Keyes takes values message to Sycamore

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SYCAMORE - U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes called this morning for a return to the Christian values upon which he said the United States is based and warned that things like gay marriage and abortion represent grave threats to America. "That God exists and his authority commands respect from all human beings," Keyes said before a packed banquet room at the Carls Fargo Restaurant, "that is the premise of the American way of life." In an emotional speech peppered with religious references, Keyes said he would stand against efforts to take prayer out of school, for instance, and to otherwise propel the separation of church and state. He acknowledged that his strong stance on social issues wasn't necessarily what Republican Party leaders urged him to focus on since he was named as a late replacement for Jack Ryan, the GOP primary winner who dropped out of the race in June amid embarrassing sex club allegations made by his former wife. One supporter told Keyes to concentrate on the issue of "integrity," but integrity begins with a fear of the Lord, the candidate said. Keyes said it is less important for Republicans to agree with one another all the time than for them to think through the issues. In arguing against gay marriage, Keyes drew a line from gay marriage to the breakdown of traditional families to the breakdown of the economy. "Families are the rock-bottom foundation of all economic strength," he said. And he pointed out that nontraditional families, such as single-parent families, often have a harder time making ends meet. Keyes took a few shots at his Democratic opponent in the Nov. 2 election, Barack Obama. He criticized the state senator from Chicago for voting against a state bill that would have banned partial-birth abortion. Obama has said he voted against the bill because it did not include an exception for the health of the mother. His spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said this morning that Obama would vote for a partial-birth abortion ban if it made exceptions to save the life of or protect the health of the mother. Keyes also distinguished himself from Republicans who support free trade, saying he opposed agreements that send good-paying jobs overseas and result in American corporations making their wares elsewhere and then importing back to the United States for consumption. "(Obama) is willing to go along with all this free-trade stuff," he said. "I'm the guy taking the union position on trade." Gibbs denied that Obama has taken a free-trade-no-matter-what position and said that the candidate has argued for fair trade agreements that are well-enforced. He also said Obama is opposed to gay marriage but would support civil unions. Keyes is far behind in the polls, which in some cases show him losing by a 2-1 ratio. In a testy exchange with reporters after his speech, he called polls "fictional premises" promulgated by media that will fabricate documents for a story. The comments came a day after CBS News admitted it could not verify the authenticity of documents it received and reported on that raised questions about President Bush's stateside service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War.