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The following was published in Bluffton Today, Tuesday, January 11, 2006:

A Word from Michael Miller

by Rob Dewig

Just for fun, we asked Bluffton blogger Michael Miller to play a little word association. Short questions, short answers.

*Alito?
“Oh yeah, it’s gonna happen.”

* Iraq?
“Absolute success.”

* Howard Dean?
“Howard Dean is God’s gift to the Republican party.”

* Cindy Sheehan?
“She’s so far out there. (She’s) dragging people to the Republican Party.”

* 2006?
“All bets are off … but I think 2006 looks pretty good for Republicans. If (Democrats) keep doing what they’re doing, nobody’s going to vote for defeat.”

* Fox or CNN?
“CNN’s blocked on my TV. No, I’m kidding, but I never watch it, never, never, never.”

* Rush or Hannity?
“Why can’t you have both?”

Bluffton blogger gains international fame for his political opinions

When George Bush gives a speech, the world listens. And when the British Broadcasting Corp. wants to know what the American media think of the president, its reporters, lately, have looked to Bluffton.

Specifically, to Michael Miller.

Miller is a “blogger,” similar in practice if not in scope to those found on blufftontoday.com. Extremely political in nature, Miller’s Web site mikesamerica.blogspot.com covers national politics from his personal point of view.

In sum, conservatives are good, but they can’t waver. Do that – like some Republicans did when they spoke out against former Supreme Court candidate Harriet Miers – and you’re a “Barabbas conservative,” according to Miller.

Liberals, to him, are just plain bad.

Miller, 47, has no idea how or why the BBC chose to post snippets from his Web site in stories about Bush published on Dec. 14 and Dec. 19, but he’s not complaining.
On Dec. 14, in a story headlined “Media react to Bush Iraq speech,” the BBC quoted editors and reporters from the Washington Post, NBC, the New York Times and Fox News, “and then little old me,” Miller said.

They did it again on Dec. 19, in a story titled “Press finds new tone in Bush speech.” The reporter quoted only the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Times and, again, Miller.

“That’s kind of nice. I don’t really have a lot of nice things to say about the BBC, if they would have looked at the rest of my (Web) site, but I’m happy they included me in the stories,” Miller said.

The BBC’s Dec. 14 story quotes Miller as saying of Bush’s speech about the Iraqi elections: “And the Defeaticrat response? More of the defeatism which paralyzes that political party from offering anything constructive at a time of war.”

Miller says things like that a lot on his Web site. Democrats sometimes become “Defeaticrats.” Liberals can also be “moonbats.”

But lingo aside, Miller’s site is detailed, footnoted and contains links to everything Miller himself doesn’t write.

Miller says his philosophy is “link, link, link, all the time.”

In the past week, he’s written long pieces about NSA wiretapping, U.S. Rep. John Murtha, U.S. Rep. Tom Delay, a possible Democrat coup against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the political year in review, Ronald Reagan and Nigerian uranium.

Miller describes himself as “a conservative conservative. But let’s look at it in a different way. First, I’m an American. Then I’m a conservative. Then I’m a Republican.”

The making of Michael Miller

Miller’s history is as fascinating as his Web site. Born in Columbia, he grew up in Bowling Green, Ohio, where he got involved in politics in the fourth grade. A teacher assigned him to bring campaign literature from then-candidate Richard Nixon as part of a class project.
Miller went to Ohio Wesleyan University, where he majored in chemistry at first, thinking to imitate his father by perhaps becoming a doctor. A political science course turned that idea on its ear, however.

His teacher was Arthur Peterson, a former executive director for the Republican National Convention Platform Committee, and a good friend of George H.W. Bush.

Things took off from there. Miller had found his calling.

He founded the university’s Republican Club. He worked on congressional campaigns, attended the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit as a youth delegate, and studied national security under Zbigniew Brzeznski.

In 1988, he moved to Washington, D.C., to become a White House intern for President Reagan. At one point or another, he met Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Phyllis Schlafly and William F. Buckley Jr.

Tongue just slightly in cheek, Miller says he and friends take credit for Reagan’s selection of George Bush as his running mate. They mentioned the idea to Reagan shortly before the governor of Ohio famously did the same thing.

Miller later spent four years at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he recalls being introduced by a higher-up as the guy “that the White House sent over. I was like, ‘Thank you very much.’ They made me feel like some sort of spy.”

He moved to Moss Creek in 1996. He tried his hand in public relations for Sun City, but hated it. He began writing for a local magazine instead.
And then he discovered “blogs.”

Mike’s America

Blogs, short for “Web logs,” offer virtually anyone with the time to invest in it a free reign over their own personal Internet space.

Miller decided to do one of his own when friends kept asking him to send e-mails of poll studies and political predictions he made.

He founded Mike’s America in 2004 during the presidential election campaign. He began with in-depth analyses of polls, then opened things up with discussions of all things political and newsy.

“I don’t like football. Politics is the real game,” Miller said. “It’s the one where it actually matters who wins and who loses.”

Miller has his local fans, as well. “As past president of the Greater Bluffton Republican Club, I found the resources on the Mike's America blog invaluable,” says Dawn Duff. “In fact, he was the one who inspired and assisted me in getting our own up and running. Mike has a gift for always being able to clarify the hypocrisies in our two-party system. He does it all with an appealing sense of humor. And besides that, he's an interesting guy.”