That's the problem with him. He's too bombastic and has said some pretty stupid things here. I'm totally frustrated with the guy, although I agree with a lot of what he says. He's just said some really off the wall things that make me uncomfortable. So, I haven't decided yet whether to just not vote for Senate or to vote for him. Good Republicans in this state are very frustrated with Keyes. He's come across as a nutball.
Conservatives always come across that way after the information has gone through the media filter.
I'm surprised how many of our people don't know how to just ignore it and fight on.
I don't want to suggest to you that I think that you don't have the right to feel frustrated or uncomfortable, and I would never encourage you to vote for anything or anyone that your conscience will not countenance. I don't agree with anyone 100% of the time, and that includes Keyes.
It appears to me that you're trying to figure out how to best utilize your vote. I wish everybody would really contemplate political responsibility as you seem to be doing rather than blindly following a political brand out of habit or for completely self-serving reasons.
You mentioned some generalities about some of the things he's said here (I presume this has to do with articles you've read here), and on this forum you will find plenty of arguments and frustrations to go around. I would suggest, though, that perhaps some of the way he's been construed have not been entirely accurate. If you relied on news reports from CBS to decide your presidential selection, would you really vote for Bush? I could be wrong, but my guess is that you wouldn't. Similarly, IMO, you shouldn't rely on the news media to judge Keyes. If you read the transcripts (such as this one), you'll see that he's not the "nutball" that the media makes him out to be. Without exception, every time I've read a quote attributed to Keyes that made me stand back and wonder what he was thinking, an examination of the transcript reveals a distortion of his position due to incomplete information.
What sort of things do you look for in a candidate, typically? Is this the sort of issue where you can put the pros and cons in different columns and add them up to determine whether or not it would be more beneficial to vote for him or to not vote for him?
While I may wish sometimes that Keyes be able to manipulate the media to write great, platitude-laden, vague articles on him, further reflection makes me realize that this is what all politicians do, and I'm not at all satisfied with current politicians.
That's the thing I like the most about Bush, for instance. When he's not talking in platitudes, he pretty much does what he says he's going to do--whether or not I agree with him. He lays it all out on the table and gives voters a chance to decide whether or not they agree with him through their votes. So he smirks (which the media loves to count against him in "style" points). In Texas, we call that "smiling." ;)
The point is, I don't vote based on style. I vote based on substance--not only of policy, but also of character. That is the reason I support Keyes, and that is the reason I will vote for Bush. Of course, your conscience may lead you to a different conclusion than mine, but I hope that our similarities outweigh our differences.