By accident, I just caught on TV about 20 seconds of Senator Miller–conservative and nominal Democrat from Georgia, who has long been a Republican–speaking at the Republican National Convention in support of George W. Bush. It is rare that one hears someone who immediately provokes the instinctive reaction, “There is something deeply wrong with this person.” (Gary Bauer comes to mind.) But there is, indeed, something psychologically and emotionally wrong with this man. (Any readers from Georgia have insight?)

What a freak show. What are these people doing in the same country with my children?

UPDATE: Josh Marshall captures some of the weirdness rather well: “There’s a lot of rage and anger in that man — and I can’t imagine a viewer coming to that speech with an open and politically-uncommitted mind who wouldn’t wonder where it was from. The tone struck me as a bit ranting and wild, barking and angry, with Miller channeling some mix of Heart of Darkness and Deliverance, which I can’t quite decipher but did not want to be near.” The good news is the Republicans put this on prime time, where it could do maximum damage to their ability to sway the famous “swing” voters. (Thanks to Bill Childs for the pointer.)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Keith DeRose calls my attention to this unusually rigorous questioning of Zell Miller on CNN.

AND STILL ANOTHER UPDATE: A roundup of reactions to the lunatic performance by the Senator from Georgia. I will confess to being surprised that some of my conservative friends don’t realize how bad this was for the Republicans. Of course, it may be not enough folks will have seen it for it to impact the election.

AND ANOTHER: A reader, who asked to remain anonymous (because engaged in a job search currently), writes:

“I saw your post on Zell Miller this morning. I am a Democrat living in Georgia, and for the life of me I can’t figure out what’s wrong with this guy. He used to be very popular here, now the left hates him (WSJ had an article on it Monday I believe — they call him “Zig Zag Zell” because he doesn’t stand for anything) and I’m not sure how the right feels about him. I had the impression that he was credible as a senior-statesman type, but after his bumbling Meet the Press performance about a month ago and what I’ve heard from him lately (including interview with Peter Jennings aired on ABC News last night), he just comes across a bit looney. You aren’t the first to question his mental well being. I wish the Democrats would boot his sorry ass out of the party, but I guess he’s retiring soon enough (with his position likely to be filled by someone not much better, Johnny Isakson, but at least he has the proper “R” by his name).”