To point #3 the liberal pundits were all saying Miller was too hot and it would hurt Bush like Buchanan's rant in 1992 hurt Bush Sr. And apparently the DNC is trying to spin it that way. But since Miller is a lifelong Dem, and the Luntz thing shows it went over well, should blunt this criticism. And that Spitballs line was great.

Only a Democrat could say what Sen. Miller said without it sounding like nothing more than just partisan politics to independents and moderate Democrats. I imagine that the DNC's heads were doing exorcist-like histrionics tonight.

Miller versus Matthews should have been stopped on cuts (Matthews'). And after all 17 of the alleged 'undecideds' (save two) said Miller's speech was great, and had convinced 11 of them to likely vote for Bush, Andrea Mitchell, reporter extraordinaire, completely ignored this focus group, instead noting that John McCain didn't like the speech. Not that John McCain would ever be petty or jealous of accolades given to a rival speaker.

AWW:

Overnight polls showed the Buchanan speech was the high point for George H.W. at that convention.

If ANYONE has a link to a transcript of Matthews / Miller on Hardball, please post! I am morified to have missed it.

Andrew X:

Jim Geraghty at the Kerry Spot at National Review Online has a partial transcript. Trust me, MSNBC will be replaying this one.

Halfway down on the page you can find the Zell Miller Hardball video. It's not quite as rough and tumble as I have read, but maybe the descrptions muted the effect.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5810451

Thanks guys. I did find this from commenter AlexM at LGF. Unofficial, but here it is....

Matthews: Do you believe truthfully that John Kerry wants to defeat the world with spitballs?

Zell: That was a metaphor. You know what a metaphor is?

Matthews: Well, what do you mean by that metaphor?

Zell: He wanted to cancel these weapons programs. Cancel, means to do away with. I think we ought to cancel this interview.

Matthews: Well, that would be my loss Senator. Well, let me ask you about this because I think you have a view on reporters of the world. You said, “It was often the soldier, not the reporter, who has given the freedom of the press.” What was your point?

Zell: Well, it certainly got a rise out of you.

Matthews: Well, it’s a shot.

Zell: You’re a reporter. You didn’t have anything to do with the freedom of the press.

Matthews: Why did you single out reporters… Because you could get an applause line at a conservative convention.

J.C. Watts: Now come on, Chris.

Zell: You’re hopeless. I wish I was over there. In fact I wish we lived in the…

Matthews: If a Republican Senator broke ranks and spoke for the democrats would you respect him?

Zell: Yes, I’ve seen that happen from time to time.

Matthews: Jim Jeffords switched parties after getting elected…

Zell: Wait a minute, wait a minute… If you’re going to ask a question..

Matthews: It’s a tough question. It takes a few words.

Zell: Get out of my face! If you’re going to ask me a question, then step back, and let me answer! I wish we lived in a day where you can challenge a person to a duel. Now that would be pretty good. (Norah Odonell loud laughter)

Don’t pull that stuff on me like you did that young lady when you had her brow beaten to death. I’m not her! I’m not her! You get in my face I’m going to get back in your face. [Jim's note: I presume this is a reference to Michelle Malkin?]

Matthews: Senator can I speak softly to you?

Zell: No, no. You won’t give me a chance to answer. You ask these questions and then you just talk over while I’m trying to answer just like you did that woman the other day. Why don’t why I even came on this program.

Matthews: Well, I’m glad you did. Well let me ask you this…

Zell: No, Are you going to shut up after you ask me! Are going to give me a chance to answer it.

Matthews: Yes, sir. I’m going to give you a chance to answer.

Seems Larry Gatlin(sp) also went toe-to-toe w/a protester.

Haven't found the bite.

Sandy, I thought Gatlin came across as a bit of a jerk. When some protesters watching the interview were being a little disruptive though not over the top crazy, he made comments like (paraphrasing) "When you're a big star then you can do interviews like this, and I'll let you finish." and "I've worked 40 years for this moment. Maybe if you do that..blah...blah...blah" He seemed a bit pompous and self-important. Gotta love Zell though.

The fact that Zell Miller would like to literally kill Chris Matthews doesn't impress me much.

In 1992, Miller had high praise for Jimmy Carter. Now he heaps nothing but scorn. In 2001, Miller called Kerry an authentic hero, a great leader, and a good friend.

Zell strikes me as mentally unstable.

WOW! I'll have to see the rereuns. As to Joel Thomas' point, Miller was known here in Georgia as Zig Zag Zell. I believe the 9/11 events might have focused his mind, in the Johnsonian sense.

