Alan Keyes
Alan Keyes is truly a man of high morals and integrity and more than worthy of our votes as U.S. Senator in Illinois. This interview with Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick from today's Illinois Leader provides further insight into his character and qualifications for the job.
GUEST OPINION: Ambassador Kirkpatrick Speaks Out on Alan Keyes
Saturday, October 16, 2004
- Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Kirkpatrick served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations during the Reagan Administration. She is currently a senior fellow at the American Enterpise Institute. Last week, Kirkpatrick was in town to show her support for the Senate candidacy of Republican Alan Keyes.
OPINION - Below are excerpts from a press conference from Thursday, 10/14, at which Jeane Kirkpatrick, former Ambassador to the United Nations under President Ronald Reagan, endorsed Alan Keyes' candidacy for U.S. Senate and offered her personal reflections on Keyes. Keyes worked for Kirkpatrick in the Reagan administration.
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: Well, I would just say thank you Alan. I’m obviously pleased to be here, I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t wanted to come. I have a very high regard for Alan Keyes. And as someone with more than a casual interest in Illinois, I have been pleased by the fact that he is running for the Senate from the state of Illinois. You may not even know it, but I’ve lived in Illinois a good many years, I went through junior high and high school in Illinois. I should have worn today my Lincoln Laureate medal which I have been awarded for my Illinois connections.
Let me just say that I believe Alan is a very remarkable person, I know him very well because he did work for me for a number of years, not a lot of years, but over four years in fact, and you come to know someone well when you see them everyday, and we were always under fire with the UN in those days -- this was in the depths of the Cold War of course, and the Soviet Union was, to say, in an assertive mode, constantly in an assertive mode.
But we did, as Alan has indicated, forge some good strong bonds from having survived all the challenges with which the United States was almost continually confronted, in the UN, in those days.
Someone was reminding me just a few days ago about KAL 007, which you may recall was shot out of the sky by the Soviets, who then lied about it. And when I think about that, I think that reflected their level of moral seriousness you might say -- because that was just simply lying, and then lying again. The United States, under Ronald Reagan, did try very hard to do our work seriously and well, and to always tell the truth.
Alan is a principled man of a lot of integrity, he’s a brilliant political scientist -- and I speak as someone who has been a political science professor for thirty years, and so I know political science competence when I see it.
When you’ve graded that many papers for that many years you know the difference between somebody who knows what their saying and somebody who doesn’t.
Alan is very, very well informed in political science quite specifically -- he could enter almost any classroom and illuminate it, but especially in political science. I wish him all the best in this race, in part because to me it is the best outcome, but also because I wish the state of Illinois “the best.” [turns to Keyes] So win, Alan.
Press: Is it fair to say Ambassador that you’re endorsing Alan Keyes here?
Oh sure, I think I already have, didn’t I...
Press: Your protégé, your protégé is controversial, some say inflammatory -- is this an asset or a liability?
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: Well inflammatory is not an asset, but I don’t think Alan is inflammatory -- I think he’s serious, you know, I think he’s quite serious and quite well informed and very articulate. Those are assets.
Press: Why do you think he hasn’t really caught on here in the polls, he insists the polls aren’t accurate, but the polls show him anywhere between 40 to 50 points behind Barack Obama, what do you think is wrong?
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: Well I think there are two reasons, two reasons that would at least significantly illuminate part of the reason for that. One is that Barack Obama is much, much, much better known than Alan in significant measure because of his role at the Democratic Convention.
He gave a very good speech, and if you give a very good convention speech you get a lot of publicity, I did it myself, and that publicity lasts for quite a while, as a matter of fact. And second, Barack Obama is a Democrat and as a Democrat he’s going to get better press from you gentlemen, that’s a fact of life here.
We talked a little bit about it at lunch today, the problem of our media, and it’s a big problem.
Press: In Illinois or across the country?
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: I think it’s a problem across the country, not across the world, but across the country, yes.
Press: How are we not covering Alan Keyes fairly?
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: I don’t know how you’re covering Alan Keyes, I just assume you’re not covering him fairly.
[laughter]
Press: Ambassador, can you give us some examples of things that you think were groundbreaking that Mr. Keyes did while he was at the United Nations, some of the things that were very important to the United States.
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: Well, he didn’t operate at the UN as a lone ranger, first of all, we were all, the five us, we were all representing the US policy, above all President Reagan’s policy, and doing our best to articulate and defend and Alan was -- no one would say he’s not articulate, they may say that he’s controversial, or whatever you said, I’ve forgotten what silliness, but no one has ever suggested he wasn’t articulate, because he’s one of the most articulate people I know.
And he’s very articulate about international affairs quite specifically, he knows how to talk about international affairs, and that was very useful to the US of course, the combination of those. He did a very good job and it was a great pleasure to have him there, and it’s a pleasure for me to be here. [turns to Keyes] - I don’t think you ought to argue with these people, Alan, this is not - [laughter] - just let them make their charges and then you can set them straight.
[to the press] It’s nice to be with you. Good day.
