I admire Keyes’s principles, but he has zero political sense. None. He’s a great commentator, but he couldn’t get elected dog catcher.
Yes, Brown might be called a RINO. But he comes from a state where no one else could possibly get elected. And he appears to share a lot of the same principles that we hold here. Not all of them, but many of them. And he appears to be a real man, not another wimpy metrosexual.
Yes, he’s a great addition as Senator from Massachusetts. Even if he never gets re-elected, he sent a decisive political message to Washington.
No, we don’t want him as president. That’s a silly idea. Why spoil the party by even mentioning it?
He is not a full-bore pro-abort. He does support parental consent for minors, and he does oppose partial birth abortion. He tried to add an amendment allowing medical personnel freedom of conscience, which is why Coakley started ranting about not allowing Catholics to work in emergency rooms. Certainly Coakley puts no such limits on her screaming love for abortion. If he is willing to vote with the party on abortion issues, or even (like a good RINO) vote against the party when his vote isn’t needed and the leadership give him permission, more power to him. That may be necessary in a liberal state. If he turns into another Lincoln Chaffee (which seems very doubtful to me), and defies the leadership, then he’s out of there next time around. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think he’s another Lincoln Chaffee or Jim Jeffords.
To me, the fact that Alan Keyes can't get elected dog catcher, as you say, says less about Alan Keyes than it does the electorate, and specifically the Republican electorate.