Posted on 08/07/2004 7:24:44 PM PDT by Graybeard58
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - At one point during last week's Republican leadership gathering in Chicago, the debate over conservative activist Alan Keyes grew so contentious that journalists standing outside the closed doors heard - and reported - the shouting.
The Illinois Republican State Central Committee later barred reporters from the entire floor where they were meeting to choose their party's new candidate for the U.S. Senate.
But with Keyes' candidacy likely to become official Sunday, it will be much tougher for Republican leaders to hide the internal strife in their divided party.
On Wednesday night the committee formally asked Keyes - a former United Nations ambassador and two-time presidential candidate who has never lived in Illinois - to run against Democratic candidate Barack Obama for Illinois' open Senate seat. All indications are that Keyes will accept, kicking off his campaign Sunday at a Chicago-area rally.
Keyes will replace Jack Ryan, whom Republicans nominated in the primaries for the Senate. Ryan bowed out of the race last month amid embarrassing sexual allegations.
While Keyes' candidacy solves one problem for the GOP, it generates another: His far-right views on most major issues will, once again, highlight the deep fissure in the Illinois GOP between moderates - like former Govs. Jim Edgar and James Thompson - and the more conservative wing, which has been trying for years to move the party rightward.
"The state party is divided in the same way the national party is divided. The difference in Illinois is that the more moderate branch tends to run the board," noted political scientist John S. Jackson of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. "The hard-right decided they wanted this ... but it will magnify the fault lines" with moderates.
Shouts and silence
The first rumblings of that fault line were heard through the cl
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
I have no difficulty understanding Alan's vocabulary,train of thought,nor his writing or speeches.I could have easily understood him when I was 10,if he has made them back then.But you are impressed by his hyperbolic bloviation because you haven't and don't usually come in contact with people who habitually use more than a scant few words of the English language.
I have been not been "malicious", "malignant",nor "silly";though you have been and are misusing every single one of those words.No wonder you think that Alan is "brilliant".
Oh,there you go again.....calling anyone who can see Keyes for exactly WHO and WHAT he is,a "LIBERAL". That is a LIBERAL/MARKIST tactic and should be shunned by the " principled" and Conservatives of every stripe.Yet,you engage in it.How telling. :-)
There isn't a single post or position,which you have listed,that Keyes has held,that makes him a great candidate for the Senate seat from Ill.! His ONLY qualifications for that seat,are that he has an R next to his name and that he isn't Obama.
I have posted facts,so that the lurkers and some of the posters to these threads,get more than the fawning Keyes sycophants'rose colored,overtly exuberant,benighted views.His chances of winning are none to zilch.This exercise in futility is exactly what I said it is.And whilst not running means that one will never win,his running in this race just means that he'll lose yet again.To add insult to injury,it also hands those dead set against Conservatism,a goldmine of an opportunity to use Keyes to bludgeon the Conservative movement.Which unlike you,is near and dear to my heart.You,OTOH,are little other than an idol worshiper of the worst sort,inflamed by the " true believer's" disease. You never see the reality;only your own distorted visions.
It is also quite telling,that many of the people so thrilled with Alan,are the very people who have spent YEARS here trashing and bashing President Bush every possible moment they can.
You don't know whereof you speak.I was and have been a Conservative far longer than you and still am one.I know many Conservatives who used to like Keyes,but no more. And IF Alan's supporters have grown ex potentially over the past 10 years,his T.V, show,even though it was on MSNBC,should have attracted many more viewers and lasted far longer than a scant few months.But you blame the network,who has every right to move a show that isn't doing well, to whatever time-slot they want to,than Alan himself.HE COULD HAVES KEPT HIS SHOW,BUT INSTEAD,LEFT IN A HUFF. Yep,that's what " diplomats" do.LOL
You have been easily and ably refuted by many here.You lie,insult,harangue,obfuscate,and are pompous,arrogant,and a fine fit with Alan;which is not a compliment.
Isn't it true,that whilst working for Alan Keyes,you lived in a house that he/his campaign paid for and write off as a business expense? It's something I once heard and would like a clarification of.
If Alan Keyes is so highly thought of,has had so many positions,why is it that he paid himself a princely sum,out of campaign donations?
