Zell Miller Part Two
Okay. Found the transcript from last December’s Hardball. Zell Miller Part Two.
MATTHEWS: But who did you vote for in ’92 and ’96?
MILLER: I voted for Clinton, but I also voted for a man who, at that time, was saying things like that we have got to punish criminals instead of explaining away their behavior. He was saying, you couldn’t have a federal program for every problem.
He was saying that you have got to balance the budget, like I’ve done 10 times in Arkansas. He was talking about that the era of big government is over. He was talking about, we got to reform welfare as we know it. Oh, I know that mantra very well. I repeated it a lot.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Are you saying he welshed-he welshed on you?
MILLER: What?
MATTHEWS: Are you saying he welshed on you?
MILLER: I didn’t say he welshed. I’m not going to use that kind of language. But I would say he disappointed me, because he ran as a centrist Democrat and he governed-I mean, and he governed, of course, as a more liberal, old Democrat.
Not that I want to defend Bill Clinton (I don’t know the definition of a “good president”), but… I’m dumbfounded. Balanced budget? (Oh, and… didn’t he sign the Republican’s own damned Welfare Bill?)
And Trent Lott is giddily agreeing here:
MATTHEWS: Merry Christmas, gentlemen. I’m sorry.
No, go ahead, Senator. Go ahead, Senator Lott. What is it? I’m sorry.
LOTT: I just want to say, Zell Miller has been consistent. When he was governor of Georgia, he had balanced budgets. He focused on education and jobs creation. He hasn’t changed. The party has continued to move to the left. They left him.
There’s that phrase again. “Balanced budget.” And… “Jobs”. Did I miss something here?
But the reality of our narrow political discourse is… schizoid and obnoxiously fake.
At a certain point, you just have to turn this stuff off and prime your eyes to something better connected to reality. This’ll do, I suppose.