What’s up with Zell Miller?

I watched the Daily Show’s coverage of the Republican Convention the other night. I don’t watch the network coverage because they spend too much time with the boring stuff. The Daily Show focuses on the razor-edged stuff like Zell Miller, the Democratic Senator from Georgia who spoke at the convention. Yes, that’s right a Democratic senator spoke there. Well, fulminated is more descriptive of what he did.

After Zell Miller’s speech (in which he said that John Kerry wasn’t competent to be the Commander in Chief because he would defend the country with ‘spitballs’) he was interview by Chris Matthews. When Matthews asked if he was really serious about the ‘spitball’ line (obviously a verbal nudge suggesting that perhaps his speech had been a little too dramatic), the Senator got steamed and wound up saying he wished he could challenge Matthews to a duel.

I am not a fan of the mainstream press, and I think that they often ask annoying questions. But challenging Matthews to a duel? I’ll tell you what; I’d rather have a president who believes in the use of spitballs than have to acknowledge that our ruling party let a raving zealot like Miller address its national political convention.

But, hey, what do I know? I’m not skilled in the whole ‘political message’ game that is the centerpiece of modern politics. I’m sure he appeals to people who like the old fashioned values, and the Republican strategists were using him to show that even some Democrats staunchly support those values. I just didn’t know that dueling was still popular. I was aware that in some places dog fighting is still popular. But I had now clue about the dueling.