If,after all these years,his taxes are still out of order,and Clintonlike,he brushes it all off with some excuse that it's just a paperwork error and the monies are owed to campaign workers,when he hasn't been IN a campaign for years,just how popular is he for remunerative activities?
If anyone at all has been disingenuous,in the extreme or otherwise,it has been you.
When Alan loses this races,as he always does,you and your ilk will,yet again,places the blame on everyone and anyone EXCEPT where the blame lies.You abjure facts,as though they were read hot coals,instead spewing forth the most inelegant,irresponsible,and fulsome inanities,base libel,and supercilious invectives outside of a grammar school playground at Ethical Culture,or some such school for the children of elitist "PROGRESSIVES".
I wish I could say Keyes had a chance here in the Peoples Republik of Illinois but this state is so RAT controlled and has become so liberal, I don't think Keyes can even come close to a win.
For the record, I think candidates should be able to take a wage. In fact they can. It's perfectly legal.
Millionaire status should not be a qualifier to run for office. Those without millions in the bank can't compete in this modern environment. That's why so many super-rich candidates buy their seats now, to the exclusion of everyone else.
And that has nothing to do with anything Alan says or does, right? < /eyebleedingsarcasm >
If the guy takes a principled stand, you rake him for not being pragmatic. If he is pragmatic, you blast him for that.
Did I do that, EV? I don't think so. I suppose I'll have to turn in my Anti-Alan Keyes Conspiracy decoder ring now.
And now that the GOP has asked him to take on this thankless task, the attacks are reaching new lows.
You may have noticed that quite a number of people believe it is hypocritical of him to run in a state where he does not reside. Are they all in on it? Could it be that this is actually a legitimate concern some people have?
Good grief.
Look, Keyes does NOTHING for NOTHING. He is a perpetual candidate. He makes his living running for office. I have no problem with him running but I can hear the screams now from his FR supporters about how his coming landslide loss is the fault of the GOP for not supporting him. Let him run and I for one will let him be but I have no illusions that he is in the least bit altruistic in his motives.
I had met Dr Keyes when he stopped in Williston, North Dakota, on the campaign trail in '96. He gave an impressive talk, and is the only candidate to have stopped in Williston during my lifetime.
I remember being shocked/disapointed at him expressing such views in the TV interview a few years later, and hopefully have it wrong. But that is what I recall.
Mike Ditka among GOP names for Illinois Senate seat
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1169099/posts
http://www.draftditka.com/
To bad this did'nt work out. It would be a good pairing. Never say Never!
Your cup runneth over, as usual.
No matter how much blacks,in Chicago and its environs are in agreement with Conservative /GOP social issues,they will NOT be swayed to vote for Alan.
This is NOT "doable" at all.No matter how many times somebody posts that to FR,it won't make it so.The black vote is a LOCK,in Ill. for the Dems.Most of the old guard black GOPers are dead,with none taking their place.
He will get my vote.
Sorry, with all due respect, you're wrong. Alan does not support reparations. Nothing could be further from the truth. No one has done more to try and get blacks to shed that mentality. You must have misunderstood.
Ahh...you've gotta love a good campaign. When it comes together...lol
Yeah, I'm glad that nut Ronald Reagan never wasted his time running for national office...what a loon.
And there's always a place for the angry young man,
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand.
And he's never been able to learn from mistakes,
Discribes Obamasama well, the utlimate fake.
Woe to all the libs, all the baby killer lovers, to Moore and Kerry. Hurricane Keyes has hit the mainland FULLFORCE.
Personally, I wish he would. IMO, the GOP ought to get every half way competent politician it owns out of the entire Northeast (except NH), NY, NJ and Maryland and let them go somewhere where they can do some good.
In fact, in a perfect world, I'd prefer all the wacko leftist move there and the pacific coast, and the people with their heads on straight move to the "red states" and we go our separate ways.
A pipe dream to be sure.
but for my part, I'd LOVE to see Keyes get out of Maryland. Committing to Illinois would be a start...but just crossing over into Virgina (if he feels he MUST be close to DC for some reason) would be a better than going back to one of the provinces of the People's Republic.
Yeah, good grief. Is it a full moon out ... the bats sure are.
So are the apes, unfortunately.
C'mon, you don't enjoy a solid crucifixion of a solid conservative as much as the next FRino, do you? Where's the fun in having to REALLY contemplate the state of America. And the GOP. In many states...
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