As politicians go, I alway had a soft spot for Alan Keyes. Over the years, I have been inclined to be forgiving on his weirder qualities and wrong-headed positions on certain issues.

I wanted to believe that here was finally a man who was serious about ideas. His flip flops on whether it was ethical for out-staters to run for the Senate (after denouncing Hillary for this sin) bothered me a bit as did his endorsement of reparations.....but I was still inclined to regard it as a matter of a glass half full. At least, I thought, Keyes would never play the seedy, and oh so predictable, game of pork barrel politics. Ah....ye of too much faith.

In a case of pandering to the farm lobby that would have done my fellow Minnesotan Hubert Humphrey proud, Keyes has risen to the defense of the Department of Agriculture. In 1996, he had called for abolition of that agency.

When a reporter pointed this out, Keyes denied that he had ever favored abolition. Finally, he admitted that he once had taken that position but explained that things were different now. Three years of"efficient" Republican rule of that agency have convinced him that it is providing a wonderful service.