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OK.... First reaction to tonight's speeches at the RNC.

Zell Miller:
Angry. Bitter. And potentially more disastrous than Buchannan's speech in 1992. Why? Several reasons.

First, there is no WAY that undecided women will respond to this speech positively. NO WAY. And those sitting on the fence? I suspect that more will fall to the left than the right following this. "Our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our Commander in Chief." Excuse me? Even my friends on the right don't believe this! And I can't imagine someone sitting undecided and in the middle thinking this makes sense.

Second, I think his speech dramatically overshadowed the subsequent speech by the Vice President. No one would call Cheney an inspiring speaker, but in the wake of Zell's tyrade, he looked and sounded flat as a board. I have to imagine that the result was a good portion of middle America reaching for their remotes.

Most importantly, however, I don't think his speech was vetted carefully enough. Some of his claims were questionable. Some were false. And others were outright lies. Let's take just a few of his claims:

"Together, Kennedy and Kerry have opposed the very weapons system that won the Cold War and that are now winning the war on terror. Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security."

Yes, Kerry voted against numerous weapons systems. Zell went out of his way to provide numerous details of the systems in question. Only one problem. As Wolf Blitzer pointed out to him in an interview several moments later, Cheney tried to kill many of those same systems as Secretary of Defense. And quite literally, Zell was left speechless.

Next.

"Senator Kerry has made it clear that he would use military force only if approved by the United Nations. Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending."

Good luck finding a time when he ever said THAT. As just one example, here's a direct quote from Kerry's speech at his party's convention.

"I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as President.  Let there be no mistake:  I will never hesitate to use force when it is required.  Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. I will never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security."

For a guy accused of being too vague and nuanced, that seems pretty definitive to me.

Finally, one more.

"Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator. And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators."

Hmmm... Here are two quotes from Pres. Bush's April Press Conference:

"And they were happy -- they're not happy they're occupied. I wouldn't be happy if I were occupied either. They do want us there to help with security."

"As a proud, independent people, Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation, and neither does America."

I found those quotes in 30 seconds with one Google search. Apparently his hero, our current Commander in Chief, is one of those people he should be mad at.

Each of these opens HUGE opportunities for the Kerry campaign to hit back, and to hit back hard. The real question is... will they?

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