Dangerous Times

Criticism of Zell Miller's keynote address at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday has been particularly harsh. And with good reason. The problem, as William Saletan explains, is that Miller essentially equated opposition to the President with opposition to the country.

"[W]hile young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan," Miller argued, "our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our Commander in Chief." That is to say, things wouldn't be going so badly in Iraq and Afghanistan if the Democrats weren't trying to prevent Bush from getting another four year term. The Democrats, Miller insisted are "[m]otivated more by partisan politics than by national security." The problem, Miller insisted, is that Democrats hate America: In their "warped way of thinking America is the problem, not the solution. They don't believe there is any real danger in the world except that which America brings upon itself through our clumsy and misguided foreign policy." Although Miller hastened to add that he was impugning the Democrats "judgment," and not their "patriotism," his remarks did precisely that. The leader of the Democrats, John Kerry, Miller insisted, would sell out our security to the hated French: Kerry "would let Paris decide when America needs defending."

The crowd at the Republican Convention roared in approval. Matthew Ygelsias, who was there, said he actually felt a little bit afraid.

The fact that Miller is still registered as a Democrat did not change matters in the slightest. The RNC and the Bush campaign vetted the text of his remarks beforehand. He was delivering the message they wanted delivered. And that message is what is so troubling.

Does the Republican leadership, or for that matter, the Republican rank and file actually believe that political opposition to the President's policies is truly disloyal? If so, this is a serious problem for the health of American democracy. It's fair game to call your opponents stupid and their policies unsound. It's even OK to say that what they are proposing will be bad for the country and for the cause of freedom around the world. But you cross the line when you argue that political opposition is designed to weaken America at the hands of its enemies, and that the other party seeks to sell America out.

That is one reason why I thought Anne Coulter's recent book entitled "Treason" was a sorry comment on the state of American democracy. One can dismiss Coulter as a freak show, although she gets plenty of air time on the cable channels. But when Coulter's basic message-- that political opposition is disloyal-- is delivered by a keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention to a wildly cheering audience, these sentiments can no longer be seen as isolated examples of fringe lunacy. Instead, they now are being employed as a key campaign strategy.

Terrorism around the world makes the world a dangerous place. What happened the other night at the Republican Convention makes things dangerous in an entirely different way.