I’m not sure I agree that Keyes’ nomination was engineered by conservative Republicans hoping to take over the party. They’d have to think that he had a chance of winning, which he clearly doesn’t. No Illinois Republican wanted to throw him or herself under the Obama train. So “the people of Illinois” (meaning, a couple of Pooh-Bahs in a smoke-filled back room of the Union League Club) nominated a sacrificial lamb, a publicity whore who is making a fairly decent living as a professional losing candidate.
Keyes’ comments are particularly interesting because his intellectual mentor, the man who Keyes’ has described as his greatest teacher, was Allan Bloom, who was a practicing homosexual.
gotta love the Love the Sinners mantra.
“We love the sinners, even when they are those sicko pervs!We’ll love em even more when they stop being what they are!”
:rolleyes:
In 1992, Keyes ran for Senate here (Maryland). He claimed the national Republican party was racist because it didn’t provide him with enough campaign money. Which is absurd – the Republicans (like any political party) would have supported him if he had more than a snowball’s chance of winning. (FTR, I’m not a Republican).
I can’t find a cite, but I distinctly remember this story because it was one of the few things that my then-girlfriend (who was left of me politically) and I agreed on. Keyes whining resonated even more when it later came out that he had paid himself a generous salary out of campaign funds.
I’ve never understood why Keyes is taken seriously as a candidate by anyone. He’s so obviously one of those people who runs for office to pump up his talking career.
Former Gov. James Thompson: “I think the people of Illinois will find those remarks offensive, and I think it’s an offense to the political process that we have to suffer a candidate on our ticket who says things like that.”
State Party Chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka: Keyes’ remarks were “idiotic.”
State Rep. Tom Cross, the House Republican leader: “My suspicion is we will see and hear from candidate Keyes for the next 60 days, and after that he’ll probably be out of Illinois.”
With party support like that Keyes scarcely needs someone running against him.
Topinka has also said that Keyes hasn’t spoken to her even once (the State GOP Chairwoman!) Topinka is also on record as saying that she will be “glad” when the election is over.
Couldn’t they just have picked some mope off the street? At least the mope likely wouldn’t have embarrassed the hell out of the GOP during their own convention.
She handed the right-wingers all the rope they asked for. After November the party can go back to being run by the centrists and the right will be a fringe in Illinois once more.