Alan Keyes

As Alan Keyes’ quixotic vanity presidential campaign moves forward, he’s busy making the rounds at the requisite right-wing venues:

Presidential candidate Alan Keyes spoke before a crowd of students at Liberty University’s Vines Center Monday morning, saying that true victory is only found through faith in God.

Keyes, who announced his candidacy Sept. 14, said Monday he lives his life based on Christian morals, and those who believe must also persevere.

“The truth is not just about what we believe,” he said. “It’s very much about how we live and what we do.”

But no amount of speaking engagements or debate appearances is going to help him overcome this basic obstacle:

The Michigan presidential primary is set for January 15, 2008. The law requires the state Democratic and Republican Parties (the only parties entitled to a presidential primary in Michigan) to submit a list of presidential candidates by September 11, 2007.

Alan Keyes declared for the Republican nomination on September 17, 2007, too late to be included on the Republican Party’s list. Therefore, if he wants to be on the ballot, he must submit 11,569 signatures by October 23, 2007. Any registered voter can sign. The formula is one-half of 1% of the Republican presidential vote in November 2004.

Considering that, to date, only 25 people from Michigan have pledged to support Keyes’ campaign, it is unlikely that he’s going to be able to get the 11,000+ signatures necessary in less than a month.  But who knows - maybe his campaign will be able to convince the Michigan Secretary of State that his handful of committed supporters really are "worth hundreds, if not thousands, of just nominal supporters.” 

It has now been three months since the launch of the Alan Keyes-backed “We Need Alan Keyes For President” movement and the organization’s petition urging him to run has garnered a mere 1700 signatures  - but that seems to be enough to convince Keyes that he is needed in the GOP primary:

Several Republican presidential hopefuls have committed to be in the Mountain State for the West Virginia Republican Presidential Convention.

A spokesman for the West Virginia GOP says 10 candidates have registered for their February convention.

Among those attending will be Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and Gene Zarwell.  

More interestingly, it appears as if Keyes might also be participating in the upcoming “Values Voter Presidential Debate” September 17th in Florida.  According to the latest press release: “Seven Republican candidates have confirmed their attendance, but hundreds of encouraging calls are being made to the few remaining unconfirmed candidates.”

Those “remaining unconfirmed candidates” just happen to be the top four Republican hopefuls, each one of which has declared that they won’t be attending:

The festivities, however, look likely to go off without a marquee name. Queried yesterday by The New York Sun, the McCain campaign cited a scheduling conflict. "We are not attending," a spokeswoman for Mr. McCain, Brooke Buchanan, replied by e-mail. "It's the last day of the No Surrender tour — we will be in South Carolina."

Likewise, the Romney campaign's Florida spokeswoman, Gail Gitcho, told the Sun that the former Massachusetts governor had "declined due to a scheduling conflict."

Mr. Thompson's press office also is citing "another event on his calendar that day."

The Giuliani camp didn't even bother with the scheduling-conflict ruse, providing the Sun with the text of a letter the former mayor's campaign manager, Michael DuHaime, sent to the debate's organizers on Friday. "Thank you for your kind invitation for Mayor Giuliani to attend a presidential debate hosted by Values Voters," Mr. DuHaime wrote. "Unfortunately Mayor Giuliani will be unable to accept your invitation."

A WorldNetDaily article announcing that WND’s own Joseph Farah will be moderating the event, lists only six confirmed participants: Duncan Hunter, Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback, Ron Paul and John Cox.  But since the Values Voter press release says that seven have agreed to participate, could Keyes be that final “candidate?” It is entirely possible, considering that an earlier version of the very same WorldNetDaily article listed Keyes as participating, as does the most recent Rick Scarborough Report.

Perhaps Keyes should hurry up and decide if he is indeed running because a presidential campaign would almost surely raise some concerns about his continuing participation in Vision America’s supposedly non-partisan “70 Weeks to Save America” Crusade, not to mention concerns about the fairness of the Values Voter debate considering that Keyes was one of the founders of the very organization that is sponsoring it..  

Since the unveiling of the Alan Keyes-backed “We Need Alan Keyes for President” movement back in early June, the effort hasn’t made much progress, with only 1100 or so people signing the petition urging him to run.  At this rate, it’ll take Keyes nearly 4700 years to generate enough support to match the 62 million votes President Bush garnered in 2004. 

