

In the summer of 1940, I was an 8-year-old boy living in a remote little Appalachian valley. Our country was not yet at war, but even we children knew that there were some crazy men across the ocean who would kill us if they could.

President Roosevelt, in his speech that summer, told America "all private plans, all private lives, have been in a sense repealed by an overriding public danger."

In 1940, Wendell Wilkie was the Republican nominee.

And there is no better example of someone repealing their "private plans" than this good man. He gave Roosevelt the critical support he needed for a peacetime draft, an unpopular idea at the time.

And he made it clear that he would rather lose the election than make national security a partisan campaign issue.

Shortly before Wilkie died, he told a friend, that if he could write his own epitaph and had to choose between "here lies a president" or "here lies one who contributed to saving freedom," he would prefer the latter.

Where are such statesmen today?

Where is the bipartisanship in this country when we need it most?

Now, while young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrat's manic obsession to bring down our Commander in Chief.

What has happened to the party I've spent my life working in?

I can remember when Democrats believed that it was the duty of America to fight for freedom over tyranny.

It was Democratic President Harry Truman who pushed the Red Army out of Iran, who came to the aid of Greece when Communists threatened to overthrow it, who stared down the Soviet blockade of West Berlin by flying in supplies and saving the city.

Time after time in our history, in the face of great danger, Democrats and Republicans worked together to ensure that freedom would not falter. But not today.

Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator.

And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.

Tell that to the one-half of Europe that was freed because Franklin Roosevelt led an army of liberators, not occupiers.

Tell that to the lower half of the Korean Peninsula that is free because Dwight Eisenhower commanded an army of liberators, not occupiers.

Tell that to the half a billion men, women and children who are free today from the Baltics to the Crimea, from Poland to Siberia, because Ronald Reagan rebuilt a military of liberators, not occupiers.

Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.

For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.

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 to abuse and burn that flag.

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.

But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of my party today. In their warped way of thinking America is the problem, not the solution.

They don't believe there is any real danger in the world except that which America brings upon itself through our clumsy and misguided foreign policy.

It is not their patriotism — it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking. They claimed Carter's pacifism would lead to peace.

They were wrong.

They claimed Reagan's defense buildup would lead to war.

They were wrong.

And, no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.

Together, Kennedy/Kerry have opposed the very weapons system that won the Cold War and that is now winning the War on Terror.

Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts.

The B-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped 40 percent of the bombs in the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The B-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hussein's command post in Iraq.

The F-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot down Khadifi's Libyan MIGs over the Gulf of Sidra. The modernized F-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered missile strikes against Tora Bora.

The Apache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed, took out those Republican Guard tanks in Kuwait in the Gulf War. The F-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed, flew cover over our Nation's Capital and this very city after 9/11.

I could go on and on and on: against the Patriot Missile that shot down Saddam Hussein's scud missiles over Israel; against the Aegis air-defense cruiser; against the Strategic Defense Initiative; against the Trident missile; against, against, against.

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?

Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric.

Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people who you really are deep inside.

Senator Kerry has made it clear that he would use military force only if approved by the United Nations.

Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending.

I want Bush to decide.

John Kerry, who says he doesn't like outsourcing, wants to outsource our national security.

That's the most dangerous outsourcing of all. This politician wants to be leader of the free world.

Free for how long?

For more than 20 years, on every one of the great issues of freedom and security, John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure.

As a war protester, Kerry blamed our military.

As a Senator, he voted to weaken our military. And nothing shows that more sadly and more clearly than his vote this year to deny protective armor for our troops in harms way, far away.

George Bush understands that we need new strategies to meet new threats.

John Kerry wants to re-fight yesterday's war. George Bush believes we have to fight today's war and be ready for tomorrow's challenges. George Bush is committed to providing the kind of forces it takes to root out terrorists.

No matter what spider hole they may hide in or what rock they crawl under.

George Bush wants to grab terrorists by the throat and not let them go to get a better grip.

From John Kerry, they get a "yes-no-maybe" bowl of mush that can only encourage our enemies and confuse our friends.

I first got to know George Bush when we served as governors together. I admire this man. I am moved by the respect he shows the first lady, his unabashed love for his parents and his daughters, and the fact that he is unashamed of his belief that God is not indifferent to America.

I can identify with someone who has lived that line in "Amazing Grace," "Was blind, but now I see," and I like the fact that he's the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning.

He is not a slick talker but he is a straight shooter and, where I come from, deeds mean a lot more than words.

I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel.

The man I trust to protect my most precious possession: my family.

This election will change forever the course of history, and that's not any history. It's our family's history.

The only question is how. The answer lies with each of us. And, like many generations before us, we've got some hard choosing to do.

Right now the world just cannot afford an indecisive America. Fainthearted self-indulgence will put at risk all we care about in this world.

In this hour of danger our President has had the courage to stand up. And this Democrat is proud to stand up with him.

Thank you.

God Bless this great country and God Bless George W. Bush.



TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: godbless; gwb2004; rncconvention; speech; transcript; zellmiller
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To: Old Sarge

Save the wings for soup!


121 posted on 09/02/2004 6:20:31 AM PDT by Zavien Doombringer (I am not late for Zots, I have stealth Zot capability.....)
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To: kattracks
What a speech !
What a Democrat !!
What an American !!!

Thank you Senator Miller, for defending America once again.

