I don't visit FR often, but I did today in hopes of finding the inevitable conspiracy theories to the effect that the Democrats are responsible for the anti-Kerry swift-boat ad, in order to make * look bad.
While I was there, I found these two opinion pieces in the same post:
GOP turns serious race into a sideshowSunday, August 8, 2004
The state's Republican Party apparatus not only badly fumbled its replacing of Jack Ryan on the U.S. Senate ballot but it made a laughing stock of itself in the process.
It is almost inconceivable to us that the GOP leaders could not have found a viable candidate from our own state before instead turning to Maryland talk show host and ultra-conservative spokesman Alan Keyes to run in Ryan's place.
We should know today whether Keyes has taken the bait. No matter; the state GOP has managed to turn what should be a serious contest for a serious office into a circus sideshow.
Keyes has never lived in Illinois, has no visible political or personal ties to the state, surely has little knowledge of our unique problems and issues, is completely out of the mainstream of Illinois public opinion. Indeed, as an arch-conservative with strong right-wing views on national issues, he is not even in the mainstream of Illinois Republican politics.
the rest:http://www.starnewspapers.com/star/spedit/all/08-ez1.htmThe second piece:
GOP chooses Keyes; is this 'The Simpsons,' or what?Tom Houlihan
Sunday, August 8, 2004
Listen closely. Do you hear it? That persistent drumbeat, getting louder all the time?
It's the groundswell of support for Alan Keyes' run for United States Senator from the state of Illinois.
Of course you don't hear it. Because it's not just not there.
It's hard to tell when the process of picking a Republican Senate candidate became an episode of "The Simpsons."
the rest:http://www.starnewspapers.com/star/spedit/houlihan/x08-hhn.htmSome of these freepers were really on a roll:
"At least Keyes has an American name."
and:
"This is good. They wouldn't be this upset if he didn't have them worried"
But when one of them brought up Hillary's run for the Senate in New York, "Howlin" replied with:
"Hillary Clinton owned a house in New York from September, 1999. She also ran in a primary. Let's at least try to keep our side honest."
Regarding the same issue, "kennedy" wrote:
"If I lived in Illinois, I would vote for Keyes over Obama without any hesitation; however, I have to agree that there is no way to reconcile Keyes running for Senator of a state where he does not live (and as far as I know has never lived) with what he said about Hillary running as Senator in NY."
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I don't like to spend a lot of time there, so I didn't read any more. If anyone cares, the freeper thread is:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1187565/posts