Nothing Aside

Be Reasonable!

The title, of course, is from Jon Stewart.  It seems that the junior senator from my (former) home state of Illinois, Barack Obama, has been listening.  Watch him put the left-wing crazies in their place.

Keyes: Jesus Wouldn't Vote For Obama

We honestly live in a time when the Onion cannot keep up with reality. They try really hard, but in the end the real world still has Alan Keyes. His brand of insults, self-promotion and illogical soliloquies makes the Illinois Senate race a hilarious piece of entertainment.

In this installment, Keyes predicts who Jesus Christ would vote for:

Christ would not stand idly by while an infant child in that situation died, and I'm not the only person, obviously, who thinks if you are a representative of me, I cannot vote for you if you would ignore the dignity and claims of that child's life. So, yes, I did respond quite logically - you'll see it's quite logical, right with the conclusion that Christ would not vote for Barack Obama, because Barack Obama has voted to behave in a way that it is inconceivable for Christ to have behaved.

Now, I won't go so far as to say that this is representative of the Republican party because Alan Keyes is hardly representative of anything. But I will note that the likelihood of an average Democrat proclaiming who Jesus would vote for is significantly lower than the likelihood of even an average Republican saying the same thing. That's food for thought.

Oh, and while we're on the subject, I would guess that Jesus wouldn't vote at all - he's got bigger issues to deal with then petty earthly politics - like, say, carrying the weight of our collective sins.

Reading The Voters

There are a few new polls out as of late that show much of the same in Ohio. One has Kerry up, one has Bush up. That's a pretty good explanation of what things look like.

In sharp contrast to the closeness of the presidential race in Ohio is the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Obama has a 41 point lead. That one is pretty well in the bag.

But first, the Ohio polls. The University of Cincinnati poll:

(MoE = 3.4%, N = 812 likely voters)
Kerry - 48%
Bush - 46%
Nader - 1%

The Strategic Vision poll:

(MoE = 3%, N = 801 likely voters)
Bush - 49%
Kerry - 46%
Undecided - 5%

Then there's the Obama-Keyes race. Or maybe race isn't the best word for it. According to the latest Chicago Tribune/WGN poll this one is long since over:

(MoE = 4%, N = 700 likely voters)
Obama - 65%
Keyes - 24%
Undecided - 12%

Most damning for Keyes is Obama's 49% support from self-described conservatives. That really hurts his cause. Being a nutcase, though, doesn't help.

Obama is Illinois' next U.S. Senator.

Alan Keyes Is Not Making Sense

The fun never stops in the Illinois Senate race. Alan Keyes has a ramble about federalism or states rights or a bigoted comment about gay rights every day. It's almost hard to keep up with the rhetoric of Keyes. He's nearly a parody of himself.

I give you a sample of the latest Keyesisms:

In a completely transparent move to increase his percentage of the African-American vote up from its current level of around, oh, zero, Keyes is proposing a two generation federal tax holiday for the descendants of slaves as a means of reparations. Not only has Keyes said reparations are a horrible idea in the past, but his plan is impractical and offensive to the intelligence of African-American voters.

Second, Keyes wants to end the direct election of U.S. Senators by the public at large. He wants to go back to the pre-1913 method where state legislatures elect the state representatives to the U.S. Senate. In effect, Keyes wants to repeal the 17th Amendment. Not only is this a low priority in the grand scheme of things, it's a bad move to begin with. It would greatly enhance divisive states rights to the detriment of the federal government. It would, in essence, proactively label the expansion of the federal government in the 1930's as a bad thing. The virtues of the New Deal would be ignored.

Third, Keyes says abortion is akin to terrorism. There's really nothing to say to that other than that Jerry Falwell said the same thing right after September 11. Keyes keeps wonderful company.

And that's the latest from Alan Keyes. If he tops 25% I'll be surprised.

Keyes Gets Baracked

Alan Keyes is going to self-destruct as usual, but it looks like Obama will help him along. Josh Marshall documents the latest shenanigans of Mr. Federalism:

And finally we have one of the first verbal clashes between the two men. Keyes is insisting that Obama agree to meet him in no less than six debates, as he had apparently agreed to do with departed-nominee Jack Ryan.