But all hope is not lost for the Draft Alan Keyes movement, as they have a secret strategy to make a strong showing in the upcoming Iowa Straw Poll – not by winning it mind you, because Keyes can’t participate since he’s not a candidate.   

But they have a plan:

[The] straw poll [is] a unique opportunity to get literature into the hands of a large number of the state's voters, many of whom are already very supportive of the possibility of a Keyes candidacy (since Alan got 14 percent in the 2000 Iowa Caucus and is still remembered fondly by grassroots Iowans, we keep hearing from reliable sources).

To distribute literature, we're required to reserve a table — so we're lining one up in the best location still available. We'll use our table as a base of operations for our volunteers.

Thus, they are asking for volunteers and, more importantly, donations so they can print up fliers to hand out and maybe even t-shirts, all of which will “boost our national movement and possibly give Alan the kind of support he needs to announce his candidacy:” 

Besides funds for the Iowa Straw Poll, we need seed money to get our movement fully off the ground. All of us are volunteering our time and effort — but like any political movement or campaign, we have a significant list of things we'd like to utilize in order to be effective. This includes high-tech servers for our website; state-of-the-art computer programming; professional guidance with FEC rules compliance; improved press release capability; means for advertising, mailings, literature, and travel expenses; supplies of bumper stickers, T-shirts, DVD's, and other gear — and everything else normally used by a political movement or campaign.

Of course, as we noted last time, the donation page carries a disclaimer explaining that if Keyes decides not to run, all the money raised gets handed over to an organization deemed “consistent with the vision and Declarationist ideals of Alan Keyes” by the organizers of the effort – both of whom happen to work for Keyes’ own RenewAmerica organization. 

All in all, a very novel fundraising scheme. 

But that it not to say there is nothing in it for those who agree to volunteer at the Iowa Straw Poll:

The GOP candidates will have tents for giving out free food, so there should be plenty to eat.

Vision America head Rick Scarborough, a Texas religious-right activist and pioneering organizer of politically-oriented “patriot pastors,” is continuing to plan out his 2007-2008 campaign, “Seventy Weeks to Renew America.” In recent years, the “patriot pastor” model has been closely tied to partisan electoral efforts, most notably Ken Blackwell’s bid for governor of Ohio in 2006; Scarborough’s effort that year in Missouri was at least nominally limited to opposing a referendum on stem-cell research, although Republican Sen. Jim Talent was no doubt aided by Vision America’s church events. (The amendment passed and Talent lost.)

But this far before November, 2008, there’s neither a clear issue at stake nor a presumptive candidate for Scarborough to support, making his “major effort to enlist 100,000 Values Voters, 10,000 key leaders, 5,000 Patriot Pastors and 5,000 women - who will pray for national renewal and who will vote their Christian values on election day 2008” a seem somewhat nebulous. Nevertheless, a “Patriot Pastor”-driven political machine as Scarborough hopes to build would be nothing to sneeze at, no matter who wins the Republican presidential nomination.

Vision America’s PR firm has uploaded this video segment to GodTube, in which Scarborough offers a preview to church audiences of his “One Day Crusade to Save America.” Appearing with Scarborough will be Gordon Klingenschmitt, the former Navy chaplain who declared himself a martyr cut down by the military policy of non-sectarian prayer at certain types of events, and former presidential and senate candidate Alan Keyes (who is pictured arguing that the Constitution forbids Congress from preventing the establishment of religion). “You’re the greatest fear of the left: a church united and mobilized,” shouts Scarborough.

Also available from Vision America are a sample program and press release:

___________________________ (church) will serve as the local host church for the national ONE DAY CRUSADE TO SAVE AMERICA rally led by Dr. Rick Scarborough of Vision America located in Texas. The rally will be held _________________ ( date) at _________ (time).

The mission of the rally is to motivate and train Christian men and women to enter the public square and articulate their Christian faith, to vote their values, and to be salt and light in their communities. The rally is non-partisan in nature and purpose.

It has been well-documented that the GOP’s right-wing base has been less than impressed with the crop of candidates seeking the party’s presidential nomination. 

