Keyes: Allahu Akbar, baby!

I admit I’m shallow and given to knee-jerk responses. So here’s a shallow, knee-jerk response to Alan “I’m Movin’ to Peoria” Keyes and one sentence in his speech acceding to Illiinois Republican pleas that he run for the Senate: “I have confidence because the victory is for God.” Come on. Which God? In which persona? Has he compared notes with that Sadr fellow over in Najaf (also invited to run for electoral office over the weekend), who is also fighting for a God-related victory? I mean, right there he’s lost me. Not because of the religious implications per se, but because of the hateful, ungodly divisiveness of the rhetoric. Lest one think I’m reading too much into what Keyes said, here’s a quote from one of the GOP brain trust that pretty much spells out the message: “Republican Jim Oberweis, who flanked Keyes onstage along with other GOP candidates who lost in the primary to Ryan, called the race with [Barack] Obama no less than ‘a debate between good on the right and evil on the left.’ ” (And if there’s a mystery about the title: Allahu Akbar.)