Joel - yes a Democrat senator who realizes the world changed on 9/11 and supports the GOP must be mentally unstable. Please.
To Fred's point - didn't see it but blogs are reporting that after Miller's speech one of the networks (NBC?) ran to McCain who promptly dissed Miller and praised Kerry. Hard to know whose side McCain is on half the time.

What's Kerry going to do? Run against a retiring member of his own party?

Chris Matthews is an unsufferable lout. I stopped watching his show years ago. All this confrontation is just the last gasp attempt to drum up some support and ratings for ths show. See who Chris Mattews goes apesh*t on today.

Over at NRO they are complaining that Miller was too hot and that the GOP is ignoring important issues like the economy. It's getting so that if you close your eyes you can't tell the NRO and NPR pundits apart.

One of the problems with a magazine like National Review is that its largely devoid of people with actual electoral experience. Was it Tip O'Neill who once said under different circumstances: You'd feel a whole lot better about this group if at least one of them had so much as been elected dogcatcher somewhere.

As a border stater and a swing stater, and a guy who has run for office, I can bring a little different perspective to the table. I think the speech Zell Miller gave last night is going to go down as one of the most memorable speeches since President Reagan departed public life.

In the Post 9/11 era, Bush's speeches in the aftermath of the attack and those of Giuliani and McCain at this convention are significant pieces of oratory. None, none, have the power, sustained rage and impact of Zell Miller's. It was the most devastating attack I've ever seen on a a candidate, the most personally committed statement I can remember at a politcal convention, again, since Ronald Reagan departed the scene, and the most passion we have seen in American public life in some time.

My supposition--when Zell gets out on the trail for Bush in MO, NV, CO, NM, WV, north FL, TN, southern OH and central PA, and maybe the UP of MI, you are gonna smell the smoke of Kerry's hopes going down in flames. Zell speaks the lingo of those folks--because he is one of them and he has an authenticity about his position that others lack.

NEVER has a sitting senator crossed party lines like this---NEVER. That says something. I knew the man could speak--I watched his attack on Bush 41 in 1992 when he nominated Pres. Clinton. This, though, was something more.

This is big. Very big. This is History.

cornet:

Isn't the key that it ties current Democratic opposition to the war to their prior opposition to Vietnam and the Reagan Cold War victory, a rich vein of anger they seem not to even recognize still exists.

NRO can't be distinguished from NPR? Uh, right. I don't like self-described racist Derbyshire and Jonah mostly bores me since he stopped the jokes, but both were shouting hooray for Zell. Somehow, I don't think Miller will get too many kidos from NPR today.

It's true that pretty-boy Rich Lowry and hopeless wonk Ramesh Ponnuru are fretting that The Undecideds Won't Like It. But those two are always quibbling and fretting and whimpering and generally acting like girlie-men.

As for me...I didn't see the speech! I refuse to watch political infomercials, er, conventions. On principle.

Shoulda been "kudos." I don't know what "kidos" are.

Oh, one more point..because I can't shut up. I really do switch off political ads whenever they invade my teevee-gazing. Luckily, I live in a hopelessly uncontested state (Texas) so the ads are not exactly blizzard-thick.

Somehow, though, the Swiftie ad about Kerry's war-crimes accusations cut through. No matter what your ideology, this ad is raw devastation. Kerry comes across as a hate-America fanatic with a bad dose of elitist disdain for his countrymen. They even managed to get his hoity-toitier-than-the-French pronunciation of "Genghis Khan" into the ad.

An absolutely unforgettable spot. No wonder it's got most of the media p.o.ed.

Casey:

Mara Liasson loved it.

Casey:

why? Why shouldn't you be interested in how a political party presents its message?

People should be as interested in political ads as they are in any other ads. Which is not much. Ads are inevitably one-sided. Why not look for both sides of the story?

By ignoring one side?

Absolutely oj.

The Dems still have not grasped that many voters, though perfectly willing to go along with redistributionist/confiscatory tax policy, and gaudy but insubstantial social programs (so long as they made them feel good or they got a little something out of it) insist on having that inconvenient need for safety met as well.

Their failings in the 70s culminating in Carter's abysmal foreign policy allowed the Reagan Democrat phenomenon to develop. It wasn't just their social views that were going out of the mainstream, but the relaization of so many folks that they had no clue how to keep us safe. People havent forgotten those years and they havent forgotten Vietnam. A whole host of young people has grown up being told about those days by their parents.

I think the Dems have a blind spot to how wrong they were then because they associate their pacifism (ok, cowardice and defeatism) with the more lofty goals some were pursuing st the same time (ie, civil rights, conservation, etc). They have made their stance then the foundation of their whole group mythos.