Trib Has Fun With Keyes
ArchPundit
It’s just the SCLM at it again though….
Then again, is all of that the stuff of Alan Keyes’ candidacy? Or is his candidacy about Alan Keyes, himself?
Meanwhile, the Illinois Republican Party has managed to look steadily more foolish. Its convention delegates have been reduced to wondering why Keyes spends so much time studying his dance card of scheduled media interviews instead of chatting with them.
No surprise there. Every cuckolded spouse has to sort out feelings of resentment.
Until someone consults a divorce attorney, though, this marriage uneasily proceeds. With one likely outcome. As Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday about Republican prospects for retaining a majority in the Senate: “I think it’s clear we lose Illinois.”
The only surprise to me is that it took nearly a month for him to fully implode, but really, anyone who followed his performances in 1996 and 2000 had to know this would happen.
The Illinois GOP didn’t get Sam Brownback or Rick Santorum, they got a full on theatrical nutcase who thinks running a campaign is a teaching moment to condescend to the press.
As he moved to a new place to take reporters’ questions, his spokeswoman suggested he had taken enough questions. He disagreed, telling her, “This is a teaching moment.”
Even better, he was insulting to the delegates and IL GOP officials there:
After days of criticism that he had not addressed the Illinois delegates, Keyes finally made his speech Wednesday morning, hijacking the podium from DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom, who had only asked for a round of applause for Keyes. Realizing Keyes intended to speak, Schillerstrom admonished him, futilely, to “Please make it very brief.”
Building up to his trademark high-decibel fever pitch, Keyes shouted, “We shall deal with the challenge that is being mounted today to the family structure throughout our country: Gay marriage activists who are demanding that we should take marriage off the foundation of procreation, child rearing, responsibility to the future, that is the true heart of marriage and place it on a basis of selfishness, pleasure-seeking and self-fulfillment.”
The thing about meeting and spending time with the members of the Illinois Delegation is all of them go back to their communities where they can
A) Work hard for a guy who impressed them and gave them some inspiration
or
B) Determine that in the small amount of time he deigned to address them he told them what they should do and rudely hijacked the meeting he lost any potential support he might have gained.
And, of course, it’s now up to Barack Obama to defend the Vice President’s family
Keyes’ Democratic opponent, state Sen. Barack Obama, addressed the issue after a speech at the Illinois AFL-CIO convention in Rosemont. “I have strong disagreements with Vice President Cheney on a whole host of policy issues, but I respect the love he has for his daughter, and I think that it’s never appropriate to make the sort of comments that have been made,” Obama said. “I think it’s going to be up to the Republican Party to figure out whether they reflect an inclusive and generous spirit, or whether they want to reflect some of the bitterness we’ve been hearing lately.”
It’s a perfect response because it defends a Republican while attacking Keyes in a way that most voters will view as positive. That is some stategery that Keyes is showing.