Today, Mike Huckabee’s weeping win in the Values Voter debate in Florida and most of comment I made at another Huckabee blog on Alan Keyes’ (who also made the debate) entry into The Republican nomination contest.
The Value Voter Debate web site http://valuesvoterdebate.com/ Mike Huckabee won the vote in a romp, receiving 63%, nearly 5 times as many votes as the other candidates. Of the 340 delegates from socially conservative organizations, Mike Huckabee won 219! Ron Paul was 2nd, with 44, Alan Keyes was 3rd with 24, Sam Brownback was 4th with 18. Brownback is campaigning hard for a historic record in futility.
Giuliani (though he was in
The Brody File at CBN on the Values Voter Debate http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/233319.aspx
About Alan Keyes’ Entry:
· I heard this about lunchtime, today. Listen, I supported and campaigned for Alan Keyes in 1996 and 2000. I’ve heard him speak live at political and pro-life gatherings between 10 and 15 times and have planned for his appearances in
I can only guess, but that guess might be that he was the most educated, the most intelligent, and the most articulate person in the Republican Party: He served in the Reagan administration in his 40′2. And, now he’s in his early 60’s, looking back at 3 failed Senate campaigns (2 in MD, then 1 in IL in 2004), and 2 failed presidential campaigns. Keyes was the acknowledged winner of every Republican debate, shown by Dick Morris in online polls in 2000. Now, thinking that it all looks downhill from here, is he just frustrated that The Republican Party has not used him?
I feel sorry for him. The Illinois Republican Party solicited him to run against Barack Obama in 2004. And, when Keyes looked at Obama’s record in the IL state legislature, in which Obama voted TWICE against abandoning babies born alive after botched abortions, Keyes determined that he had to accept.
Then, when he went to IL and started campaigning, the media started calling him radical and extreme and such. And the party establishment, not wanting to be associated with those adjectives, disclaimed and abandoned him and ran for the tall grass like…like… well, like Republicans…
He was crushed in the election, though Obama was no reasonable match, just like all the Republican candidates he had faced, previously. No matter: after that, he’s totally politically damaged goods.
That’s a fact that I’m sure is hard to swallow. The difference I see with Huckabee is that while Keyes wowed people with his knowledge and oratory, Huckabee engages them with his character. I feel sorry for Keyes, I really do. But, WHAT THE @#$% is he thinking????
And on what Keyes insisted were the most important issues, Huckabee is right there. I could just dismiss Brownback as not exceptionally wise. But Keyes? Somebody’s got some ’splainin’ to do.
It’s true that Keyes’ growling, however sincere or not sincere, can distract from what he is saying. I agree with most everything that he is saying. I just don’t understand his reason for being there. Their manner this evening, aptly displays the difference between Huckabee and Keyes. Keyes is hard and sharp on the negative points. Huckabee is careful to discuss the positive ideal. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to guess which manner will work. And you not only need to BE a person of faith in God. You need to ACT like Jesus Christ. That’s why I support Huckabee.
7 comments:
Like you, I find it hard to discern what Mr. Keyes is up to. He just never found his proper niche in American politics, and he can't resist even a brief period in the limelight. He's now semi-officially a sad case. Fine man but without a lot of common sense.
steve
IF I had to guess, I'd guess that Keyes was brought in to split the Christian votes up and put Romney in the White House. Perhaps Keyes was offered another cabinet position?
I think if Keyes would be involved in any kind of calculation like that, he's changed dramatically. I KNOW that he wouldn't vote for Giuliani. I doubt he's changed his mind about John McCain, whom he'd once said h could never support. I don't imagine him working with Mitty Romney, who's either terribly muddled-headed or dishonest: probably some of both.
Keyes is more constitutionaly scrupulous than I am, and Thompson, like the others, is a constitutional heretic. If Keyes worked for any of them, it would be a larger case of submissdion to a relative moral and mental midget than even Joe Lieberman playing second-fiddle to Al Core. UnlessKetes is unprecedentedly desperate, I'm not buying it.
My own view is that candidates should attend every forum where they may benefit from an appearance. If they won't benefit, then they should spend their time elsewhere. I don't have a good sense of the who the "social values" organization is made up of. From the vote, it sounds like a group committed to Mike, which is fine. If they're not interested in a real dialogue on issues, then it's not fine. Perhaps the major candidates believed they wouldn't get a fair hearing. From the looks of things, they may have been right. :-)
I hate to be synical, but shortly after the 2000 election I was at a dinner w/ a congressman who no longer holds office. This man at the time was also described as an extremist. Long story short, he told me if you carefully reviewed Keyes finance forms you could see why he runs... quite frankly he was one of the first candidates to realize the value of raising funds on the Internet... I don't typically give to elections, and in 2000, I gave him probably $100 (even though I knew he didn't have a ice cube's chance).
I never checked into his finance forms, so I can't make a claim against Alan... but when I heard he was jumping in I felt that he would be better served by campaigning for one of the guys who is already out there.... unless his intentions were not as transparent as we would hope.
Jay Phat raises one of the dirty little secrets of politics: when Hillary and Bill first entered the White House, they had a net worth of $700,000, not bad from a young couple from Arkansas. Currently, Hillary declared to the Federal Elections Commission a net worth of between $10 million and $50 million. Must have been good investments I guess . . . Politics can be a lucrative business if you play it right.
There were a lot of Huckabee supporters before (obviously people who have paid more attention than to the TV/radio news), but there were twice as many after the debate. If all of the socially conservative people in the nation had heard it, Huckabee would now be the favorite.
Actually, I think they would get a fair hearing, which is the problem: people wouldn't particularly like what they heard. It's the same as Giuliani and McCain skipping the Iowa Straw Poll: better to lose not trying.
Keyes has obviously made America's social life his business: he has a Harvard Ph.D. in American government, and has served as an ambassador and in the State Dept. Bear in mind that he does pro-life events for no charge...all year long.
I've seen him twice around here in 2006-7 at pro-life banquets.
But, I don't guess his earnings are much out of line for a Harvard Ph.D.
Post a Comment