On the Scene: Word of Mouth

ALAN KEYES is on the campaign trail. Today he’s hitting Denver, then Indianapolis— both from the back seat of his hired Lincoln Town Car parked outside the Washington studios of National Empowerment Television. Keyes does the two talk shows from a portable phone; strewn beside him on the seat are a copy of Montaigne’s complete works (in French), a book of blessings and devotions by Pope John Paul, and the Bible. The Harvard-educated Keyes has a radio talk show of his own out of Baltimore. He is America’s first talk-radio presidential candidate, running a talk-radio campaign, doing what he does best: talk.

“You can engage in a high level of discussion,” he says. “People not only tolerate it, they seem to be hungry for it. On my show we’ve talked about the Constitution, we’ve talked about Locke’s Second Treatise, we’ve talked about all kinds of stuff. I think the normal look-down-your-nose-at-’em pundits and politicians would think, ‘Oh no, the American people can’t talk about that; they’re too stupid.’ No. Truth is, I think that a lot of the politicians and pundits are too stupid to deal with these issues.”

About the Author

Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review.

Featured Tags

Presidential Election

Radio

ALAN KEYES is on the campaign trail. Today he’s hitting Denver, then Indianapolis— both from the back seat of his hired Lincoln Town Car parked outside the Washington studios of National Empowerment Television. Keyes does the two talk shows from a portable phone; strewn beside him on the seat are a copy of Montaigne’s complete works (in French), a book of blessings and devotions by Pope John Paul, and the Bible. The Harvard-educated Keyes has a radio talk show of his own out of Baltimore. He is America’s first talk-radio presidential candidate, running a talk-radio campaign, doing what he does best: talk.

“You can engage in a high level of discussion,” he says. “People not only tolerate it, they seem to be hungry for it. On my show we’ve talked about the Constitution, we’ve talked about Locke’s Second Treatise, we’ve talked about all kinds of stuff. I think the normal look-down-your-nose-at-’em pundits and politicians would think, ‘Oh no, the American people can’t talk about that; they’re too stupid.’ No. Truth is, I think that a lot of the politicians and pundits are too stupid to deal with these issues.”