DMB

Zell Miller and Dick Cheney launched two of the silliest, most angry, most contemptable political speeches heard in quite some time last evening at the Republican National Convention.

Miller, who calls himself a Democrat but who is to the political right of a great many moderate Republicans gave a fire and brimstone speech laced with major factual errors and angry, nasty rhetoric. Mark A Kleinman neatly deconstructs the mess that was Miller's speech. And just in case you thought it was just liberal bloggers who thought Miller had completely taken leave of his senses, Howard Kurtz disabuses that notion nicely.

And what about Cheney? So far ol Dick has been the epitome of a Kerry hater. He offers us no agenda for the next four years. He offers us no honest look at the past four years (in his speech he says that they've provided affordable health care for Americans...when was the last time Cheney looked at a real hospital bill?). Cheney's laughable attacks on Kerry (the "sensitive" remark...that Rumsfeld, Bush and even Cheney have used in the same way)was as disingenuous as it was flatly delivered. Cheney blathered on about Kerry resisting defense initatives that he himself resisted when Secretary of Defense. The dishonesty of Cheney's speech is staggering in it's breadth and breathtaking in it's depth.

Only an individual that's completely wed to voting for George W Bush would swallow these two speeches. Trying to paint Kerry as a self loathing America hater who looks forward to terrorists murdering our citizens and turning over our entire military to the UN will win over no undecided voters or for that matter change the minds of others.

What we witnessed from the Republicans last evening was childish behavor not unlike the tantrums of two year olds. Stamping their feet and screaming to give them what they want and telling lies to try and get it.

Update:Washington Monthly provides a round-up of the punditry and their guffaws at the mess that was Zell.