Alan Keyes Leaves the Republican Party

What great news. Not only will Barack Obama have the opportunity to beat this nut again, but an Alan Keyes presidential campaign on the Constitution Party ticket would force John McCain to show his true colors by competing for the wacky fringe of the conservative spectrum. Imagine McCain trying to woo religious conservatives away from Keyes by assuring them that he is the candidate most strongly against gays, feminists and the ACLU.

The only down side to this story is that it marks the death of the Constitution Party as a refuge of anti-war paleoconservatives. The party was originally formed as a vehicle for Pat Buchanan to make a third party run in 1992, though he ultimately decided not to. The Buchanan Brigades must be horrified to see a neocon hawk like Keyes moving in to take over their party.

For those of you unfamiliar with Keyes, he's the candidate who wants to declare a "War on Pornography" and give African-Americans reparations for slavery in the form of a giant tax holiday. Keyes is also the creator of the "Draft Alan Keyes" web site.

Update: Amazingly, the Constitution Party came to its senses this afternoon and decided not to nominate Keyes as its presidential candidate. That honor will go to political unknown Chuck Baldwin. While it's always nice to see Alan Keyes humiliated, it looks like it will be up to Bob Barr to take ultra conservative votes away from McCain.