« Alan Keyes
July 24, 2008
More Signs of Hope for Keyes?
From Politicker: "A group of Pennsylvania residents concerned about U.S. Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) stance on abortion is trying to put former GOP presidential candidate Alan Keyes on the ballot."
Posted by Kyle at 4:12 PM | Permalink
July 22, 2008
Alan Keyes's Martyrdom Aborted
It appears we spoke too soon when we declared Alan Keyes’s presidential hopes over in April. Keyes had failed to make any headway in the Republican primary, and when he quit the GOP to become the nominee of the Constitution Party—the Howard Phillips fringe group that won James Dobson’s protest vote in 1996—he discovered that the activists at the Constitution Party convention didn’t care for him too much, rejecting him 3-to-1 in favor of Chuck Baldwin.
Keyes is no stranger to political failure, having lost (by similar margins) three Senate races in two states, along with two previous presidential runs. This year he waxed philosophical: “I kind of represent, in political terms, the abortion. You're invited in, but they kill you. You're invited in, but they kill you.”
But somehow, Keyes has found a way to continue his quixotic race. An article in FrontPage magazine (which described Keyes as “the Energizer Loser”) detailed how disgruntled members of California’s Constitution Party delegation (known there as the American Independent Party) broke away from the national party after it rejected Keyes.
And now it seems that the California Secretary of State is recognizing the breakaway faction. So, barring any further legal action, Keyes is going to be a real presidential candidate in November. At least in California. Why, Keyes’s presence on the ballot may even siphon enough far-right votes from John McCain to tip the state’s electoral votes to Barack Obama.
While this must be an exciting moment for the Keyes camp, one has to wonder: If Keyes “represent[ed], in political terms, the abortion” before, what does he metaphorically represent now?
Posted by Ezra at 4:44 PM | Permalink
April 28, 2008
Alan Keyes In a Nutshell
It appears as if Alan Keyes’ presidential hopes have officially come to an end … at least for this year.
After launching a vanity campaign last summer, Keyes had high hopes for a solid showing in Iowa that never panned out. Keyes then relocated his campaign to Texas, where he pledged to deliver a major breakthrough that likewise never materialized.
Without apparently actually bothering to withdraw from the Republican Primary, the Keyes campaign went quiet before it emerged earlier this month to make a major announcement that he would be officially leaving the Republican Party to seek the Constitution Party’s presidential nomination.
The Constitution Party’s convention was held over the weekend and Keyes did not fare well:
Things aren't working out well for Alan Keyes. The perennial candidate with a worse electoral track record than Harold Stassen spent most of his adult lifetime in the Republican Party. He lasted in the Constitution Party for less than two weeks.
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Chuck Baldwin -- a preacher, radio show host, and columnist who actually agreed with the Constitution Party's platform on the issues in question -- beat Keyes 3-to-1, a margin worthy of Barack Obama or Barbara Mikulski. Paleocons praised the Constitutionalists for sticking to their principles, which they did, but Keyes's odd notions about how to win friends and influence people also contributed to his drubbing.
Following his embarrassing defeat, Keyes granted an interview to "Missouri Viewpoints" where he expressed bitterness over being repeatedly stabbed in the back by every party he belongs to. Recounting that he had been “invited in by the leadership of the Illinois party” to run against Barack Obama, he complained that the party then failed to support him and instead, as he put it, “tried to kill me.” Keyes noted that there seems to be a pattern in all of his campaigns and activities where “people invite me in, and then they kill me; they invite me in and then they kill me; they invite me in and then they seek to kill me.”
But with his loss in seeking the Constitution Party’s nomination, Keyes finally has it all figured it all out and explains it as only he could:
The Lord shared with me that, Alan, the child that you are defending in the womb … in the act of procreation, people are joyfully, ecstatically, with great pleasure in every fiber of their being, saying "yes" to the coming of that new life. They invite the child in. And then in abortion, they kill it. So what, in point of fact my political career is, is the paradigm and pattern of that which I am trying to stop for the child. I kind of represent, in political terms, the abortion. You're invited in, but they kill you. You're invited in, but they kill you.
Posted by Kyle at 4:20 PM | Permalink
April 16, 2008
Keyes Makes It Official
Alan Keyes has officially left the Republican Party: "Former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes announced Tuesday night that he has left the GOP and is considering joining the Constitution Party. Keyes, who also ran as a Republican to challenge Barack Obama's U.S. Senate bid in Illinois in 2004, says he is talking with leaders and rank-and-file members of the Constitution Party."
