To the editor:

I would like to talk about the “keynote” speaker at the Republican National Convention, Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga. One can certainly tell a lot about where the two parties are headed by comparing Sen. Miller’s speech to the one given by Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention.

Where Obama’s message was full of hope for the future, Sen. Miller’s speech was largely delivered through a pained grimace and spoke mostly of fear of terror and virulent scorn for Sen. Kerry. While Obama didn’t even mention the president, Sen. Miller spent the majority of the speech tearing down Kerry. Miller began ironically by fearing for his great-grandchildren’s safety under Kerry. I couldn’t help but think that the only issue relevant to those kids in 40 years will probably be the environment and certainly not Iraq.

I watched the speech on NBC and after it was over, Tom Brokaw turned to a mostly stunned John McCain for commentary. McCain was only able to stammer that he didn’t really agree and wouldn’t impugn his opponent’s patriotism the way Miller did. If I had been undecided I think Miller’s angry rant would have likely swayed me away from the Republicans.

Scott James,

Lawrence