[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Just as sure as conservatives have to make compromises to win elections in leftist strongholds, the conservative movement needs to have uncompromising voices to keep the movement moving rightward. Otherwise, compromise becomes an end, and not a means to one.

Keyes serves that purpose, and it's a valuable one. Leftists understand this with their "purists". We'd rather throw ours to the sharks. That's why they're in power and we're not.

Keyes does not seek to cost Republicans elections. He seeks to move the party to the right.

[dirtboy]

Keyes does not seek to cost Republicans elections.

He has never won an election. At some point, winning DOES matter. There are effective ways to work to hold the party on a rightwards tack, but taking issue with the GOP wresting the Swimmer's old seat away from the Dems is not one of them, quite frankly. It reeks of Keyes being an attention whore.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Thank you so much - I love Alan, but never saw myself on the wrong side of purist fence before and couldn’t quite explain what I was doing there. You said it far more eloquently than I could even think it.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Keyes serves that purpose, and it's a valuable one. Leftists understand this with their "purists". We'd rather throw ours to the sharks. That's why they're in power and we're not.

Not to rain on your parade, but actually the Leftists are in power because they pretended to be moderates and conservatives well enough to fool enough people into voting for them. If the Democrats had ran nationally on the platform advocated by their hard-left purist Daily Kos wing, they'd be a super-minority right now.