Obama says he'll debate Keyes two or three times, not six.

To which Keyes responded: "So let's see. Before I came on the scene, Barack Obama thought of himself as if he was in the same class as Lincoln and Douglas in the critical drama of American life. And now he realizes that he's not in that class. Well, I think that the state of Illinois remains in that class. . . . And I think that it is a disservice to the people of this state to allow him to cower in timidity, and before the real historic challenge that is before us in this campaign."

Obama replied, pretty cleverly I thought, that the six debate offer was "a special for in-state residents."

Ouch. Shut down. Keyes will never escape the hole the Illinois Republican party dug for him by selecting someone from out of state. And Obama is too good to play these petty games nonsense that Keyes wants to play.

Read the rest of Josh's post. He's got some other good Keyesisms, including the weakest endorsement ever by former Illinois governor James Thompson. Hilarious.

Alan Keyes Will Win 100% of Lincoln County

This Illinois Senate race is shaping up to be a contest between the sane and the wacko. While Obama has run an amazing campaign that has been as positive as a campaign can be, Keyes has been in the race not even 24 hours and he's already offering up diatribes about slavery. Where does he get this stuff?

"I would still be picking cotton if the country's moral principles had not been shaped by the Declaration of Independence," Keyes said, according to the Associated Press. He said Obama "has broken and rejected those principles -- he has taken the slaveholder's position."

That's some rhetorical hyperbole if I ever heard it. Keyes is certifiably nuts. In response Obama scolded him good.

Asked about the phrase "slaveholder's position," Obama said Keyes "should look to members of his own party to see if that's appropriate if he's going to use that kind of language," the AP reported.

...

"As I travel around this state, I don't get asked about gay marriage, I don't get asked about abortion," Obama said. "I get asked, 'How can I find a job that allows me to support my family?' I get asked, 'How can I pay those medical bills without going into bankruptcy?' "

This is going to be a fun race to watch. Unlike what the Illinois GOP thought would happen - with Keyes not necessarily in it to win but just there to trip up Obama on his way to the White House - it looks instead like Keyes is tossing up softballs of rhetorical nonsense for Obama to win over Illinois Republican moderates - which is most all the Republicans in the state.

New November 2 estimate: Obama brings home around 70% with Keyes limping in with 28%.

Note: There is no Lincoln County in Illinois.

**UPDATE**

It looks like my guess is about right.

(MoE = 4%, N = 612 registered voters)
Obama - 67%
Keyes - 28%

Keyes is only pulling 38% from downstate. That's the only place Republicans win. He's not even close to winning it.

It's only going to get worse for Keyes.

Alan Keyes: Carpetbagger, Hypocrite

Well it seems to be official now: Democratic superstar Barack Obama will face fringe-winger and rhetorically extravagant carpetbagger Alan Keyes.

The Chicago Tribune has some kind words of welcome for the Maryland native:

Alan Keyes, the prospective GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate, arrived 13 minutes late for his bizarre little rally on Wednesday--and by little we mean about 12 supporters and 24 media hounds--outside the Union League Club in downtown Chicago. Perhaps the Maryland resident, a two-time loser for president and two-time loser for the U.S. Senate in that state, had trouble finding the Loop on his map.

Mr. Keyes may have noticed a large body of water as he flew into O'Hare. That is called Lake Michigan. It's large. It's wide. It's deep. And we'll spoil the surprise: You can't even see across it.

Welcome to Illinois.

...

There is also the suspicion that Keyes views running for office as an occupation in itself. In his 1992 campaign for the Senate, he paid himself a salary out of his campaign funds. In 1996, he came in fourth in the Republican presidential primary in Illinois, with 4 percent of the vote. In 2000, he came in third with 9 percent. As the GOP nominee for the Senate twice in his own state, he got just 29 percent and 38 percent of the vote.

If he's going to try to do better than that in Illinois, he will have a few things to learn.

Don't complain to management when your hot dog comes topped with what looks to be an entire salad bar. That's known in Chicago as "the works."

