Some of his criticisms are valid, some of them appear to be sour grapes whining from someone who is resentful that his intellectual and moral inferior has been elected to the highest office in the land.
and come from a man who is every bit as much 'in the arena' as any American, or any individual that is in the Administration.
No, he isn't. I know you admire the man greatly, and I know that he enthralled many of us on FR with his past 2 presidential campaigns. Remember, I voted for him in the 1996 and 2000 primaries. In fact, if the 1996 records for my small south Georgia are still available, you could see that Dr. Keyes got exactly one vote in my district - mine.
Dr. Keyes is a brilliant man, but he's never won an election - in fact, he's never run for an office he had much more than a snowball's chance of winning. He's never had to work with other lawmakers to craft and pass legislation, he's never had to develop and implement public policy, and he's never had to keep an electorate happy enough to hopefully reelect him.
You're right, EV, it's really easy to sit on the sidelines and carp. I wish that I'd thought of making a living at it 20 years ago.
You don't know everything that Alan Keyes does.
FYI, he has spent quite a bit of time on Capitol Hill, sitting with Republican Congressmen and Senators crafting legislation. You would be surprised by the deference paid to him there. He is respected and listened to in a way that I've never seen accorded to any other visitor to the Hill. There are many other outside ways that Alan impacts public policy as well.
...and he's never had to keep an electorate happy enough to hopefully reelect him.
Zippety-do-dah. He has a very large constituency across America that is unique among modern political figures. Doesn't matter where you go in any corner of the country, he is very highly respected and frankly loved amongst Republicans.
By the way, I appreciate the tone of your posts, and apologize to whatever extent I may sound a bit too harsh. I am working very long hours on this current campaign, with alot of daily pressures, as if that is any excuse.
And, as you pointed out, Alan is my friend, so I tend to take the criticisms of him somewhat personally.
But the fact is, a large proportion of the criticisms aimed at him around here are untrue and unfair.