In fact, I've heard him explain to conservatives that we can't expect to have it all today; that we shouldn't demand to have all or nothing. When he urged his fellow conservatives to vote Republican across the board in the 2000 election, he did so on this principle. He said that it's better to have someone like Bob Dole, who is a wishy-washy moderate, than Bill Clinton. He urged conservatives not to help the other side by holding out for 100% of what we want. "It doesn't work that way," he said. If you missed that speech, which was broadcast on C-SPAN and advertised here on FR, I can send you the transcript.
So the idea that he is an "implacable, unpleasable purist who CANNOT form coalitions," is complete hogwash. I saw him with my own eyes issue a "Unity Call" for the Republican party.
Now, on the second point you made about Keyes' "stupid, stupid, stupid criticism of Bush's confession of faith" is another thing that is easily disproved.
For instance, the issue at hand is that Bush said Jesus Christ is his "favorite philosopher." This is not a confession of faith. Calling Jesus Christ a "philosopher" degrades Him as no more than a theorizer, and He is generally only called this by those who do not feel He is a Divine Being. But Keyes didn't even make an issue of this; all he said was that Bush must have misunderstood the question, because Jesus Christ is not a philosopher, he is God. And Keyes didn't even volunteer this opinion. He was asked it in two interviews after the debate.
I don't know if you agree with Bush's misstatement that Jesus Christ is a philosopher--which I don't think Bush even meant in the first place--but it seems to me that Christians should avoid calling him such. That's all Keyes said, and he wasn't out of line in saying so, or the least bit disrespectful. I'll post two transcripts to prove this, if you want.
It doesn't bother me that you don't like Keyes; you're entitled to your opinion. However, my concern is that cutting him down the way you did hurts the pro-life cause. That's why I was confused about your joke. All it does is give fuel to the pro-choice, anti-Keyes crowd, who seem to have made it their mission to hunt him down on this forum and squelch his voice. I don't think you've been around on recent Keyes threads, where it's been clear that many of the most adamant Keyes-bashers are pro-choice. Ironically, however, last week's Keyes article about abortion drew the anti-Declaration of Independence crowd. But this just goes to show you that many of the Keyes-bashers simply hate his message. That's sad.
With pro-lifers like yourself, I'd suggest the analogy applies that I related to Southflanknorthpawsis. Certainly you can look over what you perceive as the character flaws of someone who is on your side, and join with him to further the cause. We all need to stick together.