Posted by Kyle at 4:59 PM | Permalink
April 15, 2008
Keyes Puts Mouth Where Money Isn’t
Alan Keyes wants the world to pay attention to the fact that he's mad as hell and not going to take it anymore and so he's leaving the GOP for good: "A life-long Republican who has increasingly cited the party's failure to match conservative rhetoric with actual performance in the political arena, Keyes said he will reveal his reasons for departing the GOP at a press conference scheduled for 8:30 pm ET, at the Best Western Genetti Inn in Hazleton, PA."
Posted by Kyle at 12:10 PM | Permalink
April 10, 2008
More On Keyes' Major Announcement
The Standard Speaker reports that Alan Keyes has chosen Hazleton, PA to make his major announcement because of the city's infamous anti-immigration policies ... and also that Keyes hasn't yet gotten around to reserving the space for his press conference: "He is planning a press conference at the Best Western hotel in Hazleton, Pa., the site reports. A representative of Genetti Best Western Inn and Suites on Route 309 in Hazle Township said, as of Wednesday afternoon, the Keyes campaign had not reserved space for Tuesday."
Posted by Kyle at 2:53 PM | Permalink
April 9, 2008
Eagerly Awaiting April 15th
Everyone is looking forward to April 15th this year not only because it is traditionally the day that taxes are due, but also because there are going to be some big Right Wing announcements made that day.
First off, Alan Keyes is scheduled to make a “major announcement”
Alan has chosen April 15 to make a major announcement about his intentions, and his reasons for them, in this year’s U.S. presidential race — a highly irregular, undemocratic, media-controlled electoral process that appears aimed at giving voters little or no say about who ultimately governs them.
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Alan’s announcement will take place in a press conference that will be streamed live at AlanKeyes.com from the Best Western hotel in Hazleton, PA, Tuesday evening, April 15. The exact time is still pending.
It has already been reported that Keyes intends to leave the Republican Party; so that, coupled with the announcement on Keyes’ website that he “will be among those considered for the presidential nomination of the Constitution Party” Convention on April 23-26, it is not too hard to figure out what he intends to announce, especially since he is seeking donations in order to “keep his presidential candidacy on track for a possible third-party bid!"
Unfortunately for Keyes, it looks like he might be overshadowed by Mike Huckabee, who likewise has an announcement to make that day about what he plans to do with his future that is even more enticing and mysterious. If you go to his new website, MikeHuckabee.com, all you see is this:
Will Keyes really leave the GOP? Will Huckabee be unveiling an organization that will "focus on activating people around the nation to take a stand" or will he be seeking to establish himself as a challenger to the current Religious Right leaders? Or perhaps both?
The suspense is driving us mad!
Posted by Kyle at 4:35 PM | Permalink
March 26, 2008
Huckabee Gets No Love From the Right
When he was running for president, Mike Huckabee made no secret of his displeasure with the current leadership of the Religious Right, regularly chiding them for refusing to support his candidacy. It was, at least in part, because of their glaring lack of support that Huckabee’s campaign eventually folded, forcing him to drop-out of the race and it looks as if Huckabee is not particularly prepared to let bygones be bygones:
Mike Huckabee can't definitively explain why he couldn't win the Republican presidential nomination, but he thinks the desire of Christian leaders to be "kingmakers," media coverage and Mother Nature all had something to do with it.
"Rank-and-file evangelicals supported me strongly, but a lot of the leadership did not," the former Arkansas governor says. "Let's face it, if you're not going to be king, the next best thing is to be the kingmaker. And if the person gets there without you, you become less relevant."
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson backed Rudolph W. Giuliani; American Value President and former presidential hopeful Gary Bauer endorsed Sen. John McCain; and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins remained neutral, even as Mr. Huckabee was wowing their supporters and winning the values voter straw polls they organized.
Huckabee seems particularly galled by Religious Right’s allegations that he was weak on foreign policy issues and didn’t fully comprehend to threat posed to this country by “Islamo-fascism,” which he says was nonsense since he was the only one who really understood the true nature of the threat:
"I was the one person who talked about this being a theological war, not just a geopolitical war [because] it was unlike a traditional war over borders and boundaries," he says.
While Huckabee remains bitter over his inability to win over the Right’s current leadership, it appears as if various other right-wing outsiders are equally bitter over the prospect of having to support John McCain and are considering defecting to the Constitution Party:
[I]is 2008 the year when a third-party candidate would find some traction among those disaffected by the abortion, marriage and national security stances found in the records of the three front-runners left in the race?
Charles Lewis, national outreach director for Christian Exodus, is one of those behind the launch of the new Save America Summit website, and believes it's not only time, it's overdue.
