I see you're not listening to a word I said. But honest disagreements over policy are not what most of the current dustups have been about.
|
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.
I take it you support the Democrat instead of Keyes, the Republican. Why? Are you a Democrat, or just a liberal?
I take it you support the Democrat instead of Keyes, the Republican. Why? Are you a Democrat, or just a liberal?
I see you're not listening to a word I said. But honest disagreements over policy are not what most of the current dustups have been about.
|
I'm not surprised you "don't agree with Keyes" -- I had you pegged as a liberal a long time ago. Keyes' opinions are Reagan's opinions -- pro-life, pro-family, low taxes. It was Reagan who appointed him ambassador. You "don't agree" with some of those opinions (you won't reveal which ones) -- so you confirm what I called you awhile back: you're a liberal. Thanks for outing yourself.
Yes, some people obviously just have it out for Keyes.
I'm glad to know, though, there is room for discussion over disagreements.
(By the way, I agree with Keyes 99% - I'm just not for reparations.)
Flame away, then.
But you're being a petty detriment to the conservative cause. Far more so than Alan has ever been.
You have your opinion, I have mine.
I'm with you on both counts.
That is a most reasonable position on the matter.
Why the constant bashing of Keyes? It's not as if there's a primary to decide who'll be the GOP standard-bearer -- that's when it makes sense to criticize the Republican you don't want to be the nominee. Keyes IS the Republican nominee - the only alternative to him now is the Democrat. So why are supposed Republicans at FR expending energy running down the Republican -- and giving aid and comfort to the Democrat? Hillary (Obama's biggest booster) is smiling at all this sniping by Republicans at a Republican.
Why don't you like Keyes? Too conservative for you?
|
The liberal (R)'s will bring down the GOP. But they'll blame Alan Keyes.
I also want to be twenty-three again, but that ain't happening either.
Keyes's nomination has not impacted Obama's run in the least bit, outside this forum that is, and even in here support is iffy at best.
Last I looked, there were several names on the ballot.
Appreciate your comment.
I'm perplexed. People who would essentially campaign against Geo Bush's elecion would not - as I understand - be welcome on FR. Why are people who are campaigning against Keyes (the ONLY republican on the ballot for Senate in Illinois) permitted to trash him with impunity -- giving aid and comfort to Obama? I happen to disagree with Bush on the Iraq war - but I have said again and again that I want him reelected. On the other hand, the anti-Keyes posters seem to want him defeated. Seems to me, they should take it to DU instead of campaigning against Republicans on FR.
Get real. The Democrat is the only credible alternative -- i.e. the only one with a chance to win, and you know it. So by trashing the Republican candidate you're aiding the Democrats in capturing another Senate seat. But then, maybe you're a Democrat.
Tell that to the 6000+ Illinois conservatives who have already signed up as volunteers, many of whom are FReepers.
You don't know what you're talking about.
Flame away, then. But you're being a petty detriment to the conservative cause. Far more so than Alan has ever been.
|
If that is your response to my #103:
To: TomasUSMC; Chad Fairbanks
Chad Fairbanks is very pro-life. If I see you calling him "A SUPPORTER OF ABORTION" again, I am going to have to correct you, and call you a liar. 'K?
103 posted on 08/24/2004 8:43:45 PM PDT by DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet (Some of my best friends are white, middle-class males.)
I can only conclude that you are either a) the queen of the non-sequitor, or b) you just want to argue, and draw me into a discussion that has been deemed forbidden on this forum.
Forget it. I'm not biting.
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.