Forgive me for saying so but the rest of your post contradicts this claim.
If the long list of roadblocks to Keyes' being successful is so obvious to you before hand, will they not be equally obvious to all after the loss? Where then will come the credibility of using that loss to broad brush all conservatism?
Further, even the political novice knows that Illinois is not representative of the rest of the nation - does the failure of conservatism in Illinois means conservatism is dean in Indiana? Of course not, and even the passing observer knows it.
Spend all your time proclaiming Keyes will lose if you want, I'm inclined to agree with you when forced to an opinion. Spend lots of bandwidth restating the already exhaustively stated list of Keyes failings (I even posted a handy reference list for you guys if you are having trouble remembering them all)...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1186943/posts
Post#13
...I've acknowledged those are at the least potential problems.
But the charge that the Dems will use this to discredit all conservatism is the weakest sort of red herring, or else obsessive paranoia no better than those Keyes supporters who are convinced that Bush & Co. will purposely knock him off.
By the way, I'm not in that number. I've had my problems with the GOP establishment in recent years, but in this case, I expect full support.
If some GOPer from Ill.had run against Obama and lost,it isn't national news;not even if the that person is white.
Keys is an outsider,he's a black Conservative who has had a place,shallow though it has been,on the national stage.That will be be used during the election and after,by local Dems and talking heads/pundits on T.V. and in newspapers to "prove" that Conservatism/the GOP is 1) not good for blacks 2)not good for anybody 3)is an outmoded/dying philosophy.
Smear tactic?Yes.Incorrect?Yes,again.Dead wrong?You bet!
But this IS how this kind of thing works.
Look at the posts to those here,who aren't squealing with delight and proclaiming that Alan is not only going to win,but he's going to 1) use this win to be president 2)foment a mass conversion to Conservatism by all who hear him 3)change the course of Ill. politics forever,etc.They're vilified,called names,told that they're LIBERALS,working for Obama,and worse.This is just an internet site and those barking this garbage Are either not in politics or are small time hacks.Now,extrapolate that onto the real world and the smear teams of true professional experts.