Zell Miller, my favorite democrat, fell ill Thursday night. Say a few prayers for the guy, will ya? He’s an old jarhead.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. Apr 29, 2005 — Former Sen. Zell Miller fell ill while giving a speech Thursday night and was taken to a hospital emergency room. His wife said he had flu-like symptoms.

Miller, 73, was in stable condition at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, according to nursing supervisor Tammy Harbison. She said she did not know what made Miller ill. The hospital said Miller was alert and cracking jokes, but would likely be kept overnight.

Miller, who gave a fiery keynote speech against fellow Democrats at last year’s Republican National Convention, left the Senate in January.

Down at my son’s High School, located in Harlingen, at the tip of Texas in the “valley” at the Marine Military Academy, they have a little museum which is close to the prototype for the Iwo Jima monument in Arlington. At the museum, I picked up Zell Miller’s book, Corps Values: Everything you need to know I learned in the Marine Corps. (Now you know why you’ve seen pictures of my youngest son in a Marine Corps Uniform. He was in the Jr. ROTC in High School, down in Texas, getting his butt kicked by a bunch of retired jarheads who are on staff down there.) Zell Miller is an incredible man, I read that book quickly on a flight down to Texas one afternoon and gave it to my son, who read it on the way back to Chicago. It’s an inspiring book about the time proven principles a person learns in the Marine Corps which can be applied by anyone in their everyday lives.

Here’s my favorite recent quote by Zell:

NRO: Why aren’t there more Zell Millers in the Democratic party?

MILLER: The Democratic tent has shrunk to the size of a dunce cap. There’s no room for conservatives like me. We used to have moderates and conservatives in the party. Then they ran us all out.

God bless him.