Rank-and-file Republicans clearly aren’t satisfied with their already-enormous presidential field. Shortly after Fred Thompson’s announcement, activists started wondering whether David Petraeus might be available. Or maybe Jeb. Or even Newt.
Well, wait no more. The savior of the Republican Party has arrived.
After two previous runs for U.S. president, former Reagan diplomat Alan Keyes has announced he’s again seeking the White House in the 2008 election, and he’ll take part in Monday night’s Republican presidential debate here.
Keyes told syndicated radio host Janet Parshall he’s “unmoved” by the lack of moral courage shown by the other candidates, among whom he sees no standout who articulates the “key kernel of truth that must, with courage, be presented to our people.”
He added, “The one thing I’ve always been called to do is to raise the standard … of our allegiance to God and His authority that has been the foundation stone of our nation’s life” – and he decried the lack of “forthright, clear, and clarion declaration” from the current crop of presidential contenders.
As a result, Keyes said, “We’re putting together an effort that’s not going to be like anything before, because it’s going to be entirely based on citizen action. We’re going to be challenging people to take a pledge for America’s revival,” and elevate them from spectators in the political arena to participants.
At a minimum, the debates should be more lively — assuming Keyes will be invited onto the stage.
Keyes has been dropping hints in this direction for a while now, and he’s apparently drafted himself into the race.
Given his record, we should expect the kind of insane rhetoric from Keyes that would make a Freeper blush. Keyes:
* upon earning his GOP Senate nomination in 2004, announced, “The victory is for God.”
* said a Republican senator who admitted to listening to Nine Inch Nails was “aiding and abetting cultural murder.”
* likened his Senate opponent to a “terrorist” because of his positions on abortion.
* said that Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter is participating in “selfish hedonism” because she is a lesbian.
* and mysteriously described political corruption this way: “It’s sort of like you’re sitting in a room and off in a corner of the room is a deeply smelly toad that is filling the room with a nasty odor. And everybody is holding their cocktails and wearing their ties and they’re not talking about this smelly toad but the room is filled with the stink of it.”
What will he say next? Who knows? Keyes is just an unpredictable character.