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Monday, August 16, 2004

Vote for me and I will fight to ensure that you can never vote for me again

Alert reader Antonio Ceraso of State College, Pennsylvania brings the following better-than-satire story to my attention (and isn’t it great that this Internet can bring together people who only see each other a couple times a month?):

Keyes Wants to End Election of Senators

Sat Aug 14, 7:14 PM ET
By MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO - Alan Keyes said he would like to end the system under which the people elect U.S. senators and return to pre-1913 practice in which senators were chosen by state legislatures.

The Republican Senate candidate in Illinois, asked about past comments on the election process, said Friday the constitutional amendment that provided for popular election of senators upset the balance between the people and the states.

“The balance is utterly destroyed when the senators are directly elected because the state government as such no longer plays any role in the deliberations at the federal level,” Keyes said at a taping of WBBM Newsradio’s “At Issue” program.

He said it was one of the reasons “there has been a steady deleterious erosion of the sovereign role of the states.”

Keyes’ Democratic rival, state Sen. Barack Obama of Chicago, issued a statement saying he supports popular election of U.S. senators.

“I certainly trust the people of Illinois to choose who they want to represent them in the U.S. Senate,” he said. “That is the very basis of our democracy.”

Keyes said he did not consider repealing the 17th Amendment a high priority.

“But if I ever see an opportunity in politics to promote it, I will,” he said.

So let’s take a moment out from venting at the collective insanities of the Swift Boat Vets and the idea of anyone’s wartime service being challenged on behalf of the deserter-in-chief and his sneering, sniveling, cowardly vice president.  Instead, let’s think with a smile and a nice cold beer of Barack Obama and his campaign managers, who surely must have the easiest jobs in the country in this election season.

Remember, Keyes also supports the repeal of Amendments I, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, XIV, XVI, and especially XIX, and now that I think of it, I’m not sure where he stands on the whole Third Amendment quartering-of-soldiers-in-houses-without-the-consent-of-the-owner controversy.  If I were on the Obama team, I’d begin drafting statements in support of those amendments now, to save time in October when I’d want to begin planning the victory party.

This one’s going to be fun.  Thanks, Illinois GOP!  We needed that.

Posted by Michael on 08/16 at 05:16 PM
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