BOB BARR’S TAKING ADVICE FROM BEYONCE?
By Mande Wilkes
FITSNews – August 27, 2008 – Kind of like our “nontroversy of the week” stories, we’re delivering this bit of news with the antipathy it deserves.
It seems that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr has scheduled a September 30 visit to Charleston. In case you care, he’ll be addressing the Rotary Club. Like we said, we don’t really care … so since we’re already posting this anyway, we’ll use this opportunity to expound on why it is that we’re so disinterested.
Since Barr’s nomination, we’ve made it clear that we think he’s a curious choice for a Libertarian presidential candidate. But having had some time to mull it over, it doesn’t seem so curious after all. Our initial confusion stemmed from the fact that we didn’t understand the apparent significance of capitalization.
You see, it’s all about whether the first letter in “libertarian” is capitalized. If so, we’re referring to the Libertarian Party; if not, we’re talking about libertarianism as a political identity. Because, make no mistake, there is absolutely no relationship between the Libertarian Party and the libertarian philosophy. Color us shocked. Or not: The Democratic Party also has absolutely nothing to do with democracy, nor does the Republican Party care about the republic. Like we said, it’s all in the capitalization.
Anyway, Bob Barr simply sucks as a “libertarian” candidate … but he rocks as a “Libertarian” one. Take, for example, his appearance last night on The Colbert Report.
When asked whether his party had any interest in environmental issues, he declared that “global warming is a fact.” Umm … okay.
Barr didn’t elaborate as to whether or not he believes that it’s man-made. That’s kind of a convenient aspect to leave unaddressed, the benefit of which is the appearance of equivocation. Stating that climate change is “a fact” wins Barr some wiggle room with left-leaning voters unsatisfied with Barack Obama. Like crackerjack liberal writer Alexander Cockburn.
Incidentally, it seems like Barr’s Colbert cameo – and his campaign M.O. – was designed specifically to appeal to leftists.
After Barr declared with gusto the unqualified existence of global warming, Colbert pointed out that this marked a sharp change in position. Barr explained the “flip-flop” by name-dropping Al Gore, a gesture that can only be understood as a blatant hat-tip to liberals.
Apparently Barr has decided that the other side’s grass is greener … so to speak. The thing is, he might be right – at least inasmuch as disgruntled Hillacrats will defect to the libertarian candidate.
Oops…the “Libertarian” candidate.
By ScottieBoyFloaterFan August 27, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Regardless of how convincing the (L) candidate is each election, the one that always baffles me is how the avoidance of a debate with all the candidates.
Republicans and Democrats have roughly 20 debates each to whittle down to a final choice for each. THEN there is the nonstop media onslaught of permanent coverage of the Obama/Mccain campaign.
Why can’t we have one, or a few American Idol style debates where the public is asked, “Who do you want to see back in the next debate???”. Not “Who would you vote for today???”
There is NO substance to the argument that Obama and Mccain will not have time to get their ideas out if the third parties are there in the debates too. No one suffers from a lack of knowing what those two want to say to the world.
If you are enough ballots to win the presidency you should be in the first round of the debates. It is not easy or cheap to get onto the ballot in enough states to win the presidency. Just ask the Barr campaign with the third largest party mostly behind him.
I mean seriously, folks,
Scott~
IRV would also be nice!!! (Ranked Choice Voting = IRV)
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By Steve August 27, 2008 at 12:27 pm
libertarianism isn’t opposed to science. It does tend to favor private market solutions to government mandated ones. I believe Barr made this point on the Colbert show. I also find Bob Barr to be a curious choice for the Libertarian Party. But it is more Barr’s previous positions on marriage, the patriot act and religious tolerance rather the climate change that don’t make him an obvious Libertarian Candidate. Further adding to the curiosity is that the Georgia Libertarian Party worked actively to see Bob Barr defeated in his last run for Congress. So to have Bob Barr turn around and join the part 3 years later and make the philosophical changes that he has made from anti drug warrior to at least medical marijuana leagalizer is interesting
By Cliff August 27, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I think Barr is one of a few insiders who knows why the system dosen’t work, because he helped institute more than one or two of the policies he is now against. To me this gives him credibility over McCain and Obama because they both know that what they are calling is not going to help anything. They gave been preaching it for so long, though, they don’t dare change their approach, lest they be called a flip flopper. It takes guts to do what Barr did.
By Tim August 29, 2008 at 11:16 am
Barr’s been openly in favor of open borders since June. I’m so happy that I’ll get to vote against McCain. Do I really take the plunge and vote for the evilest of the evils or do I vote for Chuck Baldwin? At least Chuck would keep my conscience clear.
The Dem running against Lindsey is a full-blown Trojan Horse. The DNC kicked his ass to the curb—zero support. Therefore, I don’t feel bad at all about voting for him. He is officially philosophically to the right of Graham.
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