Freedom4um

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

National News
See other National News Articles

Title: Chuck Baldwin Defeats Alan Keyes for Constitution Party Nomination
Source: The LRC Blog
URL Source: http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/020719.html
Published: Apr 26, 2008
Author: Eric A. Garris
Post Date: 2008-04-26 14:33:38 by James Deffenbach
Keywords: None
Views: 1623
Comments: 201

Chuck Baldwin Defeats Alan Keyes for Constitution Party Nomination Posted by Eric A. Garris at April 26, 2008 10:11 AM

The Constitution Party just overwhelmingly defeated the warmongering neocon Alan Keyes by nominating Chuck Baldwin, 383 to 125.

Last night, CP founder Howard Phillips strongly denounced Keyes as a warmonger, neocon, and egomanic. Phillips was subsequently attacked by Jim Clymer, the CP national chairman.

In spite of Keyes bringing in a lot of delegates, the CP remained true to their anti-interventionist views and rejected Keyes.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  

Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 152.

#144. To: James Deffenbach (#0)

This just in, courtesy of the Missouri Constitution Party:

KANSAS CITY, MO–”At its national convention, Pastor Chuck Baldwin has accepted the Constitution Party’s nomination for President of the United States.

“Pastor Baldwin is a minister, author, radio talk show host, and syndicated columnist. He was also the Constitution Party’s 2004 Vice-Presidential candidate.

“To see Pastor Baldwin’s stands on the issues (including pro-life and pro-family), as well as more thorough biographical information, click here.

“The party’s vice-presidential candidate will be nominated at the convention later today.”

[STLtoday.com] At KC convention, Constitution Party picks pastor for president

04/26/2008 2:30 pm

FOH  posted on  2008-04-26   23:40:25 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#145. To: All (#144)

Chuck Baldwin Wins Constitution Party Nomination Posted on 04.26.08 by Austin Cassidy @ 5:28 pm

Pastor Chuck Baldwin, and former 2004 VP candidate, won the Constitution Party’s nomination for Presidential today. He defeated former Ambassador Alan Keyes by a margin of 384 to 126 delegates.

This is not much of a surprise, considering that Howard Phillips, the founder of the Constitution Party, gave a speech to the convention yesterday blasting Keyes as a political opportunist.

Keyes seems like the kind of guy who doesn’t take losing very well. It wouldn’t surprise me if we now see him try and form his own party, run as an independent, or go after another nomination - maybe from the nearly-defunct Reform Party.

No word yet on who the Constitution Party will nominate for Vice-President.

Keyes and his minions sliced up Ron Paul, now they're already on the warpath for the Constitution Party...what a bunch of loons.

This should be fun...

FOH  posted on  2008-04-26   23:44:17 ET  (1 image) Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#146. To: All (#145)

Constitutionally Contentious

By W. James Antle III


Published 4/21/2008 12:08:30 AM

In the grand tradition of the Boston Tea Party, Tax Day is as good a time as any to begin a struggle for independence. Perhaps that's why perennial candidate Alan Keyes picked April 15 to announce his departure from the Republican Party, though a cheeky blogger for the Los Angeles Times had a slightly different take: "Alan Keyes officially leaves GOP and hardly anyone notices."

Keyes certainly didn't have a noticeable impact on the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, where his highly unorthodox campaign made both his 43-point loss to Barack Obama in the 2004 Illinois Senate race and his 42-point defeat by Barbara Mikulski during a 1992 Maryland Senate run seem like successes by comparison. Keyes spent much of his time campaigning in Texas, where he won just 0.62 percent of the vote. His best showing was in the Kansas caucus, where he received 1.5 percent. Keyes's bizarre performance at the Des Moines Register debate before the Iowa caucuses was the first -- and last -- time he made news during his GOP run.

This week, Keyes is expected to make a bid for the Constitution Party's presidential nomination, which will be determined at the party's national convention in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday and Saturday. "If Dr. Keyes's positions on the issues square up with the CP platform we'd be thrilled to have him represent us and offer Americans a choice that the other 'Big Box' parties don't," says Constitution Party communications director Mary Starrett. But there is no guarantee that Keyes will be finding electoral success in his new party either.

At first glance, Keyes ought to be a good fit for the Constitution Party. Both are unapologetically pro-life and animated by Christian conservative issues. Both favor the abolition of the income tax. Keyes has in the past addressed the party's gatherings, hobnobbed with its leaders, and championed many of their political causes. But the Constitution Party is predominantly paleoconservative and Keyes isn't exactly.

