August 17, 2004

[excerpt]

ALAN KEYES: We are involved in a war in which the moral cause of the war is this evil principle of terrorism. If we are confused in our heart and mind about that, that confusion could have seriously demoralizing affects that, at the end of the day, would affect our ability to sustain the struggle on which our security depends.

So, I think that we've got to take this very seriously, just as we've taken in the past seriously--take, for instance, during the Cold War. One of the things that gave impetus to respect for and ultimately to people understanding the importance of the Civil Rights Movement was that we couldn't criticize the communists for oppressing people when we were maintaining a regime of segregation and oppression right here at home.

It was a point that was made repeatedly. And why? Because, as Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

ALAN COLMES, HOST: So, when the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday leads off by saying Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes said Monday that women who chose to undergo abortions and the physicians who perform the procedure are essentially terrorists because, quote, "The evil is the same," that's not an accurate representation?

KEYES: I never spoke of the women who have abortions or the physicians. I spoke, just as I just did to you, about the objective evil that is involved in abortion and the objective evil that is involved in terrorism. And of course the biased media in the usual way will try to put forth characterizations that never came from my mouth.

If you look at the regime of law that prevailed in this country before Roe vs. Wade, it was a regime of law intended to protect the life of the innocent, not in any way to exact any vindictive punishment on the women who were involved, because in a sense, they are themselves the victim of the people who are getting the gain in a cold-blooded and calculated way--and that is the people who are involved in the abortion industry.

And there, I've got to tell you, the folks who are gaining from the crisis of the woman and the death of the child, we do need to take a hard look at them.

COLMES: Just a couple minutes left with Alan Keyes. David in Boston. Hello, David.

DAVID: Hey, how are you?

COLMES: All right, sir.

DAVID: You know, it amazes me that here's a guy that is doing exactly the thing that he criticized Hillary Clinton for, and because he went to Harvard and he knows a thousand words and he can blabber on for twenty minutes to forget, to make the person forget exactly what the question even was, you can't get away from the fact that the guy is a total hypocrite.

COLMES: You want to respond?

KEYES: Look, if individuals want to call names and do such the like in order to compensate for their own inability to follow a clear and logical argument, I don't know what I can do. The differentiation between . . .

[crosstalk]

COLMES: Hold on, David. Let him respond. David. David, stop. Let him respond.

KEYES: The differentiation between Hillary Clinton acting from shear personal ambition to subordinate the sovereignty to her whims and Alan Keyes answering the call of a state to come and help with a serious crisis that threatens our national principles I think is very clear, and I think to fair-minded people the logic is evident.

COLMES: We go to Daniel in Kernersville, North Carolina. Hello, Daniel.

DANIEL: Hey, Alan. How's it going?

COLMES: All right, sir. Go ahead.

DANIEL: I just wanted to call Alan Keyes. I just wanted to let you know, I do support you. I hope that you do beat out Obama. Obama is a very intelligent man. Let me get that straight. He's very well spoken, I just feel he's misguided. As you all can be, I don't exactly agree with everything with Alan Keyes--particularly the part about the taxes. I don't think any one particular person should be exempt from taxes. I don't believe in income taxes, I wish we'd get rid of all of them, however, singling out the black people and telling them, "Well, guess what? You don't have to pay taxes"--very wrong, and I believe Martin Luther King would be spinning in his grave over that one.

COLMES: Wow. Let's give a chance to respond. Go ahead.

KEYES: In the first instance, we're acting with respect to black Americans--that is, people of the slave heritage. We're talking about folks who were deeply and unjustly brutalized, and who, in an economic sense, were deprived of their opportunity to save, to invest, to accumulate wealth, to pass on to new generations the result of the accumulated work of their lives.

So, all through the history since slavery, people have looked at that, known that it was unfair, tried to come up with creative ways to respond to it, and not found one that would in fact act in such a way as to support rather than hurt the ability of people working for themselves to put into economic . . . [unintelligible]

COLMES: Daniel, I thank you for your call.

KEYES: . . . of their lives. And that's what my proposal does.

COLMES: Ambassador, are you going to win?

KEYES: I am going to win. I think the factors here are quite clear. We've got a good, strong base of support among Republicans and conservatives throughout the state. I think we also have a surprising strength, I've noticed, in the response of people of Cook county, and I think I'm going to form a community of principle, not a coalition of selfish interests, that is going to win this election and in the process transform the way Americans understand the nature of our political life.

COLMES: All right. Dr. Keyes, I thank you very much for being with us tonight.

KEYES: You're welcome.

COLMES: Appreciate it very much. Alan Keyes, seeking the Senate seat in Illinois held by Peter Fitzgerald.