Alan Keyes.....The GOP in Illinois is SO SAD...

They cannot even come up with their own home-grown lunatics?

Alan Keyes ran for Senate twice before in Maryland in 1988 and again in 1992, trounced by those pillars of charisma Paul Sarbanes and Babs Mikulski. He has lived in Maryland for many, many years.

However, the Illinois GOP's consistent "Ryan" problems and reticent Fitzgeralds has apparently left it without candidates. The last I heard Illinois is a pretty big state all things considered and they had to go to Maryland to get a guy who has never even come close to winning anything.

I've seen some, well let's be kind, "reality-challenged" Republicans say this is a great move and using the classic buzzward "eloquent" to describe Keyes. That's laughable, a blowhard is a blowhard. Take Al Sharpton, or if you'd rather a Pat Buchanon, they can be a great convention speaker and give a stemwinder. But they are first class bloviators, they are not eloquent, they are loud. That can be good on occasion, but over long periods of time it is grating. And Keyes is this type of with that added touch of "being touched" by inanity and insanity.

Having "gravitas" is what you want as a politician. It means being impressive in both loud and quiet ways. Obama has that, like Clinton had it -- and yes, like Reagan had it (as stupifying as that seemed to some of us at the time -- and vice versa for conservatives). Politicians who "harangue" and "demogogues" generally only succeed in limited fashion, like a congressional district, but rarely in a larger area, like an Illinois. Obama is a lock in Illinois, and with Keyes in the race, I guess we will find what the rock-bottom level the GOP can get in an election.

I think uber Josh says it best:

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the 'wingers who seem to have taken over the Illinois GOP think this is going to happen. But this is the really the stupidest idea in the world.

Keyes is something else to watch on the hustings or in a debate. But calling him a master debater is rather like saying Dolly Parton has a dynamite bod or Lou Ferrigno is toned -- or, perhaps mostly aptly, that the Tasmanian Devil from the Bugs Bunny cartoons is quick on his feet. In other words, impressive in his own way, but also a bit cartoonish and rather less than subtle.

If and when these two guys debate what we're going to hear are rants from Keyes -- both spellbinding and inane -- about how tort reform is necessary to bring America back into compliance with natural law, how drug reimportation is incompatible with the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence and how gun control has been outlawed by God.

Obama is getting 65 to 75 percent of the vote. Alan Keyes gets to bloviate, which is what he really cares about.

Alan Keyes is a "dynamic and compelling" candidate the way that Carrot Top is a "dynamic and compelling" stand up comedian. There will always be a large enough slice of the population for him to make a living, but the overwhelming majority of people are going to think, WTF until they both get to perpetuate their careers on being "the joke".