KERRY VINDICATES ZELL

Zell Miller’s fiery speech to the Republican National Convention was criticized by the likes of Andrew Sullivan as misleading and dishonest. Zell claimed that Kerry would let “Paris decide when America needs defending” and that, if Kerry had had his way, our military would be “Armed with what? Spitballs?” Critics claimed that Zell was misleading people, or even “lying,” about Kerry’s positions. (The issue is not mere hyperbole, which all sides would agree Zell was using, no doubt including Zell himself; but rather, hyperbole aside, whether Zell’s critiques had substance.)

After Kerry’s “global test” bombshell, and after Kerry used the debate to, yes, reject yet another weapons system (bunker-buster nukes), I think Zell’s critics owe him an apology.

(As I’ve said, the idea of fewer weapons, or of accepting the primacy of the UN in international disputes, doesn’t make me as mad as it makes Zell, though, on balance, I oppose it.)