While some of the candidates have garnered support from a few right-wing leaders of varying status here and there, the recent controversy regarding General Peter Pace’s statement that homosexuality is immoral offers a telling example of the dilemma the GOP frontrunners are facing in trying to secure the Right’s support.  

Following Pace’s statement, right-wing organizations unleashed full-throated defenses and accolades for Pace, yet the Republican nominees, with the notable exception of Sen. Sam Brownback, universally declined to come to his defense. 

And that has not gone unnoticed by Vision America’s Rick Scarborough:

Senator John McCain declined to express an opinion, other than to say that the don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy is working. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who claims to be a convert to the pro-family cause, said Pace should “show more of an outpouring of tolerance.” It has nothing to do with tolerance, but our government officially condoning evil.

…

The general response to Pace’s comments is the latest sign of this nation’s ongoing moral decline. Even a decade ago, it would have been unthinkable for a presidential candidate to openly contradict the Bible, by declaring an act condemned therein “not immoral.”

…

America is sadly in need of renewal. Pray that there’s at least one candidate on the 2008 ballot who unabashedly embraces and represents Biblical values.

Scarborough’s anger over this might be cause for concern among those seeking the GOP nomination, especially since, as we noted last month, Scarborough and Alan Keyes are gearing up to launch a “Seventy Weeks to Renew America” project which seeks to “enlist 100,000 Values Voters … who will pray for national renewal and who will vote their Christian values on election day 2008.”  As Scarborough stated in his previous update:  

On March 19 I will convene a meeting with several key pastors from across the nation to discuss and pray for this national project.

That meeting must have been a rousing success, because the number of voters they are looking to mobilize has now doubled:

On July 4 of this year Vision America will embark on its biggest challenge to date, in an effort to move 200,000 Christians to vote their values in elections all across the nation. I believe that Christians need to be reminded that it is a sin not to vote, and that the absence of a clear moral leader at the top of the ticket is not an excuse to withdraw. Far too many Christians look at the magnitude of the problems in America and shrink back, thinking that there is nothing that can be done. We will be reminding Christians through our campaign - which we are calling "Seventy Weeks to Save the Nation" - that our duty is not to be pawns of a political party, but to be faithful to the Lord Jesus. We are working now to enlist 70 churches to host a "One Day Crusade to Save America" in their church.

Scarborough and company are apparently so pessimistic about their chances of getting a “clear moral leader at the top of the ticket” that they have all but given up and intend to simply “concentrate on local issues where our efforts can make an immediate and measurable impact.” 

The next presidential election is still more than twenty months away, but the Right is not wasting any time in preparing to mobilize its activists to turn out in force.  

For instance, the Family Research Council just announced that it will be hosting its second “Values Voter Summit” in October, which they declare is “guaranteed to change the debate in 2008.”

It appears as if Rick Scarborough and Alan Keyes are gearing up for the election as well, announcing their new “Seventy Weeks to Renew America” project:

On July 4, 2007, Dr. Alan Keyes and I will launch a major effort to enlist 100,000 Values Voters, 10,000 key leaders, 5,000 Patriot Pastors and 5,000 women - who will pray for national renewal and who will vote their Christian values on election day 2008.

…

There are 70 weeks from July 4, 2007 until the last Wednesday before the national elections of 2008. We will be in an average of one city each week for those 70 weeks, calling the church to be the church.

Normally, the fact that the Right is this motivated this early would be a good sign for GOP presidential hopefuls, but not this time around since these activists are not particularly enthused about any of the current frontrunners. As Rick Scarborough wrote recently (emphasis in original): 

Can the Republican Party continue to claim to be the Party of Values in light of the current crop of front-runners? I think not.

…

We must pray and work toward securing a candidate that we can not only vote for, but get excited about when we go to the polls.

And we should be ready to go outside the Republican Party if it refuses to give us such a candidate. Christians must always remember that we are followers of Christ, not pawns of a party which often wants to dance with us before the election but then ditches us right after the final vote count.

The Right is firmly convinced that they lost the last election because Republicans were not committed enough to pushing their agenda - despite the fact that it is completely untrue – and doing all they can to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, even going so far as to threaten to bolt the party. 

It’ll never happen, of course, but it will undoubtedly throw GOP candidates’ frantic courtship of the Right into overdrive.

