Keyes Goes on Attack in Ill. Senate Race By MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer CHICAGO - A day after jumping into the Illinois Senate race, two-time presidential hopeful Alan Keyes (news - web sites) ripped into Democratic rival Barack Obama, saying his views on abortion are "the slaveholder's position." The conservative former diplomat said Obama's vote against a bill that would have outlawed a form of late-term abortion denied unborn children of their equal rights. Both candidates — one an outspoken conservative and the other a favorite of party liberals — are black. "I would still be picking cotton if the country's moral principles had not been shaped by the Declaration of Independence," Keyes said. He said Obama "has broken and rejected those principles — he has taken the slaveholder's position." Obama, who has been basking in national celebrity since delivering the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, suggested Keyes is outside the moderate mainstream of state Republicans. Asked specifically about the phrase "slaveholder's position," Obama said Keyes "should look to members of his own party to see if that's appropriate if he's going to use that kind of language." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=2&u=/ap/20040810/ap_on_el_se/illinois_senate Bertrand and Keyes? wouldn't that be an interesting conversation?
“I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton's willingness to go into a state she doesn't even live in and pretend to represent people there, so I certainly wouldn't imitate it," --Alan Keyes
I wonder who voted her in the Senate, let's see who could it have been,who would of made that kind of decision to have her represent NY in DC... hmmm... could it have been the VOTERS!!!!
Tim Meadows' Alan Keyes sketch on SNL where they turned the lights off duing his speech to no one was awesome.
Bill Maher on Keyes... "They've been having a lot of trouble over at Illinois finding a Republican candidate to go up against Barack Obama there. People love that guy. Well, they think they've finally found one. He is our old friend, Alan Keyes, the African American firebrand conservative preacher. The only problem is, Keyes lives in Maryland. It's starting to look bad for Republicans. First, they couldn't find Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, then they couldn't find weapons in Iraq. Now they can't find a black person in Chicago!"
Dennis Hastert offers a ringing endorsement... "I spent five weeks trying to find good people," said Mr. Hastert, who said he approached state legislators and the former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka and Gary Fencik, an Ivy Leaguer who was a hard-hitting safety. I got down into last week interviewing a 70-year-old guy who was a great farm broadcaster in Illinois. He decided because of his health problems he couldn't do it. You know, we were down — we needed to find somebody to run, somebody who wanted to run. And, you know, Alan Keyes wants to run, and I hope he's a good candidate."
I don't know why the Republicans in Illinois are not outraged. What type of message is sent when you can't field a true candidate from Illinois? That you have to go get somebody from another state and ask him to move there? If someone tried that in my district, I'd run over to the office myself and sign up. Why didn't anyone do that?
Dude, because only someone who a) does not live in Illinois b) does not watch democratic conventions would not know they are committing political Hari Kari by taking on Obama in this race. It's like volunteering to put your show on TV against the series finale of the Sopranos or something; you have to live in a cave / be totally delusional to think you have a shot. Alan Keyes is a fine choice, actually. Kudos to the Republicans on this one, kill two birds with one stone. Sit out the Obama race without burning any of your pitchers, and force Gas Can Keyes into political retirement at the same time. He's the human version of an intentional walk.
Obama's going to win. Anyone on the Repub side in Illinois would lose and lose big time. By bringing in Keyes, they feeel they can try and put a few chinks in Obama because Keyes will say anything. For instance, when talking about abortion and Obama's pro-choice views... "I would still be picking cotton if the country's moral principles had not been shaped by the Declaration of Independence," Keyes said, according to the Associated Press. He said Obama "has broken and rejected those principles -- he has taken the slaveholder's position." Keyes job is to hurl everything imaginable at Obama and see if anything sticks. If it does even slightly, look for Repubs to use it in Obama's future races. Obama is THE rising star and don't think that the GOP hasn't recognized that fact. Clinton kind of sneaked up on them, but they will try to take Obama down before he reaches the position of presidential candidate.
rimrocker, CBrown - doesn't that depress you? Just because someone is a lock doesn't mean he should run unopposed. If you have a different viewpoint (as I assume any Republican would since Obama is a Democrat), why shouldn't you run? If your platform is different from Obama's, you should run. That's what I don't get. Was there really no Joe Schmo candidate that the Illinois Republicans could trot out? Or is this simply saying that even the usual Republican in Illinois is planning to vote for Barack Obama? It's sad that Dennis Hastert's list on "Meet the Press" focused on name recognition. Not ideas. The name. Truly pathetic comment on the state of our democracy.
Hillary Clinton isn't from New York...were democrats "outraged"? Who cares Keyes is gonna get his a$$ kicked.
That's not the point - I personally was pissed that Hillary Clinton did that. Yes, it was stupid. Does everything have to become a partisan, "Well, uh, the Democrats did it, too!" rant?
Yes, I actually like having two robust parties. Just shows how weak the GOPis in Illinois... a reflection, I suspect, of the far right gaining control of the party when most of the Repubs in Illinois are more moderate. While I understand why the Repubs selected Keyes, I think it will hurt them in the long run as Obama will now not only get all the Dems, but many of the moderate Repubs as well. They just gave him the center for the duration of his career in Illinois. I think they would have been better off picking a moderate Repub with no name recognition. On top of that, If you're a moderate Repub and your only choice is Obama, it's not a great leap to vote against Bush. The latest... Obama (D) 67%, Keyes (R) 28% (Survey USA)
Probably also a reflection on former Republican Governor Ryan's 22 outstanding federal indictments for corruption as well.
"They've been having a lot of trouble over at Illinois finding a Republican candidate to go up against Barack Obama there. People love that guy. Well, they think they've finally found one. He is our old friend, Alan Keyes, the African American firebrand conservative preacher. The only problem is, Keyes lives in Maryland. It's starting to look bad for Republicans. First, they couldn't find Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, then they couldn't find weapons in Iraq. Now they can't find a black person in Chicago!'' --Bill Maher
Did anyone hear what Bill Mahr had to say about this? If not, here it is. "They've been having a lot of trouble over at Illinois finding a Republican candidate to go up against Barack Obama there. People love that guy. Well, they think they've finally found one. He is our old friend, Alan Keyes, the African American firebrand conservative preacher. The only problem is, Keyes lives in Maryland. It's starting to look bad for Republicans. First, they couldn't find Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, then they couldn't find weapons in Iraq. Now they can't find a black person in Chicago!"
