Georgia Democrat stumps for Bush
WASHINGTON -- The Bush-Cheney campaign yesterday unleashed its most famous Democratic booster, Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, to make the case that presidential candidate John F. Kerry advocates policies inconsistent with some of history's most popular Democratic presidents.
Miller, who is the lone Democratic senator to back publicly President Bush's reelection bid, criticized Kerry in a speech announcing his leadership of a national "Democrats for Bush" effort.
He was joined by a handful of lesser-known Democrats, but the campaign said it would release a more comprehensive list in the coming weeks.
The popular former governor cited the policies of Democratic Presidents John F. Kennedy and Harry S Truman while contending that Kerry, not Bush, is outside the mainstream on issues ranging from tax cuts to war.
"John F. Kerry has the same initials as John F. Kennedy," Miller said, "but he has a far, far different view of what the government can do to help families prosper. John Kerry's spending and tax plan would stifle our economy and stall our recovery at the worst possible time."
Miller was an original sponsor of Bush's proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut, which Congress trimmed to $1.3 trillion. He argued that it represented a smaller proportion of the American economy and benefited poor Americans even more than one enacted under Kennedy in the 1960s.
As for the war in Iraq, Miller praised Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, for his Senate vote to authorize the use of force. However, he said Kerry later opposed an $87 billion package to further fund the effort after "spending too much time around Howard Dean," the former presidential candidate and outspoken war critic.
Miller also criticized Kerry's view that more diplomatic channels should have been explored through the United Nations before moving almost unilaterally.
"I cannot imagine the great Democratic Party leaders of past generations waiting with their hands in their pockets while a bunch of dithering diplomats decided the future of the world," Miller said. "That is the worst kind of indecisiveness. That is the wrong kind of leadership at this critical moment in our history."
The Kerry campaign said Miller had praised his Senate colleague just two years ago, calling Kerry "an authentic hero."
"Zell Miller's new leadership role will be a lonely post," said a Kerry spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter. "Democrats, and Americans of all stripes, are tired of George Bush's failed policies and broken promises."
Bush's campaign chairman, Marc Racicot, a former Montana governor, said the campaign would use Miller often on the trail, particularly to rally fellow Democrats to the cause.
Miller urged Democratic Bush backers to find at least five others they could persuade to support the president.
"It'll be easy to recruit Democrats in Florida," said the state's former Democratic lieutenant governor, Wayne Mixson, who joined Miller on a conference call yesterday. "I was with a bunch of business people yesterday, and I've already got my quota if that's all you want me to get."
Miller, who is retiring when his term ends in January, has by far the Senate's most conservative voting record among Democrats. He has backed the president on almost every key issue and recently published a best-selling book, "A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat."
