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 ...
Well, anyone who isn't for Keyes is for al Qaeda.
:-)
What kind of answer is that?
Is it true or not?
Hmmmmm.... You give no specifics, but I'm inclined to believe that he may be a jerk.
However, I've SEEN him dozens of times (his lame MSNBC disaster doesn't even count), and you can't deny that he's a dazzlingly brilliant conservative.
Can you?
I am a Keyes admirer who voted for him twice. I agree with about 99 percent of Alan's views.
As a federalist, I deplore the state-shopping that has become so prevalent in Senate races. If we're just going to import candidates from out of state, why bother representing states at all?
However, the writer is correct. Keyes represents a tradition that is no longer welcome in the "Big Tent" Republican Party: limited government, constitutionalist conservatism. Remember that the RNC chairman told the Manchester Union Leader that limited-government views are no longer welcome in the GOP.
How the Republican Party handles the Keyes candidacy will show what the party's true values are. It will show whether the Republican Party still has any of its principles left or whether it has completely become a Big Government party.
My guess is that they turn their backs on Keyes and do less than nothing to get him elected.
Are you still the president of the Declaration Foundation?
Have you been the president in the last several years, and/or have you had any other title/affiliation with any other entity?
Amen. Blance Lincoln would have been anihilated by Keyes. And gaining that seat would have offset Ill.
Will he promise to reside in Illinois after his defeat?
"You're a funny guy."
Humor is only as good as its inspiration.
Since the Keyes for Senate/Illinois gig has become reality, I've spoken with a number of MD and DC-metro area Republicans. Almost to a person, the basic reaction to the Illinois GOP choosing Keyes is: "What the H&LL are they thinking?!"
And, again, their collective astonishment has nothing to do with Keyes' politics, just with Keyes.
To adhere with federal law, Keyes merely has to move to Illinois before the Nov. 2 election. But the political restrictions could be more severe than the legal ones. On Friday, both major Chicago newspapers already were jabbing at Keyes as a "carpetbagger" who knows nothing about the state or its moderate politics.
"Mr. Keyes may have noticed a large body of water as he flew into O'Hare. This is called Lake Michigan," the Chicago Tribune wrote in an editorial "welcoming" the candidate from "the right wing of the right wing of the Republican Party."
"... Camden Yards may be the future of ballparks, but don't go asking around Wrigley Field for sushi," the paper warned him.
What's going to be fun is watching those papers try to play "Gotcha" with Keyes and being humiliated when he demonstrates that he can answer Illinois-specific questions. Even his Bashers admit he's a brilliant man...how long does it take for someone of reasonably gifted intellect to be schooled on the major issues facing the state of Illinois (not to mention it's regional proclivities)? Keys is smart enough to know there will be tons of gotcha questions, and smart enough to learn the answers. And every time he answers one right he increases his credibility as an Illinois-worthy candidate in the eyes of the voters.
Aren't you the dreamer......LOL.
These people flip flop and lie,worse than Kerry. It's as simple as that;unfortunately.Oh..............but they and ONLY they have "principles",don'tcha know. LOL
Is this about the same?
Yes there is a quote, posted on here about 500 times in the past week, in which he speaks negatively of Hillary's actions. This is similar in the respect that he will be an outsider who is assumed to not know the business of the state he will attempt to represent.
It is dissimilar in that Hillary orchestrated her coronation as the nominee, pushing aside a perfectly reasonable already selected candidate when there was no need and very little expressed recruitment (none of it official) for her to come there.
None of this is true of Keyes' actions.
Keyes also said on the morning of his "interview" that he still found the concept troubling in principle. No doubt he will address his previous remarks tomorrow.
Will Keyes reside in Illinois after the election, or not? Some see the fact he will not as opportunistic. Do you agree?
Google Alan Keyes. There's more than a few specifics hanging out there. To wit, though, he cried "poor" in '92, claiming he was underfunded and had no money for TV/radio ads - all the while he was paying himself $8500 per month out of his campaign fund. Is that something a conservative would do?
Keyes could be dazzling he wasn't so condescending to those whose support and help he needs. His ego and arrogance far outweigh his 'brilliance.'
Illinois will benefit from his move there, then.
Many people thought that Adlai Stevenson was also "brilliant" and that his stint at the UN proved how great he was too.That was not the case,though.:-)
All I know on these financial matters is what I read in the papers.
"The lien resulted from what Pascoe called "an erroneous tax accounting" involving payments for speeches by Keyes to a personal corporation he formed to handle money he makes as a public speaker, Pascoe said.
Former Illinois Atty. Gen. Ty Fahner, who screened potential GOP Senate candidates, said they all were asked whether they had failed to file any state or federal income taxes. And they were asked if they had any outstanding issues with the Federal Election Commission, which regulates campaign spending in federal campaigns.
Though some Republican sources said they believed Keyes had not fully disclosed all his campaign debts, two state central committeemen said he told the committee, which nominated him Wednesday, that the debts were being taken care of.
"The majority of the outstanding debt is money that is due and payable to longtime Keyes staff and operatives," said Pascoe. "They fully expect to settle the campaign's debts within short order of coming to final agreement with the FEC."
At the committee meeting, when asked about his outstanding campaign debts, Keyes "said everything is being finalized and worked out," said state Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford).
Douglas Webber of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C., said it is not unusual for candidates to allow debt to accrue for years in losing campaigns."
