Dan Proft replies to the Cross guys and includes this bit:
On paper, Keyes could have provided a legit challenge…it lasted for about a week before Keyes embarked upon the Road to Damascus by himself. Wish that would not have happened but the easiest thing we could have done was just sit back and watch Barthwell get beat 70-30, and then blame the moderates. Instead, we attempted to make a legit run at Obama with someone with the capacity and skills to make that legit run. Because that person chose not to run a campaign but rather a statewide Pentecostal revival, I regret it as much as anyone. And that is the difference, I suppose…I don’t run around professing the Keyes campaign as a model to be followed, blithely asking people to believe that getting 27% of the vote was a job well done.
Except that no one in their right mind could have thought Keyes wouldn’t have been running a statewide Pentecostal Revival. In 1996 and 2000 the guy ran a nationwide Pentecostal revival (all the more strange since he’s Catholic) with stunts like handcuffing himself to the building at a television station which excluded him from a debate and generally having eruptions during the debates to which he was admitted.
If you don’t believe me, go to the August 2004 archives where I point out what a loon he is and pretty much predict his performance.
The problem of those like Proft who are trying to sell the story differently is that they thought it was a quick and easy way to make a name for themselves in Illinois politics. Instead of promoting party building, they ran a guy who could get lots of attention and they got exactly what they wanted–but sometimes you don’t know what you really want.
And, of course, Greg Blankenship made a similar point from having worked with Keyes.
But speaking of Keyes, he’s been attending the Confronting the Judicial War on Faith. And for $15 you can get a DVD of Alan’s session or the entire event for $99.
Getting back to the message though,
Christian conservatives and a core group of congressional supporters are launching a significant new push to restructure the federal judicial system to reflect a more explicitly biblical world view, in the hopes that these changes will pave the way for broader social and political changes, leaders of the movement said.
The great question to ask is *which* Biblical world view and watch them devolve into doctrinal disputes.
Oh…Thanks for dragging my name back into it… (toungue firmly in cheek)… It wasn’t just me a lot of people called me from DC asking what were we thinking in Illinois when Keyes was floated.
I know from very good sources that Keyes knew he was going to lose, so he chose to do what he did. Had he ran a traditional, solid, disciplined campaign and lost with around 40%, he might rejuvinated his career — again, might of.
Think about what Sen. Bob Dole did in ’96 when he saw the writing on the wall weeks before the election. He switched gears and campaigned tirelessly to help those farther down the ballot and he is credited with helping many candidates that year.
If that’s a testament to Dole’s character, what’s that say about Alan Keyes?
I don’t know any Pentecostals, but I can’t help but think, isn’t this an insult to Pentecostals?
Proft’s comments also ignore the carnival-like atmosphere under which the GOP selected Keyes. There was the “Draft Ditka” movement. There was wig guy.
And then there was the racial question. Is there any doubt that if Hynes were the opponent, the GOP would not be looking at a black candidate?
The problem is not only how the campaign was run, it was with the entire nomination process. The irony here is that the Cross guys were partly responsible for creating that carnival atmosphere through the Draft Ditka movement.
(Sorry, Cross guys — you run an engaging blog, and I think you’re OK for Republicans, but I am convinced that Keyes wouldn’t have happened if weren’t for the media frenzy around Ditka. Floating Ditka’s name made the GOP look for any celebrity, regardless of his/her qualifications.)
I sure hope someone was filming that campaign for a documentary. Think about it, you would have the whole Blair Hull scandal to the Jack Ryan debacle to the entire Keyes fiasco with the wig guy and Ditka and a whole cast of other lunatics in between.
I think that that movie would rival any previous documentary about campaigns including “The War Room” and that film about Chuck Robb vs. Oliver North called “A Perfect Candidate” ? just think about seeing the “smelly toad speech” on the big screen.
Doesn’t it strike these people that they are trying to rule the US like the Taliban ruled Afghanistan?
I found your Website by Google and I wish you the best you can get, the peace of God through Jesus Christ. Welcome to visit my Site.
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/INDEX.HTM
Glory to God and his dear Son Jesus Christ, the great Revival is coming.
Revival is a hackneyed word. Many have used this word to gather people around themselves, instead of around Jesus. And people think any revival is not coming. They refer to 2 Thess. 2:3 and tell about the great Apostasy. But this Apostasy has take place a very long time ago, and is still continuing. The great Apostasy is NOW!
The great Apostasy happened a very long time ago. The entire Christendom was lead astray by false shepherds and preachers, which preached false doctrines. Since then, God’s people have been slaves under lots of denominations and churches. Before Jesus comes, God’s people must be released from all denominations and churches, the great Babylon. Therefore, a real Revival must come before Jesus comes.
Rev. 18:4-5 is an extremely powerful revival message from the Lord. Very few Christians have obeyed this revival message of the Lord, and left the great Babylon. Before Jesus comes all Christians must obey this command of the Lord. Otherwise God will judge them as partakers in the sins of the great harlot, and they get their part in her plagues.
During more than 40 years I have written about this.
Please, read more on my Website.
What is a revival? How does a revival rise?
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE86.HTM
The Body of Christ, the most valuable that exists on the earth, but the people lack knowledge
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE91.HTM
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE92.HTM
God’s Law and God’s Gospel
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE15.HTM
Greeting in the name of Jesus Christ
Allan Svensson, Sweden