Among those participating in this third-party-seeking Save America Summit are Flip Benham, Wiley Drake, Bill Federer, Gordon Klingenschmitt, Howard Phillips, Chris Simcox, as well as representatives of organizations such as Gun Owners of America, the Council for National Policy, and Stop the ACLU and others who are convinced that McCain, Obama, and Clinton all plan "an EU-style unification of America with socialist Canada and Mexico during the next administration."
Sadly for Huckabee, he can't seem to get any love from these right-wing activists either, since they seem to have already narrowed down their choices for president to four people: Alan Keyes, Roy Moore, Jerome Corsi, and former Sen. Bob Smith.
Posted by Kyle at 9:18 AM | Permalink
March 18, 2008
Fighting It Out on the Pages of WND
Just because Mike Huckabee has dropped out of the presidential race doesn’t mean Janet Folger is done campaigning for him, penning an open letter to John McCain urging him to tap Huckabee as his VP:
I'm not telling you whom to pick, but if you want the vice presidential candidate who in addition to winning the "must win" states in the primary, who has the best cost/vote ratio, who has proven he can energize the base of the party, who defended (not attacked) you even before you won the nomination, who is honest, consistent and according to Rasmussen, has the least opposition among American voters, Mike Huckabee is your guy.
Ask him, I'm sure he would be honored to be your vice president, and I'm sure millions more would be honored to vote for you if you do.
While Folger has already made peace with her principles by deciding to throw her support behind McCain, her one-time comrade-in-arms Gordon Klingenschmitt is having none of it, taking to the pages of WorldNetDaily to chastise Folger for selling out:
In a recent WND column, Janet Folger begs social conservatives to vote for John McCain. She believes McCain will rescue "most everyone" from our political "burning building" – when in fact McCain has already locked arms with the Kennedys, Feingolds and liberal Democrats to keep social conservatives "out" of politics while they burn our constitutional republic to the ground.
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McCain not only refused to participate in Janet Folger's Values Voter Presidential Debate, he has repeatedly distanced himself from religious groups. He won the Republican nomination without faith-based voters. So, if he wins the White House, will he suddenly listen to our pleas? No chance! Only by treating ourselves with respect can we demand respect from others. Have we no dignity?
Klingenschmitt and Folger have a long history together, as she was one of his staunchest defenders when he was fighting to keep his job as a Chaplain in the Navy, with Folger regularly citing Klingenschmitt’s legal fight as evidence of the on-going “criminalization of Christianity."
After being discharged from the Navy, Klingenschmitt linked up with Vision America’s Rick Scarborough and Alan Keyes for their “70 Weeks To Save America Crusade” and then quickly lined up to support Keyes’ own vanity run for President (he’s currently listed at the top of the “Honor Roll” on Keyes’ website for his efforts to secure 104 pledges to support his campaign.)
But it looks as if now Klingenschmitt and Folger are on the outs. In fact, it looks like Klingenschmitt is on the outs with the Republican Party altogether, announcing that Keyes is reportedly leaving the GOP and that he intends to follow suit so that he may “continue to support Dr. Keyes wherever he leads our Exodus”:
Abandon McCain's sinking ship! Man your lifeboats! I cannot violate my conscience in November. I'll make a statement with my vote, instead of wasting it on Clinton, Obama or McCain. Faith-minded people cannot tolerate evil, whatever its degree, since Christ taught us, "Be ye perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect." Show some self-respect and have faith in God. America needs principled leaders who have borne the battle for liberty and are unashamed of the wounds received in doing so. I'll vote for Alan Keyes, writing in his name if necessary. Join us, and someday you'll stand before God with your head held high, blameless and unashamed of your vote.
Posted by Kyle at 4:25 PM | Permalink
Alan Keyes Leaving Republican Party?
So reports The American View: "Many things over the past two decades or so have contributed to Alan’s decision to leave the GOP. One recent example: A secret meeting of some conservative 'leaders' discussing not how to oppose John McCain but what promises McCain might make to allow conservatives to sell-out and support him for President. When Alan saw what this meeting was about, and that it was not about opposing McCain, or to discuss Christian/conservatives possibly leaving the GOP, he chastised some in the meeting for having an understanding of politics not single-minded in its promotion of God. He told them respect for God cannot be restored if our politics is based only on calculation. He left the meeting. Alan believes John McCain stinks. He believes most of the conversation in the meeting he left was how to deoderize McCain."
Posted by Kyle at 9:44 AM | Permalink
Older Alan Keyes posts: