Call It A Comeback
Edgar has always been pretty smooth and not much shakes him.
But CBS 2 has a video of him reacting to Thompson’s reaction that is just hysterical.
Need to be using Internet Explorer for it to work.
Keyes thinks the press should apologize.
I’d transcribe what Edgar said, but it’s really that there is virtually nothing to transcribe….
From the inbox–I can’t keep up with all of the threads over there:
“…although it seems to be lost on many of my fellow conservatives, he is making us all look nuts. You can be pro-life without comparing women who get one to terrorists. You can be pro-Second Amendment without sounding like you want to have everyone walking through the streets armed with machine guns. You can be anti-gay marriage without referring to the Vice President’s daughter as a “selfish hedonist.” And you can hope to empower black Americans without calling for reparations, regardless of the form you want them to be in.
More
“…I have never, in my life, used the phrase “right-wing extremist” to describe anyone. I have always found it to be a cute little tool used by the left to try to paint mainstream conservatives like President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bill Frist, Jack Ryan, etc. as out of the mainstream. However, if they ever do want a true definition of an intolerant, right-wing extremist, Alan Keyes is that man.”
The e-mailer pretty much nails it:
This thread is a great expression of why it’s conservatives who should be hopping mad at Keyes. Agree with conservatives or not, they have genuine aspirations that deserve an honest, clearheaded assessment by voters. For liberals, Keyes is a joke and, as you said, a gift. For Republicans, he’s an outrage and a disservice.
Over at the Leader, they offer up the other side of the story on Keyes most recent outbursts.
Except, I can’t find any facts in dispute. Anyone? What exactly is the other side of the story?
Keyes wasn’t happy angering the Vice President, he decided to use it as a way to criticize Illinois Republican Party Leaders for not pushing a Gay Marriage ban as Missouri just passed. You know, because they have a majority and everything and he’s going to help that condition out a whole lot.
At this point one can offer one other possibility than Alan Keyes just being a loose cannon, and that is that once he sticks his foot in his mouth he just continues to say outrageous things so no one can pin him down on the previous outrageous things. I mean, we haven’t heard anything about automatic weapons and his actual position have we?
How far down is the problem:
Illinois Treasurer and state GOP Chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka – a moderate whose strained relations with Keyes are no secret among Illinois Republicans – sharply criticized his remarks. And even conservatives like state Sen.
Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, bristled.“Those comments are not appropriate,” Brady said from the floor of the convention late Wednesday. “It’s not up to us to judge individuals, it’s up to us to make public policy.”
Brady ran against retiring 15th District Congressman Tom Ewing’s son in the Republican primary. Ultimately Tim Johnson won the primary and eeked out a victory against Mike Kelleher who was then redistricted out by less than a block. Brady and Ewing formed a mutual suicide pact which lost the race against Johnson, of whom the best that can be said is he often didn’t fall down at appearances. Brady and Ewing essentially had supporters try and out Bible Study the others supporters. One could pick up the Pantagraph and find 3-5 letters a day towards the primary in which members of each candidate’s church wrote about what fine Christians each were and that is why you should vote for them often inferring their candidate attended more often than others with such details as the frequency of Bible Study classes.
So when you lose Brady on an issue like this–you got a problem.
Berkowitz has a threefer up. Starting with his wondering about Mark Kirk’s non-embracement of Keyes. Jeff wonders why Kirk isn’t thinking about the future, but the real problem is that embracing Keyes is as problematic if he wants a future. And of course, strong conservatives aren’t going to vote for him anyway.
More on Daley and Wal-Mart.
And Keyes talks about the evils in the title not bothering to actually identify any socialists.
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.
Fascinating backstory to Keyes screaming about selfish hedonism, the greatest influence on him was a selfish hedonist.
Via comments by Romashko
Via Sullivan
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.
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.
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.
From the Lincoln Courier
Keyes: No time for Illinoisans
Yes, I know the context, but that’s a bad start to any story.
ArchPundit