The Sum of the Problem
ArchPundit
Make no mistake. Keyes will be leaving soon, but the true believers around him will be with us for a long time to come.
Illinois Senate
It’s Not That the Mailers are New
It’s that the Dems are promoting Alan Keyes in more of their literature than the Republicans.
This might be a new low ? not for the Democrats who, like the GOP, often use misleading mail pieces to skew elections.
It might be a new low for the Republicans whose U.S. Senate candidate is considered so unattractive, he’s being promoted by the Democrats.
Denial Isn’t Just a River In Egypt
Steve McGlynn finds himself with his head buried in the sand:
Stephen P. McGlynn, a Belleville lawyer and the state GOP co-chairman, said Keyes had been the victim of a media smear campaign. He predicted that Keyes’ attention to moral issues would win converts among undecided voters, particularly in the southern half of the state.
Daily Southtown Obama Endorsement
I’d love to hear if there are any Illinois papers that endorse Keyes. I’d be shocked.
Rather than a political candidate seeking votes, Keyes comes off like a guest lecturer intent on telling typical Illinoisans they lack moral fiber and must mend their ways. After his visit with our editorial board, we were hard-pressed to imagine him serving in a deliberative body like the Senate, which requires civil discussion and give and take. He has decided to present himself as an opponent of abortion rights and “special rights” for gay people, in contrast to the average Illinoisan, who believes the government should stay out of our private lives.
The GOP gave the voters a candidate with little knowledge about the state and not much to say about the issues that are particular to Illinois. He may win some votes from anti-abortion voters, but the polls show he will be lucky to get more than a handful of votes.
We think Illinois voters should cast their votes for Barack Obama, the candidate whose views are most like theirs. And while we fully expect Obama to look for a position higher than the Senate some day, we urge him to keep as his top priority service to the people of Illinois.
I Tried
Larry from Belleville had a question about Keyes position on contraception. Keyes disappointed.
And no, I’m not from Belleville, but
Keyes Fatigue
One thing about Alan is he is such a nutter that when he is only certifiable, most people following the race closely think he is sedate. But think about coming into the Senate Debate last week without following the race daily and the New Republic’s Tom Frank paints a picture of how the average voter has to be viewing the race (I’m blowing away fair use, because it is too funny)
In the Illinois Senate race, Barack Obama leads Alan Keyes by a margin so wide (over 50 points, according to one poll) that a debate between the candidates must–almost as a matter of science–help narrow the campaign. But that would be to underestimate Alan Keyes. As people know, Keyes is candid, eloquent, and intellectually consistent. He argues rather than spins, allowing his logic to take him where it will. He panders to no (earthly) constituency. And he may well have pulled off the impossible last night: lowering his poll numbers even more. Obama is an unconventionally gifted politician, but even an incompetent one–let’s go farther, actually: even a dolphin or trained seal–could have done better last night than Alan Keyes. All Obama had to do yesterday was play the Earthling card; Keyes took care of the rest.
But it gets better
Here is Keyes last night on abortion, explaining how it differs from capital punishment: “Abortion is intrinsically, objectively wrong and sinful, whereas capital punishment is a matter of prudential judgment, which is not in and of itself a violation of moral right.” Not terribly conciliatory, but Keyes was just getting started. When Obama lamented his opponent’s “rhetoric”–citing Keyes’s equation of abortion rights with the “slaveholder position”–Keyes objected:
In point of fact, I don’t call people names. I make arguments, and in point of fact it is the slaveholder’s position. The slaveholder took the view that black people were not developed enough to be treated as human beings and therefore could be bought and sold like animals. People looking at the babe in the womb take the view that that child is not developed enough to be treated as a human being and therefore can be killed at will.
Soon to appear in a book with a title like Things It’s Probably Better Not To Say. Having been handed a gift like this, Obama had only to repeat the word “slaveholder”: “Essentially, what Mr. Keyes does is equate a woman who’s exercising her right to choose–in extraordinarily painful circumstances–with a slaveholder.” The see-what-I-mean defense was enough. And Keyes kept making it possible.
But he’s been saying this for years. This is exactly what he did in 1996 and 2000.
Earth and not-Earth are a recurring theme:
Asked how, given his characterization of homosexuality as an “abomination,” he would react to being told by one of his children that he or she was gay, Keyes took offense at being accused of “statements that I didn’t make.” “I do not say that homosexual relations are an abomination,” he clarified. “The Bible says so.” He then offered a lengthy indictment of unions “where procreation is in principle impossible,” calling them “irrelevant,” and said that any legislation regarding “private friendships” is a “fundamental degrading of those private friendships.” Keyes looked satisfied after this, as if he’d taken everyone on a thrilling ride to Jupiter. Obama, for his part, calmly came back with, “To answer your question … I would love that child and seek to understand them and support them in any way I could.” It is hard to imagine a parent–even a parent who deplores homosexuality–balking at Obama’s return to the home planet.
