December 5, 1999

Post-debate special coverage

Tony Snow: Mr. Keyes, let's begin with the race issue. You say that every time you get into a campaign the first thing that people talk about is race. But don't you talk about it a lot?

Keyes: No, I don't, actually. Case in point this morning. Why we're starting here is anybody's guess, since I think that the most important points I got across at the debate, and the one I've gotten the most reaction to, is the one that had to do with trade--a remark, by the way, that wasn't even reported in a lot of the press accounts about the debate. The people of the country don't care about this [racial] stuff, it's the media that care about it. I go to forums, I talk to people, I've been around New Hampshire the last few days, the race thing didn't come up. What came up was the trade issue, what came up was the abolition of the income tax which I favor, what came up was my commitment to the pro-life cause and the need to address the serious moral crisis in the country. Those are the questions I get from people. And I get them everywhere because that's what I'm seen to be by ordinary Americans. Nobody starts with race except the media, you're the only guys that do this. I'm sorry it's true.

Snow: You're the one, who when at one of the candidate forums, when not asked any questions, you went after the media, you brought up race. Nobody brought up anything at that particular event.

Keyes: Oh absolutely, because it's about time. I think that you can't get away from it anymore, and that yes, when the truth is in front of me, I'm going to call people on it--because it's a disservice to America. When I won the Alabama straw poll, for instance, and it was completely blacked out by the media around the country, you're not just doing a disservice to me people need to know . . .

Snow: Mr. Keyes, Mr. Keyes . . .

Keyes: Please let me finish . . .

Snow: No I'm going to step in for a second . . .

Keyes: People need to know that the American people are not the racists they are made out to be . . .

Snow: Mr. Keyes, Mr. Keyes . . .

Keyes: And that if you appeal to them, they will support you regardless of race, and that's happening in my case.

Snow: Mr. Keyes, you are a man who appreciates fine distinctions. You need to know that we did report that, so when you paint with a broad brush, make sure you get it right.

Keyes: Well, thank you. I'm also on your Network more than anybody else.

Snow: But there were only two contestants in Alabama, isn't that right, you and Orrin Hatch?

Keyes: No, that's a lie. The thing was open to everybody. Everybody lobbied those delegates for weeks beforehand. And when the other campaigns did their pre-polling, they found that I was going to win, so then they didn't show up. That's the reality, that's what actually happened. To say that they just didn't show up is a lie. They campaigned hard and they lost.

Brit Hume: Mr. Ambassador, I can tell you that if my email the morning after the forum is any indication, you did very well indeed. That was reflected as well in the internet tally that was done by Vote.com. Let us assume for a minute that this is a real groundswell here. That you've touched a nerve as you seem to think you have, and that this translates in the early going into some very strong showing, that you do very well in Iowa, or you do very well in New Hampshire. How then would the Keyes candidacy, what would be your scenario for translating moving ahead for winning the nomination.

Keyes: Well you see there is no such scenario for me. I'll just go on doing what I do. Because I think that what I do is what politics should be about. I believe that this country is in the greatest moral crisis in it's history. I think it threatens our liberty and our institutions of self-government. I carry that message and talk about its practical implications for policy--what does it mean for taxes, for our control of our schools, and things of this kind. Those are the issues and I'll just go on talking about it.

Hume: Well, Mr. Ambassador, there really isn't any history that we can point to of a candidate, however appealing the message is, who has managed to actually get nominated or get elected without putting in place the ordinary political building blocks without having an organization,

Keyes: Oh, I have an organization, excuse me, an extensive one. We've done a lot of hard work, and it happens to be real grassroots too--not just money, or my father's famous name.

Hume: Well, would you say that you're well organized in all the major states that will come at you so quickly after the Iowa, New Hampshire votes? You've got major events in New York, California. Do you have money and people--an organization in place in those states?

Keyes: Well, I would say that in most of the major states, we have a good base that comes from the grassroots. In some, we'll have difficulty. New York is an unfair state, they've stacked the deck so that even, well, last time, it didn't matter who you were. It was hard to get through that rigged process in New York. And so the people of New York are being deprived of a real choice in the primaries. They ought to protest this, because it's undemocratic.

Hume: Let's look ahead to the first results of what we'll call for the moment the Keyes groundswell coming out of your debate performance. How do you figure you might come out in Iowa and New Hampshire?

Keyes: I have no idea at this stage. I have always had good support on the ground. We get good turnouts at our events, we have very good people coming forward to volunteer and help spread the word. I guess my philosophy is stand forward, tell the truth as you see it, speak sincerely what you believe are the challenges before the country, and let the chips fall. I think it's in God's hands after that, and of course in the hands of the American people and their hearts. And I think that all this effort which we do with the polling and the consultants to figure out what's going to happen is wrong. Politics shouldn't be about figuring out what's going to happen. It should be about trying to think through and present to the American people the challenges before our country. Let them figure out what's going to happen in the voting booth. It's their job.

Snow: Ambassador Keyes, you've twice run for Senate, and now twice for President. If you don't win this time, would you run for Congress or a lower office?

Keyes: Well, that's not a question on my mind. I'm not about running for office. I'm about talking about the things that are important to this country.

Snow: Then why have you run four times?

Keyes: I got involved last time because the Republican Party was threatening to drop the ball on the most important issues of our time. And I happen to have something to say about that, and I'm reasonably good at it--and therefore I can do a service for other people who believe as I do. And they responded, and they continue to respond, so I'll continue to do the work.

Snow: Okay, you mentioned before, George W. Bush, not by name but said by trading on his father's name. The Manchester Union Leader has described him as a, quote, "empty suit." Do you think he's an empty suit?

Keyes: Well, I'm not into name calling. I will say this, though. I think it's very dangerous--we have in this race a candidate that represents birth, George W. Bush, a candidate who represents wealth, Steve Forbes, and if you don't mind my saying so, a candidate who represents ability and real experience, me. I think that America is about having a pathway for ability. The old world was about getting power because of your birth, the oligarchies were about getting power because of your money. America is about people who are able to come forward and bid for leadership because they have something to offer.

Snow: Mr. Keyes, are you then saying that the citizens of Texas who have twice elected George W. Bush for their Governor have been suckered into voting for somebody who is notable only because he had a good dad?

Keyes: I have no idea, and wouldn't want to comment on it.

Snow: Well, you just talked about him as a candidate of birth. What does that mean?

Keyes: That's what he is. Because when you look at that field, the one thing I saw the other night that was clear--leave me aside--G. W. Bush does not stand out in this field. Compared to the other folks who were out there, he does not have any special quality or ability that makes him an outstanding choice for the Republican Party, nothing. And when people are interviewed, I'm not the one who does this, I was watching the other day, they ask people, why do you support him, "Oh, his father or his mother's nice," and so forth. He's trading on his birth because he doesn't have much else. And, sad to say, you can get a certain distance on that, but I don't think you can get to the Presidency.

Hume: Wait a minute, Mr. Ambassador, well, you just said though that you couldn't comment on whether the people in Texas elected him on that basis, and yet that is not an insignificant qualification is it, to be the governor of a major state.

Keyes: It's not necessarily a qualification for the Presidency. The people of Arkansas elected Bill Clinton to be governor of Arkansas. We have found since that that was absolutely no qualification whatsoever for the dignity of the high office of President.

Snow: Are you saying then that you fear that George Bush is not going to bring dignity to the office?

Keyes: No, I'm--look, why am I talking about George Bush?

Hume: Because you're running against him.

Keyes: No, no I am not running against him. You guys say that, but that's not what I do.

Hume: I think you would acknowledge that you're in the same race with him.

Keyes: I--wait, wait, this is not a horse race. It is an effort to present to the American people the challenge of their future. Let them decide who is the best in that regard. So I am running FOR the country, I am running FOR the unborn, I am running FOR the reestablishment of our control over our money by abolishing the income tax, I am running FOR the effort to reestablish control of schools by parents through school choice, I am running FOR the reestablishment of American principle and American self-government. If there wasn't another soul in this field, I would still be running FOR those things. And I'd be about what is good for America, and for American liberty. I don't need to talk about my opponents. I've got too much else to discuss.

Snow: Mr. Keyes, some say that you're in this race to hear yourself talk. Is that the case?

Keyes: Leave that for people to judge, Tony. People can call me names, they can do what they like. But when the people of this country hear what I've got to say, they can judge whether I have substance, whether I make sense. And I'll just go on talking to see. Maybe sometimes, given the response I get, I am talking because other people are listening to what I have to say, and in their hearts they are saying the same thing.

Snow: All right, Alan Keyes, thanks for joining us from New Hampshire.