What went wrong with Democrats?

I'm old enough to remember Tip O'neil. The man could roast you on the floor of the Congress, and not ten minutes later, he'd invite you to imbibe with him. He didn't dislike his counterparts....he disagreed with them on ideology.
And at the heart of it all, he loved his country. He wanted what he believed to be the best for it. We disagreed on policy, but never on principle.

I tripped across Zell Miller's speech to the RNC from 2004. I was reminded that he was from the old guard....Democrats who genuinely loved their country...and never apologized for it. Watch this and tell me that today's Democrats haven't become all-out socialists and whiners....by comparison to the last generation of true Statesmen like Miller, who served his country as a Marine, and then came home to serve again as the people's representative.

Listen carefully to every word. Look past the lame partisan argument (which is the first proof of exactly what he's referencing)and listen to his pride and confidence in the missions we've accomplished. He's not apologetic for these efforts. He's proud of our intervention in matters that needed to be addressed. This is the stuff that made us great, and the defenders of the downtrodden and oppressed.

Zell Miller, American Defender and Democrat.