Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.), who has been his party’s most loyal supporter of President Bush in the Senate, has delivered a blistering critique of Sen. John Kerry’s leadership while renewing his offer to campaign for Bush in the South in “any way that I can help him.”

Miller’s comments confirmed his virtual departure in all but name from his national party and marked an escalation of the former Marine’s criticism of the Massachusetts Democrat and presumptive presidential nominee — a man he once termed “one of the nation’s authentic heroes.”

In an interview near the Senate floor last week, Miller said he is willing to help Bush “because I believe in him. … I believe in the direction he’s taking this country. I think he’s a principled and determined leader, and that’s what we need right now.”[...]

[...] Miller has not always been so dismissive of Kerry. At the Georgia Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in 2001, he introduced Kerry as “one of this nation’s authentic heroes, one of this party’s best-known and greatest leaders — and a good friend.”

In remarks reported in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Miller continued, “In his 16 years in the Senate, John Kerry has fought against government waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to Washington.” Miller said Kerry “fought for balanced budgets before it was considered politically correct for Democrats to do so.” [...]