2004

Perhaps the Convention was a Bit Too Much Stress

ArchPundit September 1, 2004 6 Comments

From the Hotline’s Last Call that is open for the convention:

“You people are trying to say that I said the Cheney daughter is a selfish hedonist. That’s just a lie” — Alan Keyes, on saying “Of course she is” (AP).

I haven’t found the story filed yet, but oh my.

Okay, story up on the web

It’s actually worse when you add the next sentence:

“You people are trying to say that I said the Cheney daughter is a selfish hedonist. That’s just a lie,” Keyes said. “I made an argument and left others to follow the argument.”

“Of course she is”

“Replied Keyes: “Dick Cheney may or many not like to hear the truth, but it can be spoken.””

He was also asked if the RNC folks told him to zip it:
“When asked if anyone from the GOP had asked him to stop talking about Mary Cheney, Keyes replied, “Of course not. Of course not.”

Generally, they are used to people who would figure they really screwed the pooch and shut up instead of prolonging the story uncomfortably in the news.

About Allan Bloom

ArchPundit September 1, 2004 No Comments

Fascinating backstory to Keyes screaming about selfish hedonism, the greatest influence on him was a selfish hedonist.

Via comments by Romashko

Via Sullivan

I Did Not Personalize This

ArchPundit September 1, 2004 No Comments

That depends on your definition of personalize. From the Sun-Times:

NEW YORK?Illinois GOP chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka said today that her party?s nominee for the U.S. Senate, Alan Keyes, should apologize for what she called his ?idiotic? statement that vice presidential daughter Mary Cheney and all homosexuals, are ?selfish hedonists.?

But Keyes refused to back down today, saying he was merely stating what he believes is the truth, as he would to his own daughter if she engaged in lesbian acts.

?If my own daughter were a homosexual or lesbian, I would love my daughter, but I would tell her she was in sin,? Keyes said.

Keyes first made the remarks Monday night in his interview with a satellite radio network geared toward gays and lesbians. Keyes emphasized it was a reporter, not he, who brought up the name of Mary Cheney, who the vice president has publicly acknowledged is gay.

?I did not personalize this,? Keyes said, blaming the media for inserting Cheney?s name into his academic discussion.

Let’s take a look back:

Replied Keyes: “Dick Cheney may or many not like to hear the truth, but it can be spoken.”

Now, no one can resist setting Keyes up for this kind of hysterical fun, but when you talk about a father not wanting to hear the truth in relation to his daughter, you’ve very much personalized it.

Life on Planet Keyes

ArchPundit September 1, 2004 No Comments

Crain’s is having fun with the Keyes candidacy. The key to the article is the end:

Later, he belched forth several observations about “moral issues, the greatest challenge facing this country,” when I asked on which issues he intends to focus.

This despite the nearly universal fear among Illinois delegates that he needs to talk a whole lot more about economic issues or he’s going to drive swing voters away in droves. Says Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Ill., perhaps Mr. Keyes’ biggest supporter among Illinois GOP elected officials: “What is the likelihood of directing him? I’ve begged him to stay strictly on those issues.”

Judging from our talk over waffles and his fire-and-brimstone address to the delegates later?his first speech to them this week?Mr. Keyes clearly intends to keep the decay of family values, declining church attendance, abortion, gay marriage, et cetera, at the center of his campaign.

Which brings up his opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who’s ahead in the polls by a few light years of his own.

Asked what government can do about getting more people to attend church, Mr. Keyes replies: “Nothing. Government can get out of the way and create an environment in which people take care of themselves.”

But Mr. Obama, to whom Keyes refers as not merely a liberal but a “socialist,” is one who “wants to tell people what to do.”

Funny, all this talk about morality sounds like Mr. Keyes is the one who wants people to start meeting his standards.

I guess that’s just the way it is on Planet Keyes.

You know, it might have been a wise idea to figure out his ‘style’ before you offered him the slot for GOP nominee. Just a thought.

Worst Headline For Keyes

ArchPundit September 1, 2004 7 Comments

From the Lincoln Courier

Keyes: No time for Illinoisans

Yes, I know the context, but that’s a bad start to any story.

Herald Has the Objection to Keyes Filing

ArchPundit September 1, 2004 4 Comments

And it’s potentially tied to Lipinski. My favorite Democrat right now (that’s sarcasm for the slower folks out there)

Leonard A. De Clue, a 54-year-old Oak Lawn Democrat, filed the objection Monday, citing a problem with the paperwork the Illinois Republican Party filed to put Maryland’s Keyes on the Nov. 2 ballot in place of the departed primary winner Jack Ryan.

The state GOP did not know where Keyes would be living when it offered him the Senate position, so it left that line blank on a required election form, then went back to fill in the address days later when it learned Keyes had chosen an apartment in Calumet City as his residence. That’s the basis for the objection.

De Clue could not be reached for comment late Tuesday night. But he has ties to Jerry Hurckes, who is retiring Chicago Democratic Congressman William Lipinski’s chief of staff. Hurckes and De Clue have served on Oak Lawn’s fair housing panel.

Ummm..don’t you dare get this man off of the ballot. He’s gold to Democrats and bloggers.

Syverson was Amazed

ArchPundit September 1, 2004 2 Comments

Buyer’s remorse is setting in

Other delegates, including state Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford), a Keyes supporter, was amazed, as was Judy Baar Topinka, the chairman of the Illinois Republicans, who can’t stand Keyes