-- Alan Keyes "In an authentic three-way political contest, the number of those who prefer American liberty to anti-American socialism is more than sufficient to defeat, in general election, both wings of the elite faction’s partisan sham."
“In an authentic three-way political contest, the number of those who prefer American liberty to anti-American socialism is more than sufficient to defeat, in general election, both wings of the elite faction’s partisan sham.”
— Alan Keyes
That’s a great quote from Dr. Keyes. Of course, Dr. Keyes, whom I supported (with words, money and my vote) when he ran for president *in the GOP primaries* in 2000, got on the 2008 general election ballot in three states, garnering 0.30% in California, 0.13% in Colorado and 0.01% in Texas.
Obama and McCain, the twin exponents of “anti-American socialism” (and there is no doubt that McCain’s economic positions in 2008 are to the left of Romney’s economic positions of today), split 98.47% of the national popular vote, with another 0.71%+ of the vote going to candidates running to the *left* of Obama (Nader, Cynthia McKinney and various avowed Socialists). 0.19% went to write-ins, most of whom were to the left of McCain, so at least 99.30% of the vote went to candidates who were no more conservative than Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney will be the nominee of the Republican Party. I fought tooth and nail against that, and not only supported Rick Santorum in the primaries (with my words, money and vote), but actually was on the ballot as a delegate for Santorum. The time for conservatives to defeat Romney was back then, but due to mostly to (i) prominent conservatives passing on the race, (ii) infighting among supporters of different conservative candidates and (iii) Romney’s superior fundraising and organization (which allowed him to win key primaries with around 40% of the vote), Romney got the nod. And in a nation with an electoral college, it makes no sense for conservatives to vote for someone with 0% chance of winning—even if they agree with them on 100% of the issues—over someone with 50% chance of winning with whom they agree on 50%-80% of the issues when such candidates defeat will result in the reelection of someone with whom they agree on 0%-10% of the issues.
Romney will get between 90% and 99% of the conservative vote. If it’s closer to 90%, then Obama will be reelected and continue to inflict permanent damage on our nation; if it’s closer to 99%, then Romney will win in a landslide and will be kept in check by the conservatives he knows he’ll need in order to have a chance at renomination and reelection in 2016. I hope that conservatives don’t make the (almost) perfect the enemy of the (relatively) good. We need for Obama to be swept out of office, and Romney is the only person with a working broom.
I think this statement is so wildly optimistic as to border on fantasy.
Personally, I know dozens of people....law-abiding working men and women who are pro-life, pro-God, pro-gun, pro-family.....but who have voted and will vote the government cheese ticket every single time.
Yes, I know that anecdotes are not data, but I submit as evidence that my patriotic, traditional values-rich state of West Virginia has kept the Democrats in power in our state capital for eighty years, and were it not for the national Democrats' opposition to the coal industry, they'd have a lock on the Presidential vote too.
"In an authentic three-way political contest, the number of those who prefer American liberty to anti-American socialism is more than sufficient to defeat, in general election, both wings of the elite faction’s partisan sham.
Did Keyes say this before, or after, he got thumped by Obama 70%-27%?