Many Constitution Party members are former Pat Buchanan Republicans. Veteran leader and three-time presidential candidate Howard Phillips thrice sought to have Buchanan run on the party's national ticket. The bad blood between the Buchanan brigades and the Keyesters dates back to the 1996 Republican primaries, when many of the former saw Keyes as a stalking horse out to siphon pro-life, socially conservative votes away from Buchanan. Keyes took 7 percent in the Iowa caucuses, for example, where Bob Dole only beat Buchanan by three points.

Other party members point to philosophical differences with Keyes. Trent Hill of the Louisiana Constitution Party told me in an e-mail that Keyes "is a good man" who will be "respected and welcomed by all within the party." But he expressed concerns about Keyes's "interventionist leanings" when it comes to foreign policy. "Also at issue, especially with some of the more philosophically astute delegates, is that Keyes is a friend of William Kristol's, a student of [Harvey] Mansfield's, and a follower of [Leo] Strauss,'" Hill wrote. "As I'm sure you're aware, this is a neoconservative crowd, and the neoconservatives are the diametric opposites of the paleoconservatives (at least within the conservative spectrum)."


THE BIGGEST issue separating Keyes from the Constitution Party is the Iraq war. Keyes has said that he would not have picked Iraq as the next target in the war on terror, but supported the president's policy in debates with Obama four years ago and would not withdraw U.S. troops today. His new party, however favors a noninterventionist foreign policy and opposes the war. This is not an insignificant difference of opinion.

Ricardo Davis, the state party chairman for Georgia, says any attempt to abandon the antiwar stance will go over about as well as the New Coke. "What if I was the new CEO of a midsized company and decided embark on a strategy to sell a 'me too' product that negates the company's unique sales proposition?" he asks. "What if that sales proposition is held dear by most of the sales and marketing management in the company? What do you think will happen to that company as I try to change the company's direction? A train wreck would look prettier!"

Some of the people Keyes might bring with him into the Constitution Party aren't budging in their support for the war, either. A poster on Keyes's web forum argues that "the CP expresses the same naive view as my long time congressional hero Ron Paul did" and questions why a Christian political party wouldn't "understand the nature of the enemy."

Is Keyes cooked? "What you run into are a lot of single-issue pro-lifers who view Alan Keyes as a positive name," says Red Phillips, a paleoconservative who opposes Keyes's nomination. Phillips also worries that other party members will want a well known presidential candidate. "There's talk about us crossing the million vote threshold if we nominate Keyes," he says. "I don't think that's very realistic, since not even Pat Buchanan got a million votes [as the Reform Party nominee] in 2000."

Chuck Baldwin, a pastor and columnist who was the Constitution Party's 2004 vice presidential nominee, has said he will accept the nomination if offered. Baldwin is unlikely to carry his party across the 200,000 vote threshold, much less one million. If neither Ron Paul nor "Ten Commandments" Judge Roy Moore are open to being drafted, Keyes would be the biggest name in the race -- the best political position he's been in since winning a 14-candidate Maryland GOP primary in 1992 -- and yet he's still no shoo-in.

Last Thursday, Keyes took part in a conference call with state Constitution Party leaders. Instead of smoothing over their differences on the Iraq war and other issues, at least one participant remembers Keyes being more interested in talking than listening. "I appreciate that Alan speaks his mind," says Davis. "But he is seeking our nomination, not the other way around."

During Keyes's first presidential campaign, Rich Lowry observed, "His unmatched skill in impassioned oratory is accompanied by a deficit in more mundane political abilities, such as listening, glad-handing, and gauging his effect on those around him." That was the talented Dr. Keyes's downfall in the Republican Party. The problem may have followed him into the Constitution Party as well.


W. James Antle III is associate editor of The American Spectator.

American Spectator

FOH  posted on  2008-04-26   23:53:17 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#147. To: All (#146)

Freakerville Update: alanoids go into meltdown...more to come

  • Constitution Party stunner: Chuck Baldwin KOs firebrand Alan Keyes

    Saturday, April 26, 2008 7:34:17 PM · by deport

    · 75 replies · 1,231+ views

    KCStar Prime Buzz ^ | 4-26-08
    Constitution Party stunner: Chuck Baldwin KOs firebrand Alan Keyes Convening its national convention in Kansas City today, the Constitution Party picked radio talk-show host Chuck Baldwin over former Ambassador Alan Keyes as its 2008 presidential candidate. The pick was seen as something of an upset, given Keyes' higher national profile. Known for his fiery stem-winders, Keyes is a two-time GOP presidential candidate who abandoned the Republican Party this month to join the Constitution Party, which believes in limited government and is committed to ending abortion and bringing American troops home from Iraq. But Baldwin's roots in the Constitution Party...

  • AUDIO: Alan Keyes Constitution Party National Convention Speech (This Rocks)

    Saturday, April 26, 2008 12:36:59 AM · by Kurt Evans

    · 95 replies · 1,045+ views

    Alan Keyes Archives ^ | April 25, 2008
    The link to audio of the speech is reproduced in post #2. It's 22 minutes long.

  • Constitution Party convenes in KC - Alan Keyes expected to get presidential nomination

    Thursday, April 24, 2008 11:04:17 AM · by Between the Lines

    · 50 replies · 798+ views

    St. Joseph News-Press ^ | April 24, 2008 | Ken Newton
    While Democrats and Republicans look months ahead to the national conventions of their parties, one political group gathers in our backyard this week to declare its presidential nominee. The Constitution Party is holding its national convention through Saturday at the Downtown Marriott in Kansas City. As its name implies, the party has as its guiding principle a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Its mission statement reads, in part: "It is our goal to limit the federal government to its delegated, enumerated, Constitutional functions and to restore American jurisprudence to its original Biblical common-law foundations." The party began in 1992...

  • VIDEO: Constitution Party Holds Convention In Kansas City

    Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:19:59 PM · by Kurt Evans

    · 16 replies · 482+ views

    Fox Television (Kansas City) ^ | April 23, 2008

  • CHUCK BALDWIN: ONLY A MIRACLE CAN SAVE AMERICA NOW

    Thursday, April 17, 2008 9:44:24 PM · by claudiustg · 150 replies

    · 2,800+ views

    Constitution Party ^ | 15Apr08 | CHUCK BALDWIN
    Every four years, conservative "pragmatists" trot out the "We Can’t Let So-And-So Win" mantra. Of course, the so-and-so in question is always the Democratic Presidential candidate. For all of my adult life, I have been listening to so-called "conservative" Republicans warn us of the impending doom that would befall our country if the Democratic candidate were elected. And this year is no different. This year’s Republican primary did provide a wonderful aberration, however, to the usual choices between Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Republicans had an opportunity to nominate a real American constitutionalist, a statesman in the similitude of Thomas Jefferson or...

  • Alan Keyes Press conference - 04/15/08 - Hazleton, PA - Live Thread

    Tuesday, April 15, 2008 6:42:28 PM · by CounterCounterCulture · 134 replies · 1,581+ views

    alankeyes.com ^
    Press conference with Alan Keyes April 15, 2008 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time Hazleton, Pennsylvaniawww.alankeyes.com

  • Alan Keyes to announce break with GOP in Hazleton, PA

    Sunday, April 13, 2008 10:26:43 PM · by Kurt Evans · 118 replies · 2,088+ views

    Alan Keyes for President ^ | April 13, 2008

    Former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes has chosen April 15 to make a major announcement of his intentions, following indications he has broken with the GOP. A life-long Republican who has increasingly cited the party's failure to match conservative rhetoric with actual performance in the political arena, Keyes said he will reveal his reasons for departing the GOP at a press conference scheduled for 8:30 pm ET, at the Best Western Genetti Inn in Hazleton, PA. The event will be video-streamed live at Keyes' website, www.AlanKeyes.com. Keyes added that he is looking to the Constitution Party as a possible home...

FOH  posted on  2008-04-26   23:58:17 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#148. To: All (#147)

Constitution Party stunner: Chuck Baldwin KOs firebrand Alan Keyes

EV=Zipperhead

To: Petronski

THAT is gonna leave a mark.

Not really.

It was because it was full of a bunch of Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, "noninterventionist" nonsense, and Alan insisted on telling them the whole truth about the realities of the Constitution, our role in the world, and what must be done to keep our country from being destroyed.

Alan gave them a shot at taking advantage of the historic opportunity that is in front of us, and they weren't up to it.

The Constitution Party is worthless, and won't have any impact on this election whatsoever. Baldwin will be lucky to get as many votes as Peroutka did four years ago.

22 posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008 7:56:48 PM by EternalVigilance ("You cannot defend life if you give up the means of that defense." - Alan Keyes)

[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

FOH  posted on  2008-04-27   0:02:31 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#149. To: All (#148)

To: Reaganesque

Actually, I’m extremely happy it turned out the way it did. For many years, the illusion that the CP was a fallback position for Reagan conservatives has been part of a lot of our thinking. Now that mistaken notion is gone, gone, gone.

It was a rough month having to deal with them, but it was worth it. Dr. Keyes performed magnificently, and his people all across the country got a real education.


30 posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008 8:15:30 PM

by EternalVigilance ("You cannot defend life if you give up the means of that defense." - Alan Keyes)

[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18

| View Replies]

Lowlife, bottom-feeding pondscum.

I wonder which trough they will target next...?

FOH  posted on  2008-04-27   0:03:56 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#150. To: All (#149)

To: Petronski
Spin it.

Nope. Folks who actually followed the progress of the whole series of events of the last month - mostly by the means we provided, such as wall-to-wall live streaming - know I'm simply giving a factual account of the death wish and death throes of the CP.

The Constitution Party's "Ron Paul disease" has metastasized.


38 posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008 8:22:28 PM by EternalVigilance ("You cannot defend life if you give up the means of that defense." - Alan Keyes)

[ Post Reply | Private Reply

| To 23 | View Replies]

A zero, zilch, zippo...

FOH  posted on  2008-04-27   0:06:40 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#151. To: All (#150)

To: Petronski
"Tom Hoefling of Lohrville, Iowa, Keyes' national political director."

ROTFLMAO! Ol' Tom must have a man crush on Alan because that's the only way anyone would take this gig.

How does he keep the names of all three supporters straight?


46 posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008 8:40:25 PM by stravinskyrules (Why is it that whenever I hear a piece of music I don't like, it's always by Villa-Lobos?)

[ Post Reply | Private Reply

| To 5 | View Replies]

To: stravinskyrules

Who you voting for, newbie?

That’s me that was quoted, for the record.


51 posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008 9:00:01 PM

by EternalVigilance ("You cannot defend life if you give up the means of that defense." - Alan Keyes)

[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46

| View Replies]

For the record, Eternal Vigilance aka Tom Hoelfing is out of his mind...

FOH  posted on  2008-04-27   0:09:54 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#152. To: All (#151)

To: ovrtaxt

Because the CP is full of a bunch of racist, xenophobic, religious fanatics?

70 posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008 10:11:58 PM by Antonio C (God bless John McCain, George W. Bush, and our troops) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

Nothing's changed much over at Freakerville!!

LOLOL

What a pantload bunch of grifters and voyeurs...

FOH  posted on  2008-04-27   0:12:14 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

Replies to Comment # 152.

#153. To: All (#152)

Media coverage of the Constitution Party convention

I appreciate Trent Hill, Mike Ferguson and Stephen Gordon’s eyewitness coverage of the Constitution Party convention. I thought folks might be interested in other media’s reporting. The Muskegon Chronicle ran a story today on Mad Max Riekse who is seeking the vice-presidential nomination. The St. Joseph News-Press ran a story on Thursday on the convention that mistakenly treated the nomination of Alan Keyes as a foregone conclusion. Former Constitution Party candidate for US Senate, Mark Dankof had an editorial published today in Al Bawaba that applauds the Constitution Party for their selection of Chuck Baldwin over Alan Keyes:

This weekend in Kansas City, the Constitution Party delegates offered a choice, not a Zionist-inspired echo. God bless them. God bless the Old American Republic. And God bless a Godly-man named Chuck Baldwin. Go get, ‘em, Chuck.

A Two-Party Death Grip


by Chuck Baldwin
February 15, 2008



It is time to say it: the two major parties hold a death grip on the American people. Instead of representing the people, both the Republican and Democrat parties are bought and paid for by special interest groups and multinational corporations. Neither party pays any attention to the U.S. Constitution but both are largely marching in lockstep toward bigger and bigger government. Both Republicans and Democrats eagerly sacrifice what's good for the country for what's good for the party. As they now exist, neither major party deserves the support of patriotic Americans.

Furthermore, blind allegiance to the two major parties has created a "lesser of two evils" mindset that has warped the thinking and perverted the values of otherwise good people. What people would never accept in any other venue of society, they gladly and willingly accept from their chosen party's candidates.

People expect honesty and integrity from clergymen, bankers, doctors, businessmen, realtors, journalists, and even used car salesmen. Those same people, however, quickly tolerate and even excuse dishonesty and chicanery from their chosen political party.

Ever since George W. Bush became President of these United States, I have watched in disbelief as my fellow Christian conservatives have not only looked the other way as Bush repeatedly betrayed conservative/constitutional principles, but have willingly and enthusiastically supported his apostasy. Many of them are continuing to do the same thing by supporting the Big-Government, pro-amnesty, pro-gun control, pro-100-year war, grubby candidacy of John McCain. Good grief! Pat Robertson even endorsed the soiled candidacy of the liberal cross-dresser, Rudy Giuliani.

It is clear, therefore, that conservatives are more than willing to support and defend someone they know to be unfaithful to both their oath of office and to bedrock conservative principles. In other words, it does not matter a whit to them whether their candidate tells the truth, obeys the Constitution, or even demonstrates fidelity to the fundamental principles of liberty. If he has an "R" behind his name, conservatives will support him.

However, the same people who will justify dishonesty in the lives of their favored party's politicians would never accept such conduct from anyone else. Furthermore, many of these conservatives actually call themselves Christians; many are preachers. They preach and teach the virtues of honesty and integrity from the pulpit. They teach boys and girls to be honest and virtuous: to put the principles of right above personal wealth or benefit. Then, they turn around and support these lying politicians, many of whom are fornicating, greedy, arrogant reprobates. What is even more amazing is that they find no inconsistency with what they are doing.

In his Farewell Address, our first and greatest President, George Washington, eloquently lobbied the American people to guard against over-infatuation with political parties. Anyone reading his warnings today will be impressed with his insight and wisdom. Virtually everything he predicted has come to pass. Blind loyalty to political parties has corrupted our public institutions, blinded the hearts and minds of the American people, and opened wide the door to undue foreign influence.

If everyone who believes and teaches honesty and accountability would put it into practice when they walk into the voting booth, we could put a stop to this pathetic practice of electing dishonest and despicable people to high public office. Instead of hiding their own character and integrity under the bushel basket of party partisanship, voters could be proud of the fact that they are actually helping to set the ship of state aright by electing men and women of honesty and character.

Although I do not share this opinion, many people believe Abraham Lincoln to be one of America's greatest presidents (I think he was one of the worst). Personal opinion aside, it is a fact that Lincoln's election and subsequent influence upon this country was huge. Therefore, it is more than significant to realize that Lincoln was first elected from a four-person race with only 39% of the popular vote. Even more significant is the fact that at that time the Republican Party was a minor party, having been formed only a few years earlier. So much for the argument that a minor party cannot win a major election.

In practically every Presidential election, there are candidates from a variety of independent or "third" parties on the ballot. To ignore them merely because they are not Republicans or Democrats is absurd. Furthermore, it is more than obvious that the GOP will not tolerate principled candidates running for President. The recent Presidential candidacies of Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Alan Keyes, and Ron Paul make this abundantly clear.

While it may still be appropriate to support state and local Republican candidates, at the Presidential level, it is waste of time--and a wasted vote--to support the establishment Republican candidates. They are all Big-Government liberals. Yes, that includes Mike Huckabee.

I recommend that people seriously consider voting for a Third Party candidate this November. Start by taking a close look at the Constitution Party.

http://www.constitutionparty.com/

The Constitution Party (the third largest political party in America) has a proven track record of fidelity to pro-life, conservative principles and to constitutional government. I further believe it is time for principled columnists and journalists such as Charley Reese to start encouraging voters to support principled, independent candidates. The same goes for leaders of the Religious Right such as Tony Perkins, James Dobson, and Phyllis Schlafly. For them to continue to ignore good, independent candidates only serves to strengthen and augment the two-party death grip.

It is more than interesting that more people are currently registered as Independents than either Republican or Democrat. But it is not enough to register as an Independent, we must start voting Independent. Remember, the object is to elect honest and honorable leaders for our country, not to promote and protect the private agendas of the fat cats who control the two major parties.

It increasingly appears that the two major parties will force the American people to choose between the fascistic John McCain or the Marxist Barack Obama. Is that really the kind of choice we are willing to accept? Are we really content to continue to vote the "party line," no matter what damage results?

Let's face it, folks: the two major parties are strangling the life out of this country. It is indeed a death grip. Something drastic must be done, and it must be done NOW! Since it does not appear that either major party is salvageable (at the national level), it is up to "We the people" to take matters into our own hands. This means bypassing the mainstream press and relying more on the Internet for our news and information. And it means bypassing the two major parties and voting for Independent candidates for President.

If Michael Bloomberg throws his hat in the Presidential ring, it will already be a three-man race. A strong independent conservative contender would make it a viable four-man race (just like 1860). At that point, anything could happen. But first, we must awaken to the reality of the two-party death grip, and then decide to do something about it. I am ready. How about you?

*If you enjoyed this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/donate.php

© Chuck Baldwin

This column is archived as http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2008/cbarchive_20080215.html

FOH  posted on  2008-04-27 01:08:05 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

End Trace Mode for Comment # 152.

Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest