WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (AFP) - Former President Jimmy Carter berated renegade Democratic Senator Zell Miller as a traitor for the starring role he played at last week's Republican National Convention, US media reported Wednesday.
"Loyal Democrats, including members of my family and me, elected you as state senator, lieutenant governor and governor," Carter wrote in a letter faxed to Miller.
The text of the letter was published Wednesday in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the leading paper in the southern state of Georgia, which is home to both Miller and the former president.
"By your historically unprecedented disloyalty, you have betrayed our trust," Carter wrote.
Miller's Senate office issued a brief statement Wednesday in reply.
"John F. Kennedy warned about the dangers of extreme party loyalty and once said, 'What sins have been committed in its name.' My first loyalty is and always will be my family," Miller wrote.
The Georgia senator, the token Democrat and keynote speaker at last week's Republican convention in New York, unleashed bitter invective against his party's presidential candidate John Kerry as someone unable to meet the challenges of global terrorism head on.
By contrast, Miller said, Republican President George W. Bush "believes we have to fight today's war and be ready for tomorrow's challenges. George Bush is committed to providing the kind of forces it takes to root out terrorists."
Miller, 72, has refused to quit the Democratic Party despite his support for Bush, which earned him futher scorn from Carter.
"Other Democrats, because of philosophical differences or the race issue ... at least had the decency to become Republicans," Carter wrote.
"Everyone knows that you were chosen to speak at the Republican National Convention because of your being a "Democrat," and it's quite possible that your rabid speech damaged our party and paid the GOP some transient dividends," Carter's letter continued.
"Perhaps more troublesome of all is seeing you adopt an established and very effective Republican campaign technique of destroying the character of opponents by wild and false allegations."
He went on to accuse Miller of having "lies and obfuscation over the truth, and the political technique of personal character assassination as a way to win elections or to garner a few moments of applause."
Carter signed the letter "sincerely, and with deepest regrets."