Zell Bryan Miller. Former Gov of Ga.

[Captainnumnuts]

Passed away yesterday. He was a conservative Democrat and author. He supported George W. Bush against John Kerry in that Presidential election. Served as Lt. Governor from 1975 to 1991. A keynote speaker, he did not seek re-election to the Senate in 2004. He was also a Fox news contributor.

 

[Captainnumnuts]

No one likes conservative Democrats?

 

[Hypoxia]

No one likes conservative Democrats?

Three other obituaries yesterday grabbed my attention. The top 4:

H. Wayne Huizenga, Owner of Teams and a Business Empire, Dies at 80

Mr. Huizenga built a business empire with the Blockbuster and AutoNation chains and owned three South Florida teams, the Marlins, Dolphins and Panthers.
___

Zell Miller, Feisty Democrat Who Sided With G.O.P., Is Dead at 86

Mr. Miller rose to governor of Georgia, then filled a Senate seat, where he showed his independence with a tart convention speech backing George W. Bush.
___

Lawrence K. Grossman, Head of PBS and Then NBC News, Dies at 86

At PBS he expanded the “MacNeil/Lehrer Report” and started “Frontline,” but early successes at NBC News were overtaken by cuts imposed by new corporate bosses.
___

Hazel Smith, 83, Matriarch of Country Music, Is Dead

A freewheeling songwriter, journalist, confidante and more, she was credited with coining the phrase “outlaw country” to describe a raw new sound.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Zig Zag Zell, as he was affectionately known in Georgia, was a political weathervane.

He was a segregationist politician during his first rise to power.
Sensing a shift in the wind, he decided black people weren't so bad in the mid- to late-60s, one of the very first "enlightened" white politicians.

He was elected Governor around 1980 or so as I recall, and during his administration the HOPE Scholarship was created, using ALL monies generated by the new Georgia Lottery to fund college education.

By 1984, however, he recognized that the pendulum was shifting away from him once again. He dutifully returned to his anti-Negro roots and spent the rest of his life denigrating people of color.

He was a political oddity.

 

[Chernosoth]

Five year bump because I remembered him today. His 2004 convention speech did not sound like weathervaning. He seemed legitimately pissed. He was easily ridiculed as a batshit old man yelling at clouds, but now I think he has more of a Cassandra legacy. He saw his beloved Democratic Party veering far out into territory where he did not want to go. Nineteen years later, it is in very strange territory, far away from most of the nation.

 

[Dribble]

Well...your alt was more appropriately named