Alan Keyes: A Man of Principle?

In 1995, Alan Keyes said this of the Republican party in a 1995 speech:

This Party was born on a clear commitment to principle. This Party was born of those who had the courage to stand before the American people and in the face of the threat of a greater division than we'll ever face, insist that we had to respect the principle that make us great, the principles that make us strong, the principles that make us free.

Time and time again, Keyes has cast himself as a man of character and principle, as opposed to those who sell out their principles for the sake of winning and gaining power. In a 1996 book he wrote:

What sense is there in winning, in success, or even prosperity if there is not truth?

Here is what he said in 2000 about Hillary Clinton moving to New York to run for the Senate:

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.

Yet here he is "deliberating" over whether to move to Illinois and run for the Senate after Republican candidate Jack Ryan withdrew due to a sex scandal. He has never lived in Illinois and he is a resident of Maryland. And he readily admits that doing so is against his principles:

"I do not take it for granted that it's a good idea to parachute into a state and go into a Senate race," he said before meeting the Republican leaders. "As a matter of principle, I don't think it's a good idea."

In fact, as he said in 2000, it represents the destruction of federalism. If he accepts the offer and moves to Illinois to run for office, he will pretty much destroy his credibility in presenting himself as a man of principle.

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Is there anything more fun than watching Alan Keyes campaign? He's like a carnival barker with a PhD. He gets so fired up and on such a verbal roll that I imagine him waking up some mornings, looking at newspaper reports from the day before and saying, "I said THAT?". First, his excuse for why he's…
Is there anything more fun than watching Alan Keyes campaign? He's like a carnival barker with a PhD. He gets so fired up and on such a verbal roll that I imagine him waking up some mornings, looking at newspaper reports from the day before and saying, "I said THAT?". First, his excuse for why he's…
Tom DeLay spoke at a conference on "The war on Christians" in Washington on Tuesday and religious right leader Rick Scarborough had apparently ingested some sort of hallucinogenic substance prior to speaking about him: "This is a man, I believe, God has appointed ... to represent righteousness in…
Bruce Walker of the inaccurately titled intellectualconservative.com has an amusing little essay up virtually begging conservatives to help convince Keyes to move to Illinois and run for the senate against Barack Obama. And you've just got to love this beginning: Black conservatives are treated…

Ed,
Thank you for the research. If Keyes has any true principles, he won't go to Illinois to run.

Remember the crap Hillary Clinton took from the Respublicans when she moved to NY for the Senate race? I found her move opportunistic and distasteful.

Similarly, I was appalled by Ronald Crews' move from Georgia to Massachusetts for the sole purpose of taking up the anti-gay banner here as a state issue. Hypocrisy.

So if Keyes moves to Illinois to run for Senate, it will be cynical, hypocritical and unprincipled.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks there's a bit of racism here? (My black guy can beat up your black guy.)

Well frankly, I think the crap aimed at Hillary Clinton was entirely deserved and I can't believe the people in New York voted for her. I think those who criticized her were absolutely right. But I'm gonna laugh my ass off watching those same people roll over and play dead when Keyes does it and start to rationalize it as something totally different. That's what happens when you become a political partisan - you are forced to say stupid and hypocritical things and then make very illogical arguments to explain it all away.

Hey, I voted for Hillary. It could have been a lot worse -- we cold have elected a Republican.

Whoever goes up against Obama is a sacrificial lamb. With three months to the election, all he or che can do is pray that Obama self-destructs in some highly public way.

I always thought of Keyes as an intelligent man far too pricipled for the republican party . However, if he does choose to run in Illinois, I will have lost any respect i had for him .

By Vic Vanity (not verified) on 05 Aug 2004 #permalink