page_title: Alan Keyes
section_title: Media and advocacy
hierarchical_section_title: Alan Keyes / Media and advocacy
caption_attribution_description: Alan Keyes TV interview
context_page_description: Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, pundit, author and former ambassador.
  A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his diplomatic career in the U.S. Foreign Service in 1979 at the United States consulate in Mumbai, India, and later in the American embassy in Zimbabwe. Keyes was appointed Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations by President Ronald Reagan, and served as Reagan's Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 1985 to 1987; in his capacities as a U.N ambassador, Keyes was involved in the implementation of the Mexico City Policy.
  Keyes ran for President of the United States in 1996, 2000, and 2008. He was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Maryland against Paul Sarbanes in 1988 and Barbara Mikulski in 1992, as well as in Illinois against Barack Obama in 2004. Keyes lost all three elections by wide margins.
  Keyes hosted a radio call-in show, The Alan Keyes Show: America's Wake-Up Call, from 1994 until 1998 on WCBM. The show was briefly simulcast by National Empowerment Television.
context_section_description: Keyes has worked as a media commentator and talk show personality. In 1994, he began hosting a syndicated radio show called The Alan Keyes Show: America's Wake-Up Call for Radio America from Arlington, Virginia. The show became simulcast on cable's National Empowerment Television in 1997. Keyes also launched various web-based organizations—notably Renew America and the Declaration Foundation, both headquartered in Washington, D.C.
  Keyes has served on the board of advisors for the Catholic League, a non-profit, Catholic advocacy group headed by William A. Donohue. In 1997, he was quoted as calling in that capacity the ABC television show Nothing Sacred "propaganda dressed up as entertainment, the way the Nazis used to make movies. The entertainment elite's belief that there are no moral absolutes deeply contradicts the religious view of Christianity."
  In 2002, he hosted a live television commentary show, Alan Keyes Is Making Sense, on the MSNBC cable news channel. The network canceled the show in July, citing poor ratings. The cancellation triggered a currently ongoing boycott led by Jewish education website Mesora.org whose reach numbers more than 72,000 email subscribers. The show was unsympathetic to supporters of the al-Aqsa Intifadah—whom Keyes frequently debated on the program—and supported the Israeli crackdown on Palestinians. The show also featured critical discussion of homosexuality and of priests accused in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandals. The last episode was broadcast on June 27, 2002. As a result of Keyes's strong advocacy of Israel on his MSNBC show, in July 2002 the state of Israel awarded him a special honor "in appreciation of his journalistic endeavors and his integrity in reporting" and flew him in to meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
  In August 2003, Keyes came out in defense of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, citing both the U.S. Constitution and the Alabama constitution as sanctioning Moore's (and Alabama's) authority to publicly display the Ten Commandments in the state's judicial building, in defiance of a court order from U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson. Although the monument was ultimately removed by state authorities, the issue impelled Keyes to spend the next year advocating his understanding of the Constitution's protection of the right of states to display monuments that reflect the religious sentiments of the people in their states. As a result, he published an essay describing his rationale titled "On the establishment of religion: What the Constitution really says."
  In early 2005, Keyes sought to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case, arguing that Schiavo's life was protected by the Florida constitution, and that Governor Jeb Bush had final authority to determine the outcome of the case under state provisions. He attempted to meet with Bush to discuss the provisions of Florida law that authorized the governor to order Schiavo's feeding tubes reinserted—something Bush claimed he wished to do, but for which he said he lacked authority—but the governor declined to meet with Keyes. Keyes subsequently wrote an essay directed openly at Governor Bush titled "Judicial review and executive responsibility", days after Schiavo's feeding tube had been removed.
  Keyes appeared in the 2006 mockumentary film Borat as an unwitting interviewee of Borat Sagdiyev (a character portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen).
  In November 2006, Keyes criticized Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for instituting gay marriage entirely on his own—according to Keyes—with no requirement or authority to do so under Massachusetts law. Keyes said Romney's actions, which he suggested were due to a complete misunderstanding of his role as governor and of the limitations of the judicial branch of government, were not necessitated by a ruling of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in November 2003 that directed the state legislature to institute same-sex marriage. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial court had ruled that the state law banning same-sex marriage was not constitutional. The court gave the Massachusetts Legislatur
caption: Keyes being interviewed during a 2009 Tea Party rally in Indiana
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