Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Fight in Illinois: Alan Keyes vs. Barack Obama
HUMAN EVENTS ^ | August 24, 2004 | Phyllis Schlafly

Posted on 08/24/2004 4:15:41 PM PDT by Willie Green

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

Alan Keyes has upset the liberal game plan to crown law school lecturer Barack Obama as the new leader of blacks in America. Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton like Obama because he imitates their votes, but Americans like Keyes because he is straightforward about issues we care about.

The Keyes-Obama race for the U.S. Senate from Illinois reminds locals of a similar contest in 1950. Then a conservative Republican traveled up and down the Land of Lincoln and toppled one of the most powerful liberals of that time, Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas.

The victor in that race, Everett McKinley Dirksen, played to the grassroots rather than to the media. His stunning upset showed that the voters were ready to break with New Deal liberalism and join the Republican landslide in 1952.

Everett Dirksen, the greatest orator of his time, won because he articulated public opposition to the follies of the Truman Administration. Dirksen was equally persuasive whether he was negotiating with a small group over an arcane section of legislation or declaiming broad themes without a microphone to a thousand voters on the hillsides of southern Illinois.

Illinois voters have the opportunity this year to hear Alan Keyes, perhaps the greatest orator of our time and a man with a fund of knowledge about issues that matches his eloquence. His biggest obstacle is not that he is not an Illinoisan, not that he is black, but that the media have already anointed Obama as the winner after viciously destroying his other opponents.

Obama had demanded six debates with his Republican opponent when he was Jack Ryan, a businessman unaccustomed to political argument. Reminding us of history's famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, Obama confidently said the people of Illinois are owed these debates because they deserve more than packaged television ads and rehearsed sound bites. Now that Keyes has replaced Ryan as the Republican nominee, Obama wants only two or three debates. Did the history of the Lincoln-Douglas debates change between Ryan's resignation and Keyes's nomination?

The media were touting Obama's Harvard degree, but Keyes's Harvard Ph.D. is more accomplished than Obama's law degree. Besides, we already have too many liberal lawyers such as Kerry and Edwards running the Democratic Party for the benefit of the trial lawyers.

Alan Keyes is a walking encyclopedia on a wide variety of subjects including the Constitution, the proper role of government, and foreign policy. He was an ambassador to the United Nations during the Reagan Administration, and we can count on him to address the important issues that were conspicuously missing from Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention.

Obama is one of the most leftwing Senate candidates Illinois has ever seen, a me-too vote for Kennedy and Clinton to raise taxes and toady to the teachers unions. Obama supports abortion rights, socialized medicine, and affirmative action, and he opposes private gun ownership.

Obama voted against the "live-birth abortion" bill which was designed to protect live babies born of botched abortions. Obama voted "present" on an Illinois bill to ban partial-birth abortion, and "present" on a bill to notify parents when their minor children seek an abortion.

Obama wrote a letter to the Windy City Times, Chicago's premier gay news source, to promise his support for gay marriage. He said, "I opposed DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act] in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying."

Alan Keyes, on the other hand, is the country's most eloquent defender of the right to life. He is supremely ready to tackle the cultural issues that will be the key to victory in the 2004 elections -- abortion, traditional marriage, parental control over education, and supremacist judges inventing "rights" such as abortion, sodomy, same-sex marriage licenses, and sending pornography into your kids' computers.

Bill Cosby recently made headlines by decrying the decline in education for African-Americans. Keyes is ready to take on the teachers unions and hold them accountable for failing to teach youngsters how to read.

The Bush-haters rally behind Obama, not because his father was African, but because he can be counted on to protect the teachers unions, abortion, and gay unions. The Democrats had hoped to elect Obama by simply playing the race card, but the nomination of Alan Keyes has checkmated that strategy.

Obama's campaign contributors tell you what you need to know about his liberalism. His donors include George Soros, Hillary Clinton's Leadership PAC, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights League, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and Progressive Choices.

Alan Keyes has exposed the lie that the Democrats are the party for advancing minorities. Those who want a leader, regardless of race, who will speak up for traditional values such as marriage, life, and education choice, will vote for Alan Keyes.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: keyes; phyllisschlafly
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 321-337 next last
Go Alan Go!!!
1 posted on 08/24/2004 4:15:41 PM PDT by Willie Green
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Willie Green

This is right-wing fantasy. It's ususally the Liberal Democrats who write nonsense like this. Keyes is heading for one of the worst major-party electoral defeats in US history.


2 posted on 08/24/2004 4:19:28 PM PDT by doug9732
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Willie Green

If Keyes is beaten by less than 30% my jaw would hit the ground in suprise, he's going to get pasted.


3 posted on 08/24/2004 4:23:26 PM PDT by Zeroisanumber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Willie Green

Print out and wear as a Campaign Button or go HERE to print.

