I really tried to sit down and analyze my reasons for disliking Alan Keyes. This is my personal view.
Of course, as human beings we are all flawed. All the parts of us make up the whole. Keyes may??? be principled, is surely intelligent, and speaks well. He is also pride-filled, arrogant and often unkind. He is all of these things; not just the parts one chooses to see.
His negatives happen to be things that are instrumental in relating to others. They are equally important to me as what is in his mind and conscience. I can't separate and thereby ignore that which he leads with.......his personality.
All I know of Keyes is what he says about himself and his opinions. I am unaware of great accomplishments. I know that he still claims to be a Republican but does not appear to have much loyalty.
I have no problem with someone criticizing a president just because I happen to like him. I do, however, expect a fellow Republican to attempt constructive criticism for the sake of helping and not sniping and self-promotion. I don't buy the explanation that he is holding Bush's feet to the fire. From all outward appearances he seems more concerned with carving and maintaining his niche as Mr. Morality, whose match cannot be met. I truly do not see any indication of a positive influence.
Experiences on FR have only cemented my thoughts about Keyes. It may be unfair to judge him by some of his supporters here but it is hard to avoid. Not all, but a good number of them are not pleasant and quite unreasonable. They take on a Keyes-like attitude as if they are above the rest. Only a naive person doesn't understand that such behavior is not received well by most. It invites an argument and rightly so.
Lastly, I do not see a man whose manner is God-pleasing. For all his "preaching" I see little if any humility, selflessness or kindness. If that is present he has done a good job at camouflaging it. I can only judge what I see and hear. I used to admire him until I got a real full dose. It really has little to do with his treatment of Bush. It is Keyes, himself, that is abrasive, pompous and self-serving. He and he alone is responsible for that. As I said, we are the sum of all the parts and a principled stand or great knowledge does not give one a free pass on kindness and generosity. If he were gracious enough to see his flaws he would probably be in a place where he coud make a difference. I doubt that will ever happen though.
I do, however, feel your opinion of Alan Keyes has little, if any, grounds, and it puzzles me that someone who has followed Keyes as much as you apparently have could reach the conclusions you do. Indeed, in all of the research I have done about this man and his ideas for over two years, I have come to the opposite conclusion on every point you make. The way you described your dislike, it seems that you simply don’t like his personality. That, to me, is not a good reason to throw away everything he has ever said. I don’t like Gary Bauer’s personality, and I found during the presidential debates that I disagree with him on a few things, but I would never use that as a reason to try to undercut his conservative message. To do so would hurt the conservative cause, and cause disunity in the GOP.
If there’s one thing Alan Keyes has contributed to society, it is that he is helping to revive the principles of the Declaration of Independence. I have a substantial collection of Keyes’ speeches, and the Declaration of Independence is mentioned in almost every one. It is his theme. Through his rhetoric, he brought these principles to the forefront at the Republican debates. In the 1996 presidential race, there was a movement in the GOP to remove the pro-life plank from the party platform. Other candidates in the race indicated they felt the abortion issue was irrelevant, and they wanted to focus solely on economics. Alan Keyes was one of the main persons who insisted upon keeping the plank, and he did so based on the Declaration. History shows which side one out. By the time the 2000 race came along, every single candidate for the GOP nomination tried to position himself as pro-life. Alan Keyes is largely responsible for that.
Anyway, I don’t see why a person would attempt to undercut Alan Keyes’ message of adherence to the Declaration, simply on the basis of some perceived personality flaw. Perhaps an analogy Keyes gave applies here. He said there are some who are willing to throw away the founding principles simply because the Founders were not perfect. The Founders did not outlaw slavery, and some of them even owned slaves--and this is often used as a reason to throw away all of their great ideas.
You and I, of course, are not like that. We accept the founding principles, and ignore the Founders’ flaws.
I invite you to do the same with Alan Keyes. If you are unfamiliar with his ideas, I’ll send you a few of his speeches--dating back to 1995. I think you'll see how much our country needs his message.