The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 5 of 9)

br> Re: Hunter Baker's An Off-Keyes McCainiac and "AJR"'s letter (under "Wishing Well") in Reader Mail's Cody Country : /p>

"No, but." "Yes, but." Funny, there are a large number of folks in the GOP whose responses to Leftist hectoring always starts out with one of these little conjunctive clauses. Of course the phrase is always uttered as a palliative, the explanation following is laden with conditions and excuses. The end result is that some Republicans, too many for my taste, have a horrible habit of removing the foundations of their arguments before the debate is concluded. Equivocation becomes a way of life when one implicitly accepts the opposition's language and culture as being fundamentally true.

It is impossible to win from an equivocating base. Alan Keyes's force of intellect, speaking style, and fundamental belief in his core values tends to scare off those for whom life on the periphery of the "in crowd" is all important. That is truly unfortunate because it is men like Alan Keyes who are the backbone of modern Conservatism.

The criticism of Ambassador Keyes touches on a truth. The act of "carpetbagging" an election smacks of corrupt machine politics. However, that point evaporates once one considers the reality that the Illinois GOP, a bastion of Liberal Republicanism (pro-abortion, pro-gun control, tax-happy, etc.), has seen it necessary to place a Conservative in the driver's seat for this Senatorial election.

That there were no Conservatives -- strike that -- Republicans of any stripe within the state, with enough spine to face the Democrats in the general election, is of no concern to those folks in the "Me too" crowd. It is far easier for them to gripe from the cheap seats. Working to get someone elected in a tough contest means exposing oneself to the need to stand for something. Besides, who really cares if Illinois is represented by a virtual Marxist? They have elected fringe lunatics before, right?

I offer this to the "Me Toos," hangers-on, Not-Democrats, and others that so of the plague the GOP at critical junctures. Alan Keyes will probably not win in Illinois, but your weak vacillating approach to the problems of getting elected, and governing, is endangering both the Republican Party, and the nation. Your self-important attitudes regarding Conservatives are beginning to wear their patience thin. The GOP cannot win without those for whom Alan Keyes is a treasured presence.

Mike Murphy needs to ask himself whether or not he wants to be a part of a governing coalition on the Right. If his answer is that the Conservatives are just too strident, flaky, or embarrassing, then he really needs to go do something else with his life. His disdain is self-defeating, and the GOP does not need, and cannot afford animus from within.

p>Alan Keyes might just win in Illinois; though the chances are slim. What he will do, is raise the level of the debate to one of a true contrast between Conservatism and Marxism; whatever the outcome it will not be a wasted enterprise. br> -- John Schneider

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