Well, at least it’s a perfect match.
Sen. Zell Miller, the fire-and-brimstone-preaching Dixiecrat who tried to challenge MSNBC’s Chris Matthews to a duel after delivering the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention, has been welcomed with open arms by Fox News Channel.
The cable network announced yesterday it has signed the departing Georgia Democrat as a contributor, beginning in January.
Details were scant. Kevin Magee, FNC’s vice president of programming, told The TV Column, “We will plug him in wherever we can use him.”
I’m sure any time the issue of spitballs come up, Zell will be ready for his close-up.
Oddly enough, over the summer, Zell, who is now 72, suggested he was prepared to walk away from the political scene and enjoy retirement.
“[A man my age shouldn’t be] coming to New York and getting involved in all this stuff. He ought to stay down in Young Harris [the Georgia town in which he lives] with his two yellow Labs, Gus and Woodrow, and let the world go by.”
The comments were either total nonsense or Zell has had a dramatic change of heart. In addition to his new role as Fox News’ latest fire-breathing blowhard, the Democrat-in-name-only is also staying in DC to become a lobbyist.
How, exactly, did a man who wanted to live out his days in his home town teaching at his alma mater, tiny Young Harris College, decide to stay in DC to become a lobbyist/talking head? As Noam Scheiber explained a couple of weeks ago, a professor at the college wrote a mean letter to Zell, calling him a “disgrace to your city, your county, your state and your country.”
Infuriated, Zell vowed never to go back to Young Harris College again. Instead, despite claiming to hate DC and the “beltway culture,” Zell re-upped his lease, accepted a lucrative lobbying gig, and signed on with Fox News.
That Zell Miller sure is a man of principle, isn’t he?