Alan
Chuck Baldwin Keyes had some news today for his new -- or is it old? -- buddies in the Constitution Party: He's not backing the party's newly minted nominee Chuck Baldwin.
No way, no how, Keyes told Prime Buzz.
Alan Keyes"His policies of appeasement and non-involvement (in foreign affairs) are irresponsible and unsustainable," Keyes said.
Keyes, who was not present for the balloting, had jumped into the race this month after abandoning the Republican Party.
Constitution Party spokeswoman Mary Starrett shot back that Keyes has some "sour grapes issues."
"He doesn't square up on our platform on some very serious issues."
Among those are the war in Iraq; Starrett said party members want to get out of the unconstitutional war now while Keyes wasn't quite as eager to withdraw.
Another key difference was with the U.N. Starrett and other party members have said the Constitution does not sanction the United Nations and that the U.S. needs to not only pull out of the body, but kick its headquarters out of the country.
Keyes said such a move would be unconstitutional because U.S. treaties provide for America's involvement with the U.N.
"The president just can't come in and say, `Get out,'" Keyes said. The party's U.N. postion, he said, was "irresponsible."
In his acceptance speech Saturday, Baldwin went out of his way to say no bad blood existed between his group and Keyes'. And, Baldwin said, he hoped Keyes stayed in the party.
But Keyes said today that he never formally joined the party, only that he had been wooed by party members. But as soon as he expressed interest in the party's nomination, relations between some party members and Keyes began to cool, he said. Some Keyes supporters who expressed interest in the party suddenly found "a door slammed in their face."
The party, Keyes suggested, may have been using him to attract attention and draw new members.
"I'm not saying that happened," Keyes said. "If I was an uncharitable guy, I would put that interpretation on it."
Keyes, a two-time GOP candidate for president, said he wasn't sure what was next for him beyond "just doing what we've been doing."
Let's start with the facts about Keyes' invite to the CP
Let’s get the facts straight before we talk about Keyes supposedly being misled to come to the CP convention. I was on the VA delegation to the CP convention and have known Howard Phillips since 1996. His statement of what happened (this is all first hand info, heard by me from the individuals):
– The CP Executive Committee invited Keyes to CONSIDER the CP nod.
– Howard Phillips and Darrell Castle talked to Keyes for over 2 hours about his positions.
– After this, Phillips told Keyes his positions were out of sync with the CP and he SHOULD NOT COME to the convention.
– P.S. Jim Clymer is Alan Keyes’s lawyer (for his campaign).
The night before the vote, Keyes, talking to a group until late hours and answering some questions I asked him, painted a picture of not needing the CP or the headache of another campaign, having been invited by the CP, and then being surprised to have people rejecting his participation. He never even hinted that Phillips had told him not to come, and why — I found that out the next morning from Phillips.
During that evening conversation, Keyes clearly implied that depending on the outcome he would have to decide whether to tell his supporters whether “the spirit was really [in the CP].” Immediately after the vote, Keyes campaign manager Tom Hoefling was trashing the CP to a KC reporter. So I guess they decided pretty quickly.
It is most unfortunate that due to personal egos and agendas, people think someone was slighted. The fact that Keyes is spreading this misinformation speaks volumes about his supposed integrity.
Mitch Turner, CP-Va State Committee, CP National Committee
I can be reached through the CPV website at http://constitutionpartyva.com — I’m the webmaster