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."
A despicable lie.
Raparations in the form of TAX RELIEF - I THINK IT'S A GREAT IDEA!!!!!!!!!! We conservatives are supposed to be for tax relief every chance we get. I'm all for this. Go, Keyes!!!
Gosh, is Keyes nuts?
Be careful. Asking obvious questions like that is tantamount to inviting nonstop vile attack and threats. Check out the crap I've been taking for the crime of not swallowing the koolade.
Why is it that the word "brilliant" is so frequently used to describe art, movies, and political maneuvers that are plainly awful?
Tax cuts for all sounds great, but this would not be a foot in the door. This would be a race-based perk that would remain race-based and would cause racial resentment like this country hasn't seen in some time.
You're right!
I see the light!
Um, where do I sign up for "the operation", so that I can qualify for this Exciting Government Benefit too?
I mean, a "great idea" is only "a great idea" if I can use it.
Right now, I'm cursed with this "white skin" stuff.
So I guess I'm gonna have to get "the operation", so that I can qualify for "TAX RELIEF", the "GREAT IDEA!"
Got any "GREAT IDEAS" on how I can qualify for this WITHOUT getting "the operation"?
Don Joe to tame and Mod: stop posting the same tripe over and over...
Don Joe to tame: Who TF are YOU to dictate to everyone else what they may and may not say?
Funny, that's what I was going to ask YOU after you ran to the mod complaining about what I may or may not say. BTW, what happened to playing nice?
You are a vile, disgusting little worm, attempting to intimidate those whom you cannot best in discussion. Your kind makes me ill.
That's not nice.
Any reduction in taxes is a good thing. Period. I don't care if they decide who gets it by playing "eenie-meenie-minie-mo."
Your history speaks for itself, as does my objection to your history of spamming and personal attacks, accusing people of a variety of vile actions.
I stand by my description of you.
Well, don't be so hard on yourself. Keyes is just a politician and this reparations proposal is just an idea he had.
What would it take to win you back? How about if he said that now that he's heard from many of his supporters, listened to their thoughts, and has had a chance to think about it some more, he's convinced that it's the wrong approach?
Look here you.
You were one of the nastier posters on the Arnold threads.
Now let's at least be HONEST!
Howlin is correct about you slamming
other Republicans who do not meet your
particular definition of a conservative.
You know from me here on the boards,
that I HOPE Keyes wins and that I
would vote for him were I in IL or
for that matter, IF I could via a dead
person lying in some democrat graveyard
in IL.
OUR enemies are democrats.
I wish folks would understand THAT.
Dude, you have really gotten under that guy's skin. He's absolutely freaking out...why does he hate Keyes so much???
Don Joe: A despicable lie.
Don Joe [earlier]: ...this MORON Keyes...We'll be laughing our asses off on election day when the returns come in, and shouting a virtual "We TOLD YOU SO!" to the wind.
A little contradiction, there.
Who is Kohn?
I thought Keyes' opponent is some guy named Obama?
Money is fungible.
Selective race-based "reduction in taxes" for the selected race means "tax INCREASE" for the other races.
This proposal is race-baiting and pandering of the basest form.
But hey, it's a free country (so to speak), and you are entitled to proposed race-based tax subsidies for one racial group.
I hope you enjoy the results. Keep working, there are many families who will be depending on you carrying their fair share of the tax burden.
Are your cousins voting for Keyes?
ROTFLMAO! I was thinking the same thing. I can see the guy about to have a heart attack. I don't know why he hates Keyes so much.
I voted for Keyes over George Bush in the primaries, so I respect him. However, his statement on reparation, if it is true, makes me livid.
I've been in a few battles here for not swallowing the koolade. In fact, I had to fight people here when I announced that I was going to vote for Keyes over Bush. Anyhow, nothing bothers me. When I see something that is wrong and stupid I comment.
Well, first thing, he'd have to come down from whatever it is he's smoking.
After that point is reached, we can discuss where we go from there. I'm a "once burned, twice shy" kinda guy, after all.
Funny. SO Keyes plays the ultimate black card, pandering to the black voters, to drive a wedge between them and Obama.
Shameful. Now he's for reparations.
First, he rightly nailed Hillary - then he does the same.
Then he takes the most harebrained idea and tries to get black votes with it.
What a clown. All his rhetoric turns out to be garbage. All his alleged principles disappear when he champions this joke of an idea.
Well, at least he's getting some publicity.
Now, would there be an income cap? Ie after 200K you pay taxes or what.
And people wonder why he's turning into a laughing stock.
You're buying into the Democrat lie that taxes are zero-sum, that a reduction in taxes for, say, the "wealthiest 1%" amounts to an increase for everyone else.
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