Camden Yards may be the future of ballparks, but don't go asking around Wrigley Field for sushi.

When you fly into Cairo on a campaign stop, that's not the Red Sea you'll admire; it's the Ohio River.

And Cairo is pronounced "Kay-row."

Welcome to Illinois.

Josh Marshall offers us a preview of what we will see in the Obama-Keyes debate. Surely a great theatrical display:

Keyes is something else to watch on the hustings or in a debate. But calling him a master debater is rather like saying Dolly Parton has a dynamite bod or Lou Ferrigno is toned -- or, perhaps mostly aptly, that the Tasmanian Devil from the Bugs Bunny cartoons is quick on his feet. In other words, impressive in his own way, but also a bit cartoonish and rather less than subtle.

If and when these two guys debate what we're going to hear are rants from Keyes -- both spellbinding and inane -- about how tort reform is necessary to bring America back into compliance with natural law, how drug reimportation is incompatible with the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence and how gun control has been outlawed by God.

Wow, this guy is nuts. Oh and did I mention how he's not even from Illinois? Perhaps Keyes himself has something to say on the issue of carpetbagging, say, from March 2000:

I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton's willingness go into a state she doesn't even live in and pretend to represent people there, so I certainly wouldn't imitate it.

Oh, well good thing he's not a hypocrite or anything.

Obama is going to clean the floor with this guy.

The Obama Effect

The Note makes a great point today: If the the Illinois Republican party doesn't find a sacrificial replacement candidate soon their damage to the national Republican scene could expand beyond Illinois. Without an opponent Obama could focus on other issues beyond Illinois:

Note to the Illinois GOP and Karl Rove: it would probably be smart to get this guy an opponent that makes him have to work for it, or he could spend parts of October in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Cleveland working on turnout.

Obama might be able to do this anyway. At this point there simply isn't anyone else left who could even come close to challenging Obama. The only conceivable candidate is Oberweis and he's got nothing on Obama.

Ironically, presidential candidate Kerry could end up banking on the coattails of state senator Obama instead of the other way around. I love it.

Barack!

I may have jumped the gun a bit when I said Clinton gave the greatest speech ever. It was perfect and all, but Barack Obama may have just surpassed him. Obama will go far - very far.

Here are some of the highlights (aka half the speech):

The people I meet – in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks – they don't expect government to solve all their problems.

They know they have to work hard to get ahead – and they want to.

Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don't want their tax money wasted, by a welfare agency or the Pentagon.

Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn – they know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.

No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems.

But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all.

They know we can do better.

It's been a while since we had a message of hope like that. But it's a message of hope for everyone, not just the privilaged:

For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga.

A belief that we are connected as one people.

If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child.

If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription, and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother.

If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It's that fundamental belief – I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper – that makes this country work.

It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family.

E pluribus unum.

Wow. And then Obama hit his stride. His campaign has been so successful because he has conveyed a message that goes beyond partisanship. In fact Obama has managed to to gain support from downstate Republicans and collar county suburbanites - demographics African-American candidates usually struggle with. Obama has transcended that divide. His campaign shows it:

[T]here's not a liberal America and a conservative America – there's the United States of America.

There's not a Black America and White America and Latino America and Asian America– there's the United States of America.

The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats.

But I've got news for them, too.

We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States.

We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States.

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it.

We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

In the end, that's what this election is about.

If that's what this election is really about we will all be better off. Well, at least Illinois. Other politicians would be wise to emulate Obama's optimism. He will be a star of the future.

I Loathe New York

We all know New Yorkers see themselves as the center of everything. The rest of America is just extra space to them. If it's not happening in New York, it's not happening. Nicities are infrequent and a sign of weakness in the cut-throat world of East Coast power-brokering. So, if the Democratic party chooses someone from the Midwest for its keynote address at its convention, what do you do? Why, dismiss the importance of the heart of America with snide remarks, of course.

Mr. Obama, who will deliver the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, is, after all, just a state legislator from the country's vast middle...

"Vast middle"? That "vast middle" is the real America. We just let New Yorkers play along.