Posted on 09/04/2008 11:11:56 AM PDT by mnehring
At a Republican convention that appears full of Sarah Palin fans, at least one prominent conservative doubts out loud that the Alaska governor is qualified to be John McCain ’s running mate.
But that lonely skeptic is not a Republican anymore.
Former Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, who accepted the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination in May, is in St. Paul making the rounds with the media and chatting with old friends like former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and former House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma.
Barr, 59, is perhaps best known for his role in the House impeachment of former President Bill Clinton in 1998. After serving in the House from 1995 to 2003, Barr left the GOP in 2006.
Barr said reports of a “cursory vetting process” for Palin “raise questions about the way McCain reached his decision.”
Noting that McCain is 72, Barr said he wonders whether Palin “has the experience – not just the superficial experience – to really size up” foreign policy issues.
Barr pointed to what he termed President Bush’s foreign policy inexperience when he took office, saying that Bush had a “very serious misinterpretation of Vladimir Putin when he first met him.” Bush famously said that he was able to “get a sense of his soul” when he met Russia’s then-president, who is now prime minister.
“It’s not something you gain by serving as mayor for a couple of years, or as governor for a couple of years,” Barr said.
Not that foreign policy experience is a strong suit for Barr’s own running mate, Wayne Allyn Root, a sports gambling handicapper, author, TV producer and small-business owner.
While Barr registers in the low single digits in national polls, his candidacy could potentially be a factor in some states if the fall contest between McCain and Democratic nominee Barack Obama is tight. Barr said he expects to be on the ballot every state, noting that he currently has lawsuits pending in Oklahoma and West Virginia with an aim of running in those states.
Mr. Barr please do us a favor, dig a deep hole and bury yourself in it.
Bob Barr’s hopes of getting more than .01 percent of the vote vanished when McCain chose Palin.
who?
After Barr finishes drawing votes away from McCain/Palin and thus helping Obama, will he be going back to work at the ACLU?
Bob Barf can go to hell!
Bob Barf