Obama Says Voters, God Should Judge Him (Not Keyes)

[Khephra]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Democrat Barack Obama, responding to Republican Alan Keyes' claim that Jesus would not vote for Obama in the U.S. Senate race, said Wednesday he will let God judge whether he is a good Christian and Illinois voters judge whether he would make a good senator.

"I don't concern myself too much with Mr. Keyes' judgment on either matter," Obama said.

snip.......

During a campaign stop, Obama said he does not question Keyes' religious beliefs and Keyes should give him the same consideration.

"I will leave Mr. Keyes to the theological speculations. My job is to focus on the issues that voters care about -- jobs, health care, education," Obama said. He added, "I'm not running to be the minister of Illinois. I'm running to be its United States senator."

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-senate-race-religion,0,3439388.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[GingerSnaps]

1. Keyes has gone over the edge

Someone needs to straight jacket the crazy man and put him away for a while.

[LatteLib]

4. Yup, Keyes is a wild-eyed repube

ranting and raving like there is no tomorrow. Oh wait, if the fundies that follow his beliefs have their way, there will be no tomorrow.

[Only Me]

2. I can't believe a public official would say something like that it is a

disgrace they way they throw their judgement around. It like the Cheney thing...Vote Kerry get bombed. :mad:

Obama answered that remark beautifully.

[jpgray]

3. Obama from what I've seen is just all class

His responses to Ryan's hire-a-stalker and the GOP's loony sacrifice have been solid.

[Swamp Rat]

5. Keyes is a psycho X-tian.

[barb162]

6. less than 2 months & we'll be rid of Keyes

Then he'll finds some radio show somewhere which will allow him to spew his muck.

[goclark]

7. Zing it out of the park Obama!

[enigmatic]

8. I LOVE this guy...

Obama is all class..

[AspenRose]

11. "Ditto"

I love this man :-)

[AP]

9. Which is funny because I don't think Keyes is elligible to vote.

He didn't meet the residency requirement to vote for himself.

Hah hah.

[barb162]

10. would you believe I emailed Cook County Voting Commission

and they responded he was, even though the law said there was a 30 day residence requirement. They don't enforce it so they can't all of a sudden start enforcing it when he came to Cal. City. That demagogue is outtahere though in less than 60 days. Notice how his wife and kids NEVER came here, never bothered to visit?

[Yavin4]

12. This Race Is Not Good For Obama

Obama is our future star, and he needs much, much better competition than Keyes. He needs to be in a real race with a sane opponent in order to get some real campaign experience. His next opponent is not going to be some crazy man spouting off at the mouth. This race is too easy for him.

[Walt Starr]

13. Ahhhh, but he will be able to say he ran against a nationally known

Republican figure and trounced him!

He'll be able to claim mthat the Illinois GOP was so afraid of him, they had to bring in a ringer from out of state, and he still defeated him in the greatest electoral victory in Illinois history!

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Another Point On That Walt

I actually think there is some backroom glee in the Illinois Republican Party.

Once Obama got the nod from the voters, the Repub leaders here knew he was going to win, Jack Ryan or no Jack Ryan.

Once Ryan was out, nobody wanted to fall on their sword for the party. But, remember, Illinois' Repubs have mostly been social moderates. The far right doesn't hold that much sway.

So, the far right's noise about them not getting one of "their guys" supported is now being satisfied. The moderate Repub leadership went out of state (not one of their own) and found a nutjob who would take the job of cannon fodder for Obama's campaign.

When Obama annihilates him in November, the moderate Repub leadership can tell the far right to take a walk. They can tell them "We tried it your way, and we got killed. Now leave us alone."

This is good for Obama, because he'll win in a walk over a national figure. It's good for the Repubs because it will knock the pins from under the far right fundie nutjobs. And, it will be good for the people of Illinois to both have Obama as Senator and any potential momentum for the far right to be brought to nearly zero.

Win, win, win!
The Professor

[4_Legs_Good]

14. OMFG - I LOVE OBAMA!!!!

This guy climbs higher in my opinion every single time he opens his mouth! How many politicians can actually claim that.

Way to go Obama; whenever I get depressed about this country and ready to give up, you give me hope. Keep it up!!

david

[StopTheMorans]

15. does anyone have any recent polls on the race?

i know that keyes came in at %28, but i haven't seen anything since then (however, i'd imagine Obama would have to be doing even better given keyes litany of insane statements in the past month...)

[Insomnicole]

16. Good for Obama.

That was a very classy response. I guess it's easy to not stoop to Keyes' gutter level when you're a few dozen points ahead of him in the polls.

If I were an Illinois Republican, I think I'd be really insulted that my state party thought so little of me that they couldn't even be bothered to come up with a better candidate than a clown like Keyes. Heck, they couldn't even be bothered to find someone who actually lived in the state!

[skip fox]

17. Class act. Actually,

no act at all, but pure character.

[Krupskaya]

18. Keep it up, Obama!

"I'm not running to be minister of Illinois" -- AWESOME!