Zell Miller isn’t inconsistent: he just says whatever he’s told to say.
On reflection, the most appalling moment in Zell Miller’s convention performance didn’t come when he was shouting angrily or attacking Kerry. It came when he was speaking tenatively and defending himself.
Jeff Greenfeld asked Miller why, if he considered Kerry such an advocate of national weakness based on his voting record in the 1990s, Miller had such nice things to say about him in 2001.
GREENFIELD: Then why did you say in 2001 that he strengthened the military? You said that three years ago.
MILLER: Because that was the biographical sketch that they gave me.
In effect, this goes:
Q. Why did you say one thing then and another thing now?
A. Because I was told to say that then.
And presumably, told to say this now.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman