Actually, I don’t think it was such a bad move. It’s not like this is a race they had any chance to win anyway, and Keyes at least give them a candidate with some name recognition, some speaking ability and a point of view. Keyes may only get ~30% of the vote but that’s probably still more than some nobody sacrificial lamb would have gotten. If Keyes can even draw something liken 35% and keep Obama in the 60’s rather than the 80’s or 90’s it would at least look like a respectable landslide rather than utter humiliation and even more glamor for Obama.
Basically, I don’t know that anyone else was going to do better than Keyes and he gives the real conservatives a protest vote they can feel comfortable with.
I’m watching Keyes on a rerun of Chicago Tonight and he said one of his main reasons for running is that he wants to represent the interests of the people who oppose abortions. He said that he opposed partial birth abortions in the case of rape & incest. When the interviewer noted that 93% of all Illinoisans are for exceptions in the case of rape or incest, he got flustered, dismissed the figure, and changed the subject.
Doesn’t sound like he’s very interested in learning about what people here want. Rather, he already knows. :rolleyes:
Keyes has been giving off an increasingly strong ‘flake’ vibe for a number of years now. After making the statement about Hillary the carpetbagger, he should have had the grace to turn down this invitation. But he didn’t. And as cmason32 said, he’s not interested in the interests of Illinois. He’s just looking for a platform he can use to spout his beliefs.
I understand the Republican dilemma here - Obama is a real threat to the Republican’s attempts to court the black vote. This Keyes thing smacks of being a move of desperation.
He was interviewed on All Things Considered yesterday afternoon and, when asked how he differed from Hillary Clinton viz. the carbetbagger tag, he said, “Ms. Clinton was not asked to move to New York by the residents of that state. It was a purely political move on her part - a cold, calculated political move. I have been recruited to run in Illinois, so I’m not a carbet bagger.”
His response to the question about whether race had anything to do with his being chosen to run was: “Absolutely not. In fact, my being black takes race off the table as an issue. Since the two candidates are black, we have to be judged according to our abililities and accomplishments. Race is not an issue.”
I’ve never paid much attention to him in the past, but he certainly comes across as a pompous, windbag of a guy who likes nothing more than to hear himself speak.
Almost all of what I know about Keyes I’m learning right here. I can’t help but think that considering the Illinois republicans have currently absolutely no chance against Obama and that any legitimate candidate is wasting their money opposing him in this race, that the spectre of two extremely verbose blacks in a championship fight might very well be worth the cost of this entertainment.
Does Keyes care if he gets any support from national Republicans?
I just can’t see Bush standing on a podium with the guy to drum up support. I don’t know that I can even see Hastert doing that.
If so…will Keyes be lambasting the “Republican establishment” come the second week of November…or does he not care if he gets meaningful support from the national party?
I doubt it. Hastert was on “Meet The Press” last weekend and Russert starting asking him if Keyes had been chosen because he was black. Hastert’s responded by saying, “Well, I tell you what, I was out of town when that happened.”