122 posted on 09/02/2004 6:23:30 AM PDT by af_vet_1981
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To: Bacon Man; Hap

Ping for the best speech I've heard in YEARS. WOW!


123 posted on 09/02/2004 6:24:08 AM PDT by Xenalyte (Gimme a dollar.)
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To: Happy2BMe

My son and I were cracking up as Miller did everything but bitch-slap Matthews.

Matthews' style of put-on outrage was completely overrun by Miller's genuine rage.


124 posted on 09/02/2004 6:33:17 AM PDT by George Smiley (The only 180 that Kerry hasn't done is the one that would release ALL his military records.)
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To: kattracks
What an amazingly inspiring, and for Kerry, devastating, speech by the wonderfully straightforward Zell Miller.

He brings all that's wrong with Kerry into sharp focus and paints an unmistakeable contrast between the effete man that Kerry is, and the brave, selfless and strong man that Bush is.

If there is one line that sums it all up, it's this.

Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric.

And the cynic in me has to wonder if Kerry didn't vote against supplying our troops in battle with armor simply for the purpose of raising the body count and giving urgency to his pacifist platform.

125 posted on 09/02/2004 6:43:01 AM PDT by tdadams (If there were no problems, politicians would have to invent them... wait, they already do.)
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To: kattracks

All I can say after last night is: "Wow". Senator Miller is more of a true blue, fire-in-the-belly American patriot than some of the so-called Republicans we have on our side. Don't go Zell!


126 posted on 09/02/2004 6:45:46 AM PDT by jpl (John Kerry is the 2-7 offsuit in the great Presidential poker game.)
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To: kattracks
Every speech so far in this RNC convention (expect for the Bush daughters, sorry) have hit a grand slam home run. Arnold, Laura Bush, Rudy Guiliani, and now Zell Miller. All of them have been inspiring, but at the same time firm and resolute.

They brought umistakeable clarity to why Republicans hold the greatest hope for a great America in the future, while Democrats offer a future America that is weakened, less capable, less influential.

In short, the Democrats are the great hope of the United Nations, the European Union, African dictators and every other variety of anti-Americanism. Republicans offer a great, strong, and free America.

127 posted on 09/02/2004 6:49:39 AM PDT by tdadams (If there were no problems, politicians would have to invent them... wait, they already do.)
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To: TBarnett34

And just what is this supposed to mean?


128 posted on 09/02/2004 7:02:06 AM PDT by AxelPaulsenJr (Excellence In Posting Since 1999)
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To: Happy2BMe
It was so good, the liberal media instantly labeled it "all lies."

A good place to post:

Give 'em He**, Ze** !!


129 posted on 09/02/2004 7:06:53 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP (There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! Straight ticket GOP!)
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To: kattracks

http://www.dailyrecycler.com/blog/

Both videos...Hairball bitch slap is classic!

WHATT!


130 posted on 09/02/2004 7:08:06 AM PDT by ehard
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To: Zavien Doombringer; Old Sarge

Old Sarge shot this one 'tween the eyes right quick!


131 posted on 09/02/2004 7:33:34 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP (There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! Straight ticket GOP!)
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To: changingtimes; meowmeow; Constitution Day; 4mycountry; Poohbah; Grampa Dave; an amused spectator; ..

132 posted on 09/02/2004 8:45:58 AM PDT by Zavien Doombringer (I am not late for Zots, I have stealth Zot capability.....)
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To: changingtimes; Old Sarge; Zavien Doombringer

Troll destroyed by direct fire, shift targets.
Observers will illume and transmit co-ordinates.


133 posted on 09/02/2004 8:50:00 AM PDT by Darksheare (Don't greet customers at the drivethrough with: "We are the Borg, resistance is futile!")
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To: MeekOneGOP; Admin Moderator

I think we need a new graphic for Zotting. I think we need to unleash a 'Zell Zot' on these trolls!


134 posted on 09/02/2004 9:00:40 AM PDT by BreitbartSentMe (Now EX-Democrat!)
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To: Bush_Democrat; Arrowhead1952
I think we need a new graphic for Zotting. I think we need to unleash a 'Zell Zot' on these trolls!

I'll be working on that one. Hopefully sometime today!


135 posted on 09/02/2004 9:33:13 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP (There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! Straight ticket GOP!)
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To: Xenalyte; Hap

That rocked!


136 posted on 09/02/2004 9:59:12 AM PDT by Bacon Man (Guns kill people like spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Bump


137 posted on 09/02/2004 10:00:47 AM PDT by varina davis
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To: kattracks

I am so sad to have missed this!!!


138 posted on 09/02/2004 10:13:44 AM PDT by biblewonk (neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own)
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To: Old Sarge

Nice shootin Sarge!


139 posted on 09/02/2004 11:28:28 AM PDT by Americanwolf (Zell Miller for Secratary of Defense against liberals! (jeez spitballs.. now thats funny!))
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To: George Smiley

Zell Giving Sissypants Some Hell


Juan Williams opined on FOX News Channel that Zell Miller's speech was "full of brim and firestone"

I agree with J.C. Watts - Zell Miller can put his feet under my dinner table any day of the week.

EVERYBODY - you owe it to yourself to see Zell Miller put this liberal, socialist Kerry maggot right back up Kerry's backside!

Zell Miller teaches Chris Matthews how to talk - MUST SEE!

140 posted on 09/02/2004 11:37:12 AM PDT by Happy2BMe (I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home - Georgia Democrat Zell Miller)
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