Posted on 08/19/2004 5:27:04 AM PDT by kattracks
His voice rising to a yell, Republican U.S. Senate nominee Alan Keyes told a bipartisan civic group Wednesday he "will not budge" from his belief that descendants of slaves should be exempted from income taxes to help heal the wounds of past discrimination and segregation.The former presidential candidate disdainfully brushed aside questions over whether his suggestion should apply to rich African Americans such as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan or Oprah Winfrey.
"Do you know how many Oprah Winfreys there might have been running around in the 1930s or in the 1920s or in the 19-teens that got nowhere because the doors were shut in their face?" Keyes thundered. "If you think that because I wear a conservative label, I have forgotten that history and am not mindful of that injustice -- then I will tell you now that you are wrong."
Keyes delivered his blistering defense at a luncheon of the City Club of Chicago, scolding fellow conservatives who challenged his proposal and evoking the struggle of his African-American parents, saying they had talent and "hearts and spirit and strength and faith."
"Why didn't they get to a point where they could stand on this platform?" Keyes aked.
Vying against Democrat Barack Obama, Keyes drew heat from conservatives earlier this week when he proposed exempting descendants of slaves from income taxes for a generation or two, a view he insists "involves a traditionally Republican, conservative and market-oriented approach."
On Wednesday, Keyes ridiculed the fuss over his position, saying it is simply a tax break, something "Republicans and my conservative brethren" don't object to when applied to a "wealthy corporation."
Conservative activist Jack Roeser met with Keyes for what Roeser called "a long argument and an intense one" over the issue before the speech. A Barrington businessman, Roeser said he still is not sold on Keyes' reparations proposal, but still plans to support him anyway. "I will tell my friends that this is a good man, and we should support him."
That no "RINO" ever proposed paying reparations.
(That I'm aware of, anyway.)
Argh, sorry about the dupa-boy spelling of Heinlein's name, I have NO idea of how that capital-L got into the middle of his name. I plead fatigue (bad health, rough few days, just waking up, and still in shock since learning of this madness the other day).
I *do* know how to spell the guy's name, and I've *never* spelled it in such an uberdorkish way in my entire life!
(Oh, for an "edit this post" button...)
In a sense, yes. One U.S. Senator is not going to get reparations on the national table but it will plant the seed that the race is actually a referendum on reparations with the pro-reparation vote going to Keyes and the pro-welfare vote going to Obama. He's not trying to appeal to the black welfare class. He's actually appealing to the black middle class that thinks they can have it both ways - enjoying the fruits of their success while enjoying the tax break of their heritage.
It's really clever I think. Instead of talking about Keyes the Carpetbagger, the focus is now on Keyes the Reparations Advocate.
It won't be long before a variety of white supremecist types stand up and offer their services as "complaints department for disenfranchised white men", thanks to this supremely stupid move by Keyes.
It is obvious that he never thought this boner through beyond the first move. He is laying out a red carpet for the white race-baiters to say stuff like, "See? Even 'good' negroes can't be trusted! Even 'conservative' negroes are deep down looking out for the dark race and looking to reach into your pocket to fatten the negroe's wallets."
Think I'm being paranoid? Then wait and see. I bet it won't be long before the countercurrent from the lowest of the low begins in earnest. Hell, he's begging them for it. This stupid move of his is the ultimate "Kick me!" sign.
THAT'S a campaign strategy?
Thanks for the "ceegar" and yes, I am a male. :)
And too many FReepers are willingly allowing him to shoot THEM in the foot too. :)
If Keyes were the favorite, I'd expect the subject to be off the table or barely mentioned.
But right now Keyes has to get his name out and connected to something that he thinks will syphon voters from Obama. This is the one he chose.
The less he has to show his ignorance about Illinois, the better he can look. His campaign has some huge holes and this is more of an attention-getter and a diversionary tactic.
Well, it was to avoid your personal feelings about Keyes that I framed the question in terms of "perceptions about his sense of loyalty." It's obvious to me that a lot of the hostility that Keyes encounters around here arises not so much from his positions on issues, but arises instead from a belief that Keyes cannot be trusted to avoid undermining the President.
As you say, "all of us" have expressed some criticism about policies from time to time and the expression of criticism about policies shouldn't necessarily imply any fundamental disloyalty. So, I'm thinking that maybe the perception that Keyes has been disloyal to the President might in some way involve the way in which Keyes has voiced criticisms of the President's policies.
Has he always been careful to limit his criticisms to just the policies in question or has he from time to time gone out of his way to personalize the differences so as to make the President (and not just the policies) the subject of his criticisms?
No disagreement from me with this statement.
Why is it, generally speaking, that those who demand perfection of Alan Keyes are the very ones who demand no such thing of any other political figure?
Let Drop the Income Tax for everyone! NRST!
No, no, you're missing the point.
That retired football player was "the best" that they had to put up against the RATs. But, it seems that he was not tprepared to play hardball -- and he must have known that they would play hardball, like never before.
Did the RATs send him a message? Did one of their PIs call him up one night and ask if he wanted thus-and-such on the front pages? Did someone kill his cat? Was a message left on his car's windshield?