I’ve been complaining that no one is picking up on how Keyes goes off on non sequiturs which Frank picks up. I’m not blaming the press, there’s so much material out there.
When Obama asked Keyes to defend his call to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment, Keyes began his response with a happy lack of politesse: “I think that the question actually illustrates the ignorance that I’ve noticed of your understanding of the American Constitution and its background,” he explained, before going on for a while about “more and more important issues … being more and more decided by distant bureaucrats.” This allowed Obama to note that, actually, he teaches a class in Constitutional law.
Before the debate was over, viewers had heard the following snippets and phrases from one of the two candidates: “the persecution of our Christian citizens,” “social self-destruction,” “the use of the body in this way is … an abomination,” “no one has the information necessary to avoid incest,” and “gun-control mentality is ruth-less-ly absurd.” Guess which one.
Applying the breaks
This is, of course, why Keyes loses votes every time he speaks. It’s obvious. But Keyes is also a vital contributor to social cohesion in America, because, somehow, he makes us realize we are all–regardless of our political beliefs–Obama. It’s not because we disagree with Keyes, or even because we find stridency inherently suspect. Most of us have used our reasoning to reach unexpected conclusions once in a while. Sometimes the results are weird–“It follows, therefore, that we should abolish bricks and live in trees!”–and we reexamine our premises or toss the thoughts altogether. Other times they may be logically valid–“Stubbing my toe hurts, and being burned at the stake hurts, so, actually, both Joan of Arc and I have experienced pain”–but so likely to give offense that we keep them to ourselves. In other words, we recognize that life among other people often requires applying the brakes. Alan Keyes, to his credit, does not. This makes him more courageous, more consistent, and more interesting than most of us. Fortunately, it also makes him unelectable.
So for the last week here, let’s enjoy Alan before he heads back to Maryland.
no one could have reasonably predicted some of Keyes? rhetorical missteps
If, by no one, you mean no one who has Google or knows how to use the search engine at the Keyes Renew America site. The dude isn’t just prone to saying crazy things, he’s proud that he does it and posts it.
One could easily look up Jake Weisberg’s articles on the 2000 Republican Presidential debates, or Jake Tapper’s piece when Keyes exploded after the press. One could have called Mike Murphy, a GOP strategist who points out that he was a loon in 1996.
Alan Keyes has been a longstanding joke in political circles for years, the problem is that the insulated clowns at the Leader and those in ultra-religious right circles never bother to check what is going on in the rest of the world. Keyes has made a career out of being a loud, obnoxious twit who stakes out the right wing of the right wing. Then, when he fails, he blames it on the press in fits or says that people are racists who don’t like him.
What has occurred wasn’t just predictable, I predicted it. Start at August 2nd and you’ll notice that this is occurring exactly as I expected.
Now, the Leader has good reason to protect itself–Dan Proft, Leader Publisher, and a guy close to 2006 Gubernatorial Candidate to be Patrick O’Malley, was a key force behind the Keyes disaster. Closely followed by the ever obtuse State Senator Syverson and a guy I used to respect, Steve Rauschenberger. They all drank the kool aid and cynically thought a ‘real’ conservative could take this race on and tarnish Obama if nothing else (Austin Mayor is correct on this). With a little help from Jack Roeser the plan got set in motion even as moderates tried to stop it when they realized these nutjobs were serious about Keyes.
The lameness of that editorial is just amazing putting it into the context that the Leader expects the moderates to work for Keyes, when Keyes won’t work for any candidates who are pro-choice. Now, no one who is pro-choice, or sane, wants Alan Keyes stumping for them, but the hypocrisy is stunning.
Cross is running one of the most open caucuses Illinois has seen in a while. Blaming him for some sort of litmus test would be, no, check that, is assanine.
Wow–Was Keyes a Mistake
Obama is being very generous to the party:
MILWAUKEE — Everybody wants a piece of Barack Obama. Ahead by a mile in his race for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, the youthful state senator with huge ambitions is taking his show on the road to help Democrats from the bottom of the ticket to the very top.
In the past week, Obama has mailed checks totaling $260,000 to Senate candidates in 13 states, including $53,000 to the do-or-die campaign of Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.). He donated $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $150,000 to party organizations in key states, including Florida, Wisconsin and Colorado.
If I Were to Write on Blogs and Maya Keyes
I might have mentioned Modern Vertebrate who was the first blog that I’m aware of to break the story. Chillinois was the second and then a bunch of us followed. Chillinois at least got mentioned–MV should have been as well. Otherwise a really good article, but MV deserves some mention. As does someone else… but that might be an issue so we’ll leave it there.