4 posted on 08/24/2004 4:26:50 PM PDT by sonofatpatcher2 (Texas, Love & a .45-- What more could you want, campers? };^)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: doug9732
This is right-wing fantasy. It's ususally the Liberal Democrats who write nonsense like this.

Political hagiography.

From the article: but Americans like Keyes because he is straightforward about issues we care about.

Curious. The insinuation would seem to be that anyone who doesn't like Keyes is un-American.

5 posted on 08/24/2004 4:27:06 PM PDT by malakhi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: doug9732

Does Illinois not have any conservatives living in the state? How could a landslide take place unless the entire state is filled with liberals?

Surely a conservative would not give their vote to B.O.


6 posted on 08/24/2004 4:27:26 PM PDT by Cedar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cedar

"Surely a conservative would not give their vote to B.O."

Some conservatives may feel strongly about discouraging a capetbagger, and be fooled by Mr. O's mild rhetoric.


7 posted on 08/24/2004 4:30:04 PM PDT by doug9732
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Willie Green
"Americans like Keyes because he is straightforward about issues we care about."

If that's the case, then why haven't Americans elected Keyes to anything?

8 posted on 08/24/2004 4:31:26 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez (Sin Patria, pero sin amo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cedar
"Does Illinois not have any conservatives living in the state?"

Obviously not, otherwise why go to Maryland to find a candidate?

9 posted on 08/24/2004 4:32:42 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez (Sin Patria, pero sin amo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: doug9732

"...be fooled by Mr. O's mild rhetoric."

Hope between now and election those conservatives can get educated on the real B.O.


10 posted on 08/24/2004 4:35:08 PM PDT by Cedar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Luis Gonzalez
If that's the case, then why haven't Americans elected Keyes to anything?

Too many fail to recognize his greatness, I guess. ;o)

11 posted on 08/24/2004 4:36:10 PM PDT by malakhi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: doug9732
This is right-wing fantasy.

More like a right-wing crack party. Some of Keyes' fans may be as nutty as he is.

12 posted on 08/24/2004 4:44:06 PM PDT by EveningStar (Memo to Keyesters: Don Quixote was insane)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Luis Gonzalez
If that's the case, then why haven't Americans elected Keyes to anything?

Well, he ran for the Senate twice in Maryland, a heavily Democratic state, and lost to both Mikulski and Sarbanes (Mikulski also beat Linda Chavez once). I doubt he can win in Illinois, but he at least will get a conservative message out in the debates.
13 posted on 08/24/2004 4:52:45 PM PDT by Rummyfan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Zeroisanumber
"If Keyes is beaten by less than 30% my jaw would hit the ground in suprise, he's going to get pasted."

So you're predicting 65-35. I would opine that Keyes getting 35% of the vote would be a major victory in the battle to establish conservative in-roads to the minority communities. Yes, it would still be a loss, but it would represent the gaining of a toe hold on the liberalism which is destroying minority communities.

The road to Berlin started with a few brave guys establishing a beachhead at Normandy. I hope that the Republican National leadership has the brains to pump in every available dollar to the Keyes campaign.

We must all understand that if African Americans return to the party which freed them (and which cast the deciding votes in the Civil Rights Act), the democrat party is FINISHED. That's a battle worth fighting, and no one is better qualified to lead the charge than Keyes. Period.

14 posted on 08/24/2004 5:13:34 PM PDT by yooper (If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: doug9732
"Some conservatives may feel strongly about discouraging a carpetbagger, and be fooled by Mr. O's mild rhetoric."

Such conservatives would be damned fools.

15 posted on 08/24/2004 5:15:50 PM PDT by yooper (If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan
"I doubt he can win in Illinois, but he at least will get a conservative message out in the debates."

Therein lies the whole point of his candidacy. He knows he is likely going to lose, but he's going in anyway. What does that tell you?

16 posted on 08/24/2004 5:18:58 PM PDT by yooper (If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Cedar

If I remember correctly Obama was pulling in about 25% of the Republican vote in the most recent polls. Only the die-hards are supporting Keyes.


17 posted on 08/24/2004 5:25:10 PM PDT by Zeroisanumber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: yooper

Blago just signed Carville to consult his lame governorship. He's scared about something and I bet it's Keyes. Of course it could be that he's lame too.


18 posted on 08/24/2004 5:37:44 PM PDT by Thebaddog (Woof if you love America!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Luis Gonzalez

You're trying to reason with these people. I'm afraid that logic to a Keyester is like water to a duck's back.


19 posted on 08/24/2004 6:32:02 PM PDT by EveningStar (Memo to Keyesters: Don Quixote was insane)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Zeroisanumber
Only the die-hards are supporting Keyes.

The die-easy's are supporting Obama.
20 posted on 08/24/2004 6:34:10 PM PDT by Engraved-on-His-hands
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 321-337 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson