For conservatives now turning on Keyes' campaign style, I must say: you are getting precisely what you asked for. Look at this interview on the
O'Reilly factor in January, 2004. It is precisely the same conversation that occured on Sirius OutQ, it's just that they took it the next step and added a name. It should have been obvious to all Illinois conservatives that they were going to get an argumentative, name calling, selfish candidate who would spend his time arguing with other conservatives:
KEYES: Well, I'm not sure. If the president understood the issue of terrorism, then he would have mentioned the issue of abortion last night. What distinguishes . . .
O'REILLY: He's not going deal with the issue, Ambassador. Naw.
KEYES: But what distinguishes terrorism from normal warfare is disregard for the claims of innocent human life. That's what a terrorist is: somebody who fights their war without respect for innocent life.
. . .
On gay rights
O'REILLY: Look, you know honest and good gay Americans, I'm sure. Don't you?
KEYES: But this is irrelevant. Why anybody . . .
O'REILLY: No, whoa, whoa, whoa. But here . . .
KEYES: Bill, why would anybody want the state . . .
O'REILLY: You have to stair-step it. Wait a minute. You have to stair-step it and look at their point of view.
KEYES: No, we don't. No, we don't.
O'REILLY: Yeah, you do. To be fair, you do.
. . .
O'REILLY: OK. I agree with you, but what I'm going to say is that the other side says, "I'm a good person, I'm a good American, I'm a loyal person. I want to be recognize the same way that a heterosexual is," and when you appeal to that kind of an emotional argument--and, by the way, I want to reiterate that I agree with you. The stabilizing force of marriage is the cornerstone on which civilization is based. But when you hear somebody say, "I can raise a child. I'm responsible. I shouldn't have to be a second-class citizen," you say to them . . . ?
KEYES: "You're not a second-class citizen. You have the same rights as anybody else who is not a male or female engaged in the business of procreation." But marriage wasn't instituted in order to cater to individual and selfish needs. It was actually instituted in order to make sure that the obligations that we have as parents and as people who are responsible for the institution that is fundamental to the society would be met and would be enforced and respected by the society.
While I'm at on this interview, I'll just point out a Bill O'Reilly comment:
O'REILLY: But really, you have a divide, though. I mean, we just talked to Senator Lieberman. I mean, he certainly is like a moderate Democrat, maybe even a conservative one--and John Edwards is certainly not a raving left-wing guy.
