From Reuters .<$NoAd$>..
Sen. Zell Miller, whose scathing speech at the Republican convention outraged fellow Democrats, was so booked with television interviews that he could not sit in President Bush’s guest box at the convention on Thursday as first planned.
The Bush re-election campaign initially intended for the Georgia senator and his wife, Shirley, to sit among the honored guests with first lady Laura Bush and other VIPs as the president accepted the Republican nomination to a new term in office.The campaign later released a guest list that dropped Miller and his wife from the list. Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said Miller was not in the box because the Bush campaign had scheduled him to do too many television interviews.
Stanzel said the campaign was delighted that Miller, a conservative Democrat, participated at the convention.
From NBC …
After gauging the harsh reaction from Democrats and Republicans alike to Sen. Zell Millerâs keynote address at the Republican National Convention, the Bush campaign â led by the first lady â backed away Thursday from Millerâs savage attack on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, insisting that the estranged Democrat was speaking only for himself.
Late Thursday, Miller and his wife were removed from the list of dignitaries who would be sitting in the first familyâs box during the presidentâs acceptance speech later in the evening. Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said Miller was not in the box because the campaign had scheduled him to do too many television interviews.
There was no explanation, however, for why Miller would be giving multiple interviews during Bushâs acceptance speech, or what channels would snub the president in favor of Miller. Nor was it made clear why Millerâs wife also was not allowed to take her place in the presidentâs box 24 hours after his deeply personal denunciation of his own partyâs nominee.
The change was made only a few hours after Laura Bush, asked about Millerâs speech, said in an interview with NBC News that âI donât know that we share that point of view.â Aides to President Bush and his campaign said.