April 27, 2000

Fox News commentator: The five month tug-of-war over Elian Gonzalez apparently came to a head this past Saturday when Federal Agents raided the boy's Miami home. Now from Capitol Hill to the campaign trail there is a big dispute about whether or not Janet Reno made the right decision in that raid. GOP Presidential hopeful Alan Keyes is joining us live from Washington, DC to speak out on this issue. Mr. Keyes, welcome.

Keyes: Thank you very much. Glad to be with you.

Fox News commentator: As you know, coming Wednesday there will be hearings before the Senate judiciary committee and it appears Ms. Reno will be, or at least her staff will be grilled heavily about the decision to go ahead with this raid. How do you feel about that?

Keyes: Well, I actually think it's another example of either callousness or incompetence on the part of this administration. It really is appalling to think that there was no way to handle this family dispute except with these Gestapo tactics. The desire somehow or another to assert that kind of forceful power of government was entirely inappropriate. It's as if, in order to do Castro's will, we have to practice Castro's methods in America, and I think it's pretty appalling to see it happening. Though I guess it's not surprising, coming from an administration that has been so desirous of pleasing these Communists around the world.

Fox News commentator: Well, when Ms. Reno met on Capitol Hill with a group of Senators, led by Trent Lott, she did say that there was some concern that there were guns in the house and that there may be some Cuban American activists around the house who were also armed. Do you feel like she is telling the whole story?

Keyes: Oh, I don't know. I think they come up with these after-the-fact excuses when it's apparent that the methods they have chosen are going to be condemned by people of decent conscience. I also think we're looking at it from the wrong way round. Why did it come to this in the first place? It seems to me that even--what if Bill Clinton had had some imagination, and instead of having Gestapo tactics had instead said to the father and to the other relatives, "Why don't you all come to Camp David, sit down and have a nice chat together and we can resolve this." There were many ways to do this that would have been decent, humane, cordial and that would not have required this kind of sickening demonstration of violence.

Fox News commentator: I am sure that you have kept a close eye on what Democratic Presidential hopeful Al Gore has been saying, or probably more to the point, not been saying about this case. He has made a point of not going very close to it, in fact, after the raid went down, it seemed like pretty much all he said was that he would have handled it differently. Why do you think he is not standing up and taking more of a stand?

Keyes: Well, I've got to tell you, I've seen daylight between Gore and Clinton on this from the beginning. Gore, as I understand it, in the beginning took the position that yes, you had to pay attention to the father's will, but how could we know he was making a free decision, that had to be ascertained. I actually think that's the right approach. But the conclusion that you reach, I think, when you examine the evidence is clear: that this man is not free, because Castro's regime is not free. That he is acting under a manipulated set of circumstances in which he has relatives and others who can be threatened, and in which over all we're not even talking about sending that boy back to be raised by his father, he's going to be raised by the Castro regime because that's the way children are raised in Cuba. So all of those things are issues of freedom, and those are the issues that we ought to be taking seriously here.

Fox News commentator: Earlier on, George W. Bush made his position known, much earlier it seems than Al Gore. Although he was accused of pandering. How do you feel about your Republican opponent?

Keyes: Well, it seems to me one does have to be careful with issues like this. I was never, and am not now in the position of saying that you put politics above everything, and since it's Castro, you don't care what the father thinks, I don't believe that's right. I think we have to pay careful and serious attention to the father-child bond, that parental bond is terribly important. But I also think that we have to pay careful attention to the fact that as a people, we shouldn't be sending people back into slavery, nor relying on judgments that may be intimidated by a slave tyrannical state like the Cuban regime. And that's where I think the judgment has to be made.

Fox News commentator: On Wednesday, Senator Orrin Hatch who will be leading the hearings has said that he pretty much has already heard enough from the Miami relatives, so they apparently will not be invited to speak at these hearings. Do you think that that's appropriate?

Keyes: Well, I think it would probably be a good idea to hear from both sides, though it does seem to me that about the raid itself, the focus ought to be the administration. They're the ones who took this callous decision, as I understand it the family was involved in negotiations at the very time they stormed through the door. I think it just shows both a lack of competence, a lack of heart, a lack of imagination and a willingness to apply Communist-style Gestapo tactics in America, that I think is entirely inappropriate for an American administration.

Fox News commentator: Alright, now to sort of a bigger picture, taking a step back, at some point, at some point this story may well die down. And if you tally the votes that are at least sort of counted among the Cuban American community, they don't really tally that high, do you think then that this will go away very shortly as a campaign issue?

Keyes: I think it all depends, I don't think it should because it's an issue that involves many questions that ought to be close to the heart of the American people. For me, it's reminiscent of the days when slaves use to escape from the Southern slave states and people had to make a choice about whether they were going to cooperate and help keep them out of slavery or cooperate with those who were trying to send them back into slavery. Those are issues that have always been close to the heart of the American people, when they are rightly articulated and understood. And I think this is an issue that will not go away because it does touch upon those chords of our attachment to liberty and our willingness to help others who are trying to be free.

Fox News commentator: Ambassador, a question about campaigns in general, yours specifically, last night in Washington, George W. Bush made--well, he raised millions, literally millions of dollars at a single fund-raiser. And he obviously is running well in the polls, how do you stand on your own campaign?

Keyes: Well, you know I think at the moment, I am a Republican, I am looking forward to the Republican convention, and I'm working right now to make sure we'll have good representation by moral conservatives who will be able to keep the party on track with its commitment to the pro-life plank, to the need to have a ticket that is strongly pro-life at the top and in the running mate position, and I am focusing on working with people around the country to assure that that will be the case. I think that if the Republican Party goes wrong on those issues, they will compound what is already a difficult challenge, trying to defeat the Democrats in this kind of generally prosperous economy. That's going to be an uphill battle. We have strong issues, given the moral betrayals of the Clinton administration but we cannot take it for granted, if we're willing to spit on the decent sentiment of conscience of the core people of the Republican Party, that this is going to be a winning year. They must keep the pro-life plank and respect the moral heart of the Republican Party.

Fox News commentator: Republican Presidential hopeful, Alan Keyes. Mr. Keyes, thank you so much for joining us.

Keyes: You're welcome.