© 2004 IllinoisLeader.com
~ Posted by Jean M. Heimann
Alan Keyes is truly a man of high morals and integrity and more than worthy of our votes as U.S. Senator in Illinois. This interview with Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick from today's Illinois Leader provides further insight into his character and qualifications for the job.
GUEST OPINION: Ambassador Kirkpatrick Speaks Out on Alan Keyes
Saturday, October 16, 2004
- Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Kirkpatrick served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations during the Reagan Administration. She is currently a senior fellow at the American Enterpise Institute. Last week, Kirkpatrick was in town to show her support for the Senate candidacy of Republican Alan Keyes.
OPINION - Below are excerpts from a press conference from Thursday, 10/14, at which Jeane Kirkpatrick, former Ambassador to the United Nations under President Ronald Reagan, endorsed Alan Keyes' candidacy for U.S. Senate and offered her personal reflections on Keyes. Keyes worked for Kirkpatrick in the Reagan administration.
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: Well, I would just say thank you Alan. I’m obviously pleased to be here, I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t wanted to come. I have a very high regard for Alan Keyes. And as someone with more than a casual interest in Illinois, I have been pleased by the fact that he is running for the Senate from the state of Illinois. You may not even know it, but I’ve lived in Illinois a good many years, I went through junior high and high school in Illinois. I should have worn today my Lincoln Laureate medal which I have been awarded for my Illinois connections.
Let me just say that I believe Alan is a very remarkable person, I know him very well because he did work for me for a number of years, not a lot of years, but over four years in fact, and you come to know someone well when you see them everyday, and we were always under fire with the UN in those days -- this was in the depths of the Cold War of course, and the Soviet Union was, to say, in an assertive mode, constantly in an assertive mode.
But we did, as Alan has indicated, forge some good strong bonds from having survived all the challenges with which the United States was almost continually confronted, in the UN, in those days.
Someone was reminding me just a few days ago about KAL 007, which you may recall was shot out of the sky by the Soviets, who then lied about it. And when I think about that, I think that reflected their level of moral seriousness you might say -- because that was just simply lying, and then lying again. The United States, under Ronald Reagan, did try very hard to do our work seriously and well, and to always tell the truth.
Alan is a principled man of a lot of integrity, he’s a brilliant political scientist -- and I speak as someone who has been a political science professor for thirty years, and so I know political science competence when I see it.
When you’ve graded that many papers for that many years you know the difference between somebody who knows what their saying and somebody who doesn’t.
Alan is very, very well informed in political science quite specifically -- he could enter almost any classroom and illuminate it, but especially in political science. I wish him all the best in this race, in part because to me it is the best outcome, but also because I wish the state of Illinois “the best.” [turns to Keyes] So win, Alan.
Press: Is it fair to say Ambassador that you’re endorsing Alan Keyes here?
Oh sure, I think I already have, didn’t I...
Press: Your protégé, your protégé is controversial, some say inflammatory -- is this an asset or a liability?
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: Well inflammatory is not an asset, but I don’t think Alan is inflammatory -- I think he’s serious, you know, I think he’s quite serious and quite well informed and very articulate. Those are assets.
Press: Why do you think he hasn’t really caught on here in the polls, he insists the polls aren’t accurate, but the polls show him anywhere between 40 to 50 points behind Barack Obama, what do you think is wrong?
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: Well I think there are two reasons, two reasons that would at least significantly illuminate part of the reason for that. One is that Barack Obama is much, much, much better known than Alan in significant measure because of his role at the Democratic Convention.
He gave a very good speech, and if you give a very good convention speech you get a lot of publicity, I did it myself, and that publicity lasts for quite a while, as a matter of fact. And second, Barack Obama is a Democrat and as a Democrat he’s going to get better press from you gentlemen, that’s a fact of life here.
We talked a little bit about it at lunch today, the problem of our media, and it’s a big problem.
Press: In Illinois or across the country?
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: I think it’s a problem across the country, not across the world, but across the country, yes.
Press: How are we not covering Alan Keyes fairly?
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: I don’t know how you’re covering Alan Keyes, I just assume you’re not covering him fairly.
[laughter]
Press: Ambassador, can you give us some examples of things that you think were groundbreaking that Mr. Keyes did while he was at the United Nations, some of the things that were very important to the United States.
Ambassador Kirkpatrick: Well, he didn’t operate at the UN as a lone ranger, first of all, we were all, the five us, we were all representing the US policy, above all President Reagan’s policy, and doing our best to articulate and defend and Alan was -- no one would say he’s not articulate, they may say that he’s controversial, or whatever you said, I’ve forgotten what silliness, but no one has ever suggested he wasn’t articulate, because he’s one of the most articulate people I know.
And he’s very articulate about international affairs quite specifically, he knows how to talk about international affairs, and that was very useful to the US of course, the combination of those. He did a very good job and it was a great pleasure to have him there, and it’s a pleasure for me to be here. [turns to Keyes] - I don’t think you ought to argue with these people, Alan, this is not - [laughter] - just let them make their charges and then you can set them straight.
[to the press] It’s nice to be with you. Good day.
© 2004 IllinoisLeader.com
~ Posted by Jean M. Heimann
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