He was also a drunk and an adulterer who turned steadily more liberal with time.
No tears here.
Basically we have to blame George Ryan and D. Hastert for this mess. G. Ryan for leaving the ILL GOP in such a mess, D. Hastert for forcing Fitzgerald to not run for re-election and thus leading to Keyes and Obama and huge Dem turnout......D. Hastert is an evil man and should be removed from all power. I hate D. Hastert, he is a fat, evil, evil man who should be removed from the GOP
If I recall, Congressman Crane was one of the MOST vocal opponents of the giveaway of the our Canal in Central America. For these efforts he will always have my gratitude.
I rec'd a mailer from Melissa Bean, who at no time ever indicated she was a Democrat. She made it sound like the R leadership had lost faith in Crane. She also had a typo in her letter (about gun 'puchases'). Ugh.
I wish we were "missing" Arlen Spectre too.
Thank you for posting this touching tribute. I remember Phil when he was a dashing young conservative who inspired us all with his courage, convictions, and charisma. Yes, the years took their toll. But, as with all great stars in the galaxy, we best remember them when they were at their apex.
I take it you were part of Terry Dolan's National Conservative Political Action Committee?
I don't know anything about him, but he can thank the Illinois GOP for imploding. George Ryan, the Alan Keys fiasco etc.
Hastert should go as speaker. We could do better.
Excellent Vanity. I had lost track of him years ago, and I didn't know he was still in Congress. He was a trailblazer at a time when "conservatism" as we know it was almost nonexistent.
From what I understand, Bean doesn't even live in the district.
I lived in Phil Crane's district for 10 years. I certainly never thought I'd see the day that he lost an election.
When the GOP took the House in 1994, one of the BEST things they did was eliminating the senority for committee chairs,a nds also term limiting the same chairs. They're gonna be in control of the House for another 10 years...at least, and one of the things they shoudl start doing, to avoid getting ossified, is to start encouraging the old bulls to retire....grooming people to replace them..It's like a baseball team..ideally you want to trade an established star just BEFORE his numbers start to decline..
Now if we could just teach them to shoot out - at the other guys...
Looks like Alan Keyes will have to get a real job after the party leadership pins the blame on him and doesn't invite him to any more carpetbag parties.