Posted on 08/09/2004 6:31:20 PM PDT by wagglebee
Republican Alan Keyes ripped into Democratic rival Barack Obama's views on abortion Monday, calling them "the slaveholder's position," as the U.S. Senate race roared back to life in Illinois.
Up at dawn for a whirlwind round of broadcast interviews, the conservative former diplomat started his first full day of campaigning as the GOP candidate by saying Obama, a state senator from Chicago, had violated the principle that all men are created equal by voting against a bill that would have outlawed a form of late-term abortion.
Keyes said legalizing abortion deprives the unborn of their equal rights.
"I would still be picking cotton if the country's moral principles had not been shaped by the Declaration of Independence," Keyes said. He said Obama "has broken and rejected those principles-- he has taken the slaveholder's position."
The remarks underscore the uniqueness of this Senate race in which both candidates, one an outspoken conservative and the other a favorite of party liberals, are black.
Obama, who has been basking in national celebrity since delivering the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, suggested Keyes is outside the moderate mainstream of state Republicans.
He said he voted against the late-term abortion ban in Springfield because it contained no exception to protect the life of the mother. He noted that Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and federal appeals Judge Richard Posner, both appointed by President Ronald Reagan, had voted to strike down laws banning late-term abortions.
Asked specifically about the phrase "slaveholder's position," Obama said Keyes "should look to members of his own party to see if that's appropriate if he's going to use that kind of language."
Keyes, who is from Maryland and lost two Senate races in that state, on Sunday accepted the GOP nomination to replace primary winner Jack Ryan, who dropped out of the race in June over embarrassing sex club allegations.
Illinois conservatives, who have long taken a back seat to business-oriented party moderates, engineered the selection of Keyes as the replacement candidate.
Monday afternoon, he was officially listed by the State Board of Elections as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. The Keyes campaign confirmed that the Calumet City address listed, in Chicago's southern suburbs, is Keyes' new Illinois home.
Obama said he didn't question the sincerity of those who are deeply concerned about abortion, but he said he believed there are many other issues on the minds of voters.
"As I travel around this state, I don't get asked about gay marriage, I don't get asked about abortion," Obama said. "I get asked, 'How can I find a job that allows me to support my family.' I get asked, 'How can I pay those medical bills without going into bankruptcy."
He said that if Keyes uses the Senate campaign only as a platform "to espouse his socially conservative views, then I think the voters of Illinois are going to be disappointed and they will respond appropriately."
One issue of importance for Illinois right now is delays caused by congestion at O'Hare International Airport. Mayor Richard M. Daley has been pushing for expansion of O'Hare, backed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., but opposed by Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., whose announced retirement launched the scramble for his seat.
Asked about O'Hare on WBEZ radio Monday, Keyes said he had not yet developed any position on the issue of expansion.
"The problem must be addressed," Keyes said. He promised to "try to reach a conclusion that is in the best interests of the economic future of the state and the quality of life" of those who live in the area. "The one thing I won't be bound by is any existing set of political obligations."
In the same interview, he defended his belief that gay marriage is wrong, brushing aside a suggestion from an interviewer that sexual preference might be biologically determined.
"We as human beings cannot assert that our sexual desires cannot be controlled," Keyes said. He said such a claim would "consign us to the real of instinctual animal nature-- and we are not there."
The race between Keyes and Obama sets up the first U.S. Senate election with two black candidates representing the major parties and almost assures Illinois will produce only the fifth black U.S. Senator in history.
Obama said Monday that there would be "a sufficient number of debates" between himself and Keyes-- both men are Harvard-educated, polished debaters-- but not the seven such clashes he had promised Ryan.
"That was the home-state special," Obama cracked. He declined to set a specific number, adding that staffers in the two campaigns would iron on the details later.
donations@keyesforsenate.com
Thanks!
Excellent!
Yes, he's that good. He was/is my choice for president. Too bad I'm in Texas.
