Zell Miller - I love my party but hate what it has become

I have been a proud member of the Democratic Party from the time I first breathed the Georgia mountain air. But lately I can barely recognize my once-great party. Between Al Gore's rants, Michael Moore's falsehoods, the felons-for-hire shenanigans of America Coming Together and Moveon.org's crazy conspiracy theories, the Democratic Party has become a coalition of the wild-eyed. Driven by a rabid desire to defeat President Bush, they seem eager to say and do anything to tear him apart.

All the loudmouthed liberals were recently shouting in unison. Gore accused Bush of deliberately deceiving the American people before the Iraq war. According to Gore, Bush made up connections between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein to dupe us into Iraq. But as with so much of what Gore has said recently, it's just not true.

As the Republican chairman and the Democratic co-chairman of the 9/11 commission said countless times, ties between al-Qaida and Iraq definitely existed. What we're not sure about is whether Saddam had anything to do with the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. And guess what? That's exactly what Bush said last year: "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with Sept. 11." So much for deception.

Hollywood sleazemonger Moore recently released his latest movie. It throws around rumors and innuendos, trying to blame Bush for the heinous acts of terrorists. No wonder the French gave Moore their highest honor for filmmakers. Moore operates in Hollywood cities, where reality plays second fiddle to whatever outrageous fantasy you can create. It is absurd to think that Bush is responsible for terrorism. It existed well before he came into office. He's just the first president who's going head-on after the terrorists to stop them.

Then there's the ultraliberal group America Coming Together. They don't officially work with any campaign, but the Associated Press reported that "ACT is stocked with veteran Democratic political operatives, many with past ties to [Sen. John] Kerry and his advisers."

Now these former Kerry advisers have come up with a brilliant plan to get him elected. They've actually been paying convicted felons to go door-to-door registering people to vote. Excuse me if I seem old fashioned, but I'd prefer not to have convicted felons showing up on my doorstep.

Unfortunately for people in Missouri, Florida and Ohio, that's exactly what's happening. And these aren't petty criminals. According to the Associated Press, these paid canvassers have been convicted of burglary, forgery, drug dealing, assault and sex offenses. Politics does make strange bed-felons.

And of course we've all heard the harangues from Moveon.org, the far-left political organization that tries to stir up anger about President Bush. These folks became famous when they put a couple of ads on their Web site that compared the president of the United States to Adolf Hitler. Then a few weeks ago, they hosted a big speech by George Soros, the billionaire bankroller of the Bush-bashers. Soros claimed that Bush's leadership in the war on terror has turned Americans from victims of terrorism into perpetrators.

As crazy as these charges sound, more and more they seem to represent the standard thinking among Kerry Democrats. After all, right before Soros spoke, one of my Democratic Senate colleagues introduced him by saying, "We need people like George Soros, who is fearless and willing to step up when it counts."

I'll tell you, if we need people like Soros speaking for our party, then we are in a whole heap of trouble.

It's time for responsible people to speak up and keep this election from becoming a sideshow of disgusting claims and hysterical attacks. More of my fellow Democrats ?- including Kerry ?- need to put America first and turn their backs on the wild-eyed partisans who want to tear us apart.

I still love the Democratic Party ?- the party of Roosevelt and Truman and Kennedy. But the more screaming and ranting I hear, the more I wonder whether those Democratic heroes of old would find much to be proud of today.

link