Oh, the story builds and builds and builds. I keep harping on this because a) it's a lot of fun, but more importantly, b) this is becoming THE breakaway story from the convention. The story that ahs finally broken through the Republican noise machine, and a story that's really really really off-message. :-)
From the Chicago Tribune:
U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes stridently defended his statements about the vice president's gay daughter today even as Illinois Republican leaders expressed reactions ranging from dismay to disgust.Funny, because the National Republican Senatorial Committee is run by an openly-gay man. Glad to see they have no problem with gay-bashing.
Keyes told a New York radio station Monday that homosexuality is "sexual hedonism." In response, the show's host asked if Mary Cheney, Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, was a "sexual hedonist." Keyes replied: "Of course she is."
"I think those views are not only extreme but offensive," former Gov. James Thompson told reporters during a state delegation breakfast today.
"I think the people of Illinois will find those remarks offensive," Thompson said, "and I think it's an offense to the political process that we have to suffer a candidate on our ticket who says things like that."
None of the state Republican leaders at the breakfast went as far as to say Keyes should bow out of the race, but several expressed dissatisfaction with how the Maryland native has handled himself on the campaign trail.
They want Keyes to stay on message by talking more about job creation and health care and less about divisive social issues such as gay rights and abortion.
"I wish those comments weren't made," said state Sen. Dave Syverson, a Rockford Republican who pushed to get Keyes on the ballot. "Those were personal comments and better kept to himself. But now, having said that, hopefully here on out he will stick to the issues that are important to this campaign."
Keyes blamed the media for personalizing his comments about Mary Cheney.
"Do I know whether or not the daughter of the Cheneys is engaging in such acts? It is not for me to know," Keyes said. "I only know the argument I have made. It is for others to draw the conclusion."
Judy Baar Topinka, the state party chairwoman, today railed against Keyes, calling his remarks about Cheney "idiotic."
"I think it's nasty, and I don't like nasty politics," she said. "You don't pick on people's kids. Kids are off limits."
Topinka added the state central committee, which selected Keyes as its candidate, should have known what it was in for.
"This is not somebody that likes a bit in his mouth," she said. "He does things his own way. He has built a career on being controversial."
State Rep. Tom Cross, the House Republican leader, joked with reporters about the length of Keyes' lease on his apartment in Calumet City.
"My suspicion is we will see and hear from candidate Keyes for the next 60 days, and after that he'll probably be out of Illinois," Cross said.
Liz Cheney, Vice President Dick Cheney's other daughter, bristled today when a CNN interviewer asked for her reaction to Keyes' "selfish hedonist" remark.
"I'm surprised, frankly, that you would even repeat the quote, and I'm not going to dignify it with a comment," she said.
A spokesman for the vice president could not be reached for comment today, but Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said, "We're not going to dignify these comments with a response."
Dan Allen, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that sometimes the way candidates present an issue is not reflective of the party's message.
"Alan Keyes is going to have to run his own race, and we're not going to tell him how to do it," Allen said. "He feels very passionate about certain issues, and whether we agree or disagree is not for us to decide, it's going to be the voters of Illinois."