Being invited is certainly different than crashing the party.
Jesus...
The Republican Party was founded for the specific purpose of liberating blacks, and fought a bloody civil war agaist the democrat party for that purpose.
Excellent. Keyes has to expose Obama as the fool he is.
And believe me as a New Yorker, I know the difference!
Whts wrong with the city?
We
are talking about Keyes on TALKONE.com 1800 505043 now! Call in to the Roger Fredinberg Show. Ping everyone
Tell em Tomas sent ya.
Robert Toricelli!
Oh Please!
Well, isn't that interesting. I guess the fascist postmodern Left has now decided that certain words are only to be uttered by Leftists. It used to be that the Genetic Fallacy only applied to different races; now it's simply that one cannot use language the Left thinks you shouldn't use, regardless of race.
Leftists never fail to move the goalposts when they're losing.
I'll say! This smells of "strategery" to me! Who better to show up the Democrats' latest show trophy? Even if Keyes loses, as long as he puts himself into it, it will be a win against the socialists.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Ambassador, what do you think about your opponent?
KEYES: Well, I thought, given all the hype, that there was some substance there. Today, however, after saying he wanted six debates, that he'd debate anybody that the Republicans put up, I'm told today he had a press conference, somebody told me now he wants to reduce it to two, ah, to four. I was just told it was two. He says and claims, and everybody claims, he has such national stature and ability. I step onto the scene, and he's running for the ropes at the side of the arena.
It seems to me we may have a situation here of all hype and no handle. We've got somebody who's like the Wizard of Oz in the famous picture: big head projected by the media, full of hype, sound, and glory, but when it comes down to it, he doesn't want to face the test.
HANNITY: Yeah.
Only cotton either one of these guys has seen was in a new bottle of aspirn.
That's a really stupid quote. After all, it took 89 years after the Dec of Independence to free the slaves.
Fat chance. The liberal media and their revisionist version of history has very good reasons for not listing the prior black Senators. Once I list them you'll see why:
U.S. Senator Hiram Revels (REPUBLICAN-MS)
Revels graduated from Knox college. He was ordained as a minister by the Methodist Church and eventually settled in Baltimore where he became principal of a school for African Americans as well as pastor of a local church. Revels, a Mississippi state senator, was selected in 1870 to fill the seat vacated by Jefferson Davis, who'd left to become president of the defunct Confederacy. Senator Revels was among those who campaigned against the carpetbaggers, whom he believed to be woefully corrupt. When he left the Senate in 1871, Revels had earned the respect of both whites and African Americans.
U.S. Senator B.K. Bruce (REPUBLICAN-MS)
Senator Bruce, a sheriff, tax collector, and education official from the Delta, Bruce became Senator in 1874. At his swearing-in ceremony, the state's white senior senator refused to accompany his new colleague to the podium. Instead, Bruce was accompanied by Roscoe Conkling of New York; the two became fast friends, and Bruce later named his only child after Conkling. He was the first black to serve a full term in the Senate. When his term was over in 1881, Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield to be the register of the treasury (as such, he was also the first African-American to be represented on U.S. currency).
U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (REPUBLICAN-MA)
Brooke, educated at Howard University and Boston University,served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Brooke worked as a lawyer in Boston before becoming Massachusetts attorney general (1963-66). A member of the Republican Party, Brooke was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1966. As an elder statesman of the party, he recently made a public apperance to endorse Republican Mitt Romney for Governor.
U.S. Senator Carol Mosely Braun (Democrat-IL)
She served one term as Recorder of Deeds for Cook County, which includes Chicago, before running for the U.S. Senate. She won that race in November 1992. In 1998, after Carol Moseley Braun was defeated in her race for re-election, and President Clinton named Ambassador to New Zealand. She was recalled in 2001 by President George W. Bush and unsuccessfully sought the Democrat nomination for President in 2004.
REPLAY OF KEYES ON H&C ON NOW
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.