September 2004

Daley’s Plant is at it again

Kass puts the issue into a rather good perspective:

I am willing, though, to condemn him for something–he’s a selfish loon.

And he’s foolishly played right into the hands of the Illinois Republican Party establishment, in a desperate political fight over the future of the GOP between conservatives and the combine Republicans who’ve been in bed (not literally) with Chicago Democrats for years.

For those not realizing the likely outcome, Keyes is first choice of Democrats everywhere. I thought, along with many others, that the floating of his name was a joke because we are standing exactly where I figured we’d be after he became a nominee. And I thought the Illinois GOP would see that too. When Syverson, or Jack Roeser, or Rauschenberger say they didn’t expect this, they are either stupid or lying. There could be nothing in his Keyes background that wouldn’t cause one to expect the disaster that he has brought.

One can make reasonable arguments for many (not all) of the general positions he argues for, but he doesn’t do that–he turns up the volume and makes himself a caricature.

A Kinder, Gentler Keyes?

Hah!

Keyes appeared at Thursday’s breakfast – sitting in a different room from Topinka – and dismissed calls by some that he apologize to the Cheney family.

“I think folks like that are being a little careless with the integrity of our party,” he told reporters. “We have adopted a plank against gay marriage. We have adopted that plank for a very good reason, and I have presented the clear logic of that plank to people.

“Folks are coming to me saying, ‘Well, we need to exempt our children from the consequences of that logic.’ So, if it’s our child that’s involved, we won’t apply that logic to them? What kind of a party are we if we’re going to take a stand and then try to claim special privileges? I won’t do it.”

There’s like a thousand ways to hold his position and not bring in specific families, but not for Dear Alan.

About Rights for Gays and Lesbians

The Good Governor Blagorgeous weighs in on Alan’s unfortunate comments:

“I think his position on homosexuality and the lives of homosexuals is ridiculous and archaic and mean-spirited,” Blagojevich said after addressing the Illinois AFL-CIO Convention. “He’s got his feet in the 13th century.”

You know, one way to address and highlight the issue might be to, you know, make SB 101 a priority? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Normal can pass such a bill, but State of Illinois can’t.

Michael Steele On Keyes

Beautiful

Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who has been a rising star in the party, never touched on the Keyes campaign despite evoking Keyes’ opponent Barack Obama’s name in his speech on Tuesday.

Steele quipped that Obama gave a “moving defense of the conservative principles of the Republican Party” in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in July.

“I won’t comment on Ambassador Keyes’ decision to run the race that he is running in Illinois,” Steele said in an interview. “He has made a very strategic decision. Maybe he sees something in polling trends that I don’t see. I don’t know. I can’t comment on that.”

BTW, Everyone is Fine

My Dad lives just off the coast at Cocoa Beach (north of Melbourne/South of the Space Center where he worked until retirement) and stayed in the condo–as I said to someone Friday night:
He has the generator going, the beer stocked, and the gun ready. Is heading over to the neighborhood tavern until curfew hits at 8.

He lost power for an hour, but other than that is fine. Maximum winds around him were somewhere around 80 though he had 60 MPH winds with Charley, just not as for long. The Condo building probably needs a new roof, but nothing catastrophic. My mother–on the other coast, just got a lot of rain.

Thanks for all the wishes.