Now that Sen. Sam Brownback is officially exploring a run for the presidency, he must begin to demonstrate that he possesses the skills and experience necessary to lead this nation.  

Maybe he will eventually get around to trying to do that.  But for now, Brownback appears to be content to merely demonstrate his right-wing credentials by claiming the mantle of the Commander In Chief fighting the "War on Christmas"

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback joined with other lawmakers and religious leaders Thursday in urging Christians to display nativity scenes on public property to remind America that "the birth of Jesus ... is the reason for the season."

"Christmas is making a comeback," the Kansas senator declared at a news conference at the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where Christian leaders had erected a temporary nativity scene to kick off a national "Nativity Project."

"It's okay to talk about the birth of Jesus at Christmas," Brownback said. "We need to have these expressions of religion ... It's important for America."

Brownback urged his fellow lawmakers to pass the Public Expressions of Religion Act before Congress adjourns Friday afternoon. The bill, which Brownback authored, would eliminate legal fees associated with Establishment Clause challenges to public expressions of religion.

Brownback, who on Monday launched an exploratory committee to seek the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, joined Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, and Rev. Rob Schenk, president of Faith and Action, in encouraging American Christians to participate in the groups' Nativity Project.

Mahoney is perhaps best known for being one of the Right’s leading agitators during the Terri Schiavo saga, while Schenk made a name for himself as joining like-minded ideologues such as Alan Keyes in calling on President Bush to name Judge Roy Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who was removed from office for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument that he installed in the rotunda of the Supreme Court building, to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court.  

His exploratory campaign is less than a week old, but Brownback has already demonstrated that he has the toughness and resolve necessary to defend this nation from its enemies - such as those who seek to destroy Christmas, whether they actually exist or not.  

Texas “Patriot Pastors” organizer Rick Scarborough has been holding rallies across Missouri this summer, featuring Alan Keyes, to build opposition to the state’s upcoming vote on stem cell research. At the recent “Values Voter Summit” in Washington, D.C., Scarborough said that Missouri wasn’t the only state he was worried about: if voters in Missouri approve stem cell research, and voters in South Dakota reject a total ban on abortion, then “we may have stepped over the line with” God.

So Scarborough and Keyes are taking their act on the road again, with a series of rallies across South Dakota this week. They also feature Laurence White, a Houston pastor who founded the Texas Restoration Project. In Rapid City on Monday, speakers railed against both abortion and same-sex marriage, although only the former is on the ballot. According to Keyes, the former presidential and senatorial candidate, the two defining issues of the modern Religious Right are inseparable because they are “one and the same issue.” “Abortion does at the physical level what homosexual marriage does at the institutional level,” he explained.

And yesterday, Scarborough told a crowd in Aberdeen that the referendum is “both a promised blessing” as well as “a certain assurance of a curse” – if voters do not approve the ban. White said that approval of the ban would augur “the beginning of a new awakening in America.”

Texas “Patriot Pastor” organizer Rick Scarborough is continuing his campaign against a referendum to allow stem-cell research in Missouri, with his latest rally in Kansas City. Once again, guest speaker Alan Keyes – a former Republican presidential candidate and talk show host – compared stem cell research to slavery. And as Scarborough writes in an e-mail to supporters, they continue to argue that the amendment – which allows whatever research the federal government allows, in order to counteract a Right Wing state legislature – is “endowing scientists with a constitutional right to clone to kill,” as Scarborough said at the St. Louis rally. From the e-mail:

Proponents of Amendment Two, which they refer to as the Missouri Cures Amendment, deny that they are proposing the cloning of human beings, but as Dr. Chang so succinctly proves from science, that claim is a factual lie.  Increasingly now, the proponents of this devilish idea are retreating to rhetoric that in effect says, “but the embryo is so small and early that it really doesn’t matter,” an argument which taken to its inevitable conclusion so devalues human life that men of Christian character must oppose it…and we are!

This is certainly a counterintuitive claim, given that the first requirement listed in the text of the amendment is “No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.”

Scarborough’s next rally “against this all out assault on the unborn” – which he promises will be the “biggest rally yet” – will be September 21 in Springfield.

Watch Vision America’s clips from its previous rally in St. Louis.