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
"This run will NOT "sow seeds",will NOT "win over" people,and just may hurt President Bush's re-election figures in Ill.! THIS IS THE FINAL NAIL IN KEYES' POLITICAL COFFIN."
There you go again, nopardons, always depressed and negative. Like Bush's re-election figures in Illinois would have been better if Keyes chose not to run? You're joking, right? If not, you aren't in touch with reality and might want to consider visiting a shrink soon. Hahahahahaha, Keyes would hurt Bush's re-election figures in IL? Hahahahahahaha, that's REALLY funny. Maybe Barthwell would have brought up Bush's re-election figures in IL, don't you think? Hahahahaha.
And do you think Keyes will just disappear from the American stage if he loses this election? He'll probably increase his speaking engagements for more $ than before, he will gain a larger platform for his conservative message, and believe me, he'll do just fine. Buchanan is all over the TV on the talking heads shows, after his losses. Not too bad a gig. And if Keyes does lose, he'll be seen as having given it the old college try, as the Pubs had no one else to take on this chore so late in the game. But why am I wasting my breath on you. You are no help to this great state of Illinois, nor to Bush and his re-election chances. You're just all bah humbug.
I've looked at what you've been saying about this. And your attacks have been malicious, malignant and almost universally silly.
Keyes has not only never held an elected position,he has never won an election.
No, and quitters never win. Of course, he has been a diplomat, a U.N. ambassador for Ronald Reagan, a university president, one of the founders of Citizen's Against Government Waste and several other very active and effective organizations, a highly recognized expert on foreign policy and defense matters, a personal friend to Benjamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon, a fighter against liberalism on almost every front for the last decades, and has raised more money for crisis pregnancy centers than any other individual alive, to name a few. I think his credentials are a bit better than yours. The only talent you seem to have is critic, and you do a poor job at that.
He has managed to turn off many of his supporters.
The numbers of his supporters has steadily grown larger and larger for the last decade. Most all conservatives in the country love him. The people he 'turns off' are generally liberals and RINOs. But I repeat myself.
No matter what anyone says,his own words about Hillary are going to haunt him throughout this election cycle.
No they aren't. Those who harp on that stuff at this level lose. I hope the Dems follow your lead.
For all of the posts by rose colored glass wearers here,the simple fact is that there are not enough Conservatives,in Ill.,to give him more than 30% of the vote,at most.The Dems WILL then use his loss,to attack ALL of Conservatism,saying that Keyes is THE icon of Conservatives and his loss proves that Conservatism isn't viable and especially NOT for blacks.And NO,he will NOT make any inroads with blacks in Ill.!
Quit pretending you care about the welfare of conservatives. It is disingenuous in the extreme.
Keyes has several problems,which he can not overcome.Look at the demographics and voting patterns,in Ill.,for the last ten years.
As if you have a clue about those things. You see everything through a liberal prism. You preach defeat. Defeatism is a disease, and you are a carrier.
Keyes has two very bad oratory problems.First,he's a 19th century style orator/debater.Second,he talks DOWN to his audiences.Third,he often uses words that the "common man" neither knows nor understand.Fourth,he treats those who disagree with him,as though they are mental midgets/children.Fifth,he even treats those who agree with him as idiots at times.
Maybe he treats you like a mental midget because you are one? Just a thought. Sorry you can't follow him.
HE IS AN OUTSIDER!
Petty parochialism in caps, even. Impressive.
Yes,for " true believers",he delivers red meat;however,he also can and has turned even many of these people off.
Rhetoric fit to come out of the mouth of any liberal RAT.
There are people,staunch Conservatives,who have not forgotten how Keyes blasted President Bush AFTER he became president.
Is that why the White House has personally thanked the good Doctor for his staunch defense of the President's foreign policy? You simply don't know what you're talking about, or you are lying.
Will some of them vote for Alan?Probably,but not all of them.Yes,I know,cutting off their collective noses to spit their face,but some people in California did that too,voting for Tancredo,instead of Arnold and are still trying to undercut Arnold.
How can you expect anyone to take you seriously, when you don't even know recent political history, and when you show such an utter lack of ability to make distinctions?
Keyes decided to start at the top,by running for president,with absolutely NO kind of creditentials.He then used the RACE CARD and "victim" garbage,TWICE,and became more Sarptonesque/Jacksonesque than "principled".The hunger strike strike didn't help him any either.
More lies and distortions. See above for his credentials. They certainly exceed yours, and Barak Obama's.
His cable show was a dismal failure and due almost entirely to himself.
His ratings were growing throughout, but MSNBC broke the contract. How does it feel to find common cause with the CAIR Islamists who worked tirelessly to drive him off the air?
Now this carpetbagger run for Senator,in a state he has NO connection with.And don't hand me the canard that "he was asked to",because IF he is really so principled,he could have and should have declined the "honor"!
He meets the constitutional requirements. That's all I care about, and that should be all any Republican should care about. Anything else just shows that you don't mind carrying Obama's water for him. You're arguing against a fait accompli, and that is always stupid.
This run will NOT "sow seeds",will NOT "win over" people...
We know it won't win you over. You are immune to constitutionalism and common sense. However, there are tens of thousands of Illinoisans who are susceptible.
...and just may hurt President Bush's re-election figures in Ill.!
Bullhockey. The state had been written off. We now have a chance, albeit long, to bring it back into play. Once again, you show your political ignorance.
THIS IS THE FINAL NAIL IN KEYES' POLITICAL COFFIN.
In your dreams.
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