In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
GOP cheers Heston on campaign swing despite health
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
GOP cheers Heston on campaign swing despite health questions
By GARRY MITCHELL
The Associated Press
9/20/02 12:24 PM
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- Republican candidates cheered actor and conservative activist Charlton Heston as he cracked jokes and plugged the GOP in a brief speech Friday, part of a campaign swing that underlined his political commitment despite concerns over his health.
Heston, 78, president of the National Rifle Association, announced six weeks ago that he had been diagnosed with symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.
After the breakfast fund-raiser in Mobile, his Alabama itinerary included stops at public rallies in Oxford and Huntsville.
Walking slowly but unassisted to the podium, Heston spoke softly but emphasized his punch lines. He joked about the "Ben-Hur" role that won him an Oscar in 1959, saying he was told by his chariot-driving teacher in Italy to just "stay in the chariot, I'll guarantee you're going to win the damn race. And I did."
As for the Nov. 5 election, Heston said the outcome rests with the state Republicans, "because I'll be back home."
"You understand how important it is to win this election," Heston said. "We need to elect good leaders this year."
Heston spoke only for a few minutes, reading from a file card when talking about the Alabama campaign. When he finished, he departed the room to head to his other stops.
U.S. Rep. Bob Riley, R-Ashland, who opposes Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman in the governor's race, said Heston is "one of the unique people I've ever met, who can walk into a room and make it stand still."
He said Heston still has the "magnetism," despite the threat of Alzheimer's.
Heston has said he's trying to maintain a full schedule, but Sessions' campaign manager, Chuck Spurlock, said this trip may be the last time the public will see Heston in Alabama.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, running for re-election against Democrat Susan Parker, told Heston, "You have won the real race of life. You did not choose to sit on the sidelines and watch it."
Heston has been active in political causes since the early 1960s and was last in Mobile in 1996 campaigning for Sessions.
The $100-a-plate breakfast at the Adam's Mark Hotel drew 250 people, with funds going to the Alabama Republican Party. Heston and several GOP candidates at the top of the ticket, including Attorney General Bill Pryor, were traveling in two chartered jets.
Heston left the hotel in a van to the airport without contact with reporters.
http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?j2700_BC_AL-Heston-AlabamaGOP&&news&newsflash-al
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By GARRY MITCHELL
The Associated Press
9/20/02 12:24 PM
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- Republican candidates cheered actor and conservative activist Charlton Heston as he cracked jokes and plugged the GOP in a brief speech Friday, part of a campaign swing that underlined his political commitment despite concerns over his health.
Heston, 78, president of the National Rifle Association, announced six weeks ago that he had been diagnosed with symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.
After the breakfast fund-raiser in Mobile, his Alabama itinerary included stops at public rallies in Oxford and Huntsville.
Walking slowly but unassisted to the podium, Heston spoke softly but emphasized his punch lines. He joked about the "Ben-Hur" role that won him an Oscar in 1959, saying he was told by his chariot-driving teacher in Italy to just "stay in the chariot, I'll guarantee you're going to win the damn race. And I did."
As for the Nov. 5 election, Heston said the outcome rests with the state Republicans, "because I'll be back home."
"You understand how important it is to win this election," Heston said. "We need to elect good leaders this year."
Heston spoke only for a few minutes, reading from a file card when talking about the Alabama campaign. When he finished, he departed the room to head to his other stops.
U.S. Rep. Bob Riley, R-Ashland, who opposes Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman in the governor's race, said Heston is "one of the unique people I've ever met, who can walk into a room and make it stand still."
He said Heston still has the "magnetism," despite the threat of Alzheimer's.
Heston has said he's trying to maintain a full schedule, but Sessions' campaign manager, Chuck Spurlock, said this trip may be the last time the public will see Heston in Alabama.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, running for re-election against Democrat Susan Parker, told Heston, "You have won the real race of life. You did not choose to sit on the sidelines and watch it."
Heston has been active in political causes since the early 1960s and was last in Mobile in 1996 campaigning for Sessions.
The $100-a-plate breakfast at the Adam's Mark Hotel drew 250 people, with funds going to the Alabama Republican Party. Heston and several GOP candidates at the top of the ticket, including Attorney General Bill Pryor, were traveling in two chartered jets.
Heston left the hotel in a van to the airport without contact with reporters.
http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?j2700_BC_AL-Heston-AlabamaGOP&&news&newsflash-al
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878