Who knows. But it seems to me pretty obvious that he had a sudden, unanticipated, but very radical change of course, to the tune of 180 deg., precisely what we'd expect to see if a genuine political threat to the RAT agenda was "sent a message".
No, Keyes wasn't "the best" that they could put up against the RAT. Osamba is the "designated winner" in this machine-politics race. The RATs have decided that he WILL win, regardless of what it takes. You can take THAT to the bank. Osamba WILL be the winner, period.
So no, to repeat, Keyes was NOT "the best" they could throw into the ring.
He was merely disposable.
Someone, deep in the bowels of the legendary GOP "smoke-filled back-rooms" (and yeah, they do exist -- at least they did a few years back when I ran for office), someone is getting the back-pats of his career, for his brilliant solution for finally getting Alan Keyes out of the GOP's hair once and for all.
THAT is why they "offered" this to Keyes. They knew it would be like throwing red meat to him. They knew he would lose, bigtime. And they knew that it would be the final nail in the coffin of the "Alan Keyes, Candidate" game.
I railed against this before he opened his mouth about "reparations", because I didn't want to see his career ended, and, because I didn't want the boost that Barack Osamba would get for his "first heavyweight KO" bout.
Now, though, I feel a little better about my initial fears.
First off, now that I can see the coming headlines ("Keyes Goes Nuts!") about Alan's "Virtual Dean Primal Scream" moment, and second off, now that I realize he's cast himself as a lightweight contender (does any RAT ever boast "I defeated Al Sharpton!"?), I don't see any political downside to the GOP tossing Keyes into the ring.
But other than that, like they say, damn, just damn...
He is a conservative republican. The situation is that a great number of people that he is asking for support from have a commonality with Keyes. He has acknowledged to them quite remarkably, that he has not forgotten their history and is controlled by no one.
Just as it's appropriate to never forget the hell of communism, nazism, 9-11 and various other authoritarian schemes, the hell of slavery and segragation should never be forgotten. Those folks are under the domination and control of the dim machine. Keyes knows just as well as I do that the dims run a plantation there and Obama is one of the execs.
The rat's program is to use other people's money to feed, house, and train the serfs and otherwise keep them occupied, satisfied, but never Free. Keyes message is Freedom and he's trying to teach and liberate them. The rat's acknowledge the background and offer them other people's money in return for there continued loyalty and submission. Keyes acknowledges their background, offers them their Freedom and fed tax waiver.
Supporting a tax cut for the purposes of education and enabling puts a burden on the money grabbers and spenders. IOWs Keyes's program weakens the dim stronghold on the plantation. As Keyes pointed out, tax cuts extended to targeted causes are a republican tool.
How many votes Keyes gets out of his bold and daring plan depend on whether other conservatives sit on the sidelines and armchair, or get into the fight. It's pretty obvious that one man can't do it alone.
Well, I think it's as foolish for anyone to expect perfection from a political figure as it is for a political figure to attempt to project an aura of perfection.
We all have to occasionally pay a price for things we've done or said in the past. I've always admired people who can pay that price cheerfully and who can, if they feel that what they did or said in the past was a mistake, acknowledge the error and try to rectify it. ;-)
1) Barack Obama has been annointed by the media and the Democrats as a "future star" in the Democrat party.
2) The national Republican Party will be watching to see if the public will vote pro-life.
3) The national GOP will be watching to see if party activists will send money to an "extreme Conservative."
4) If Alan Keyes does better than expected, we will get more Conservative, Pro-Life, Pro-Constitution candidates in the future.
5) If Alan Keyes does worse than expected, we will get more pro-choice, "liberal" Arlen Specter-type candidates.
6) Obama voted to defend "live-birth abortion" (Allowing babies born alive during botched abortions to die from lack of care.) Hillary and Ted Kennedy wouldn't even vote for this. If this is not a winning issue, the GOP can take "pro-life" off the table as an issue.
7) The national media will be waiting for the opportunity to claim that Republicans are racist and will not vote for a black man.
8) The media knocked Jack Ryan out of the race. A bigger victory for Obama over Keyes than would have happened versus Ryan will reward them and encourage more of the same against other GOP candidates. An improved showing in IL by the GOP will punish the media for trashing Ryan. If Ryan was your man, avenge him by supporting Keyes.
9) Supporting Keyes in IL will help Bush win IL.
10) It will indicate that the GOP is made up of people who can intelligently debate ideas (slavery, reparations, tax cuts, freedom) and support someone who makes an attempt to debate ideas. If Keyes is shunned for being willing to debate ideas, we will only be rewarded with more bland, packaged candidated who spout platitudes.
Your theories will sound quite plausible, unless Keyes wins.
If that happens, this mythological character of yours will be shot at sunrise, I suppose.
As a supporter and admirer or Alan Keyes, I think this is one proposal he can afford to back away from.
There are sound arguments against it, the primary one being that the tax cuts would go to *descendants* of slaves.
Still, I don't understand why some "conservatives" disagree with Keyes on much bigger issues like abortion, even going so far as to say they'll vote for Obama.
Why do they hate Keyes so much?
Oh Lord, does that bear repeating...
At some point Alan has probably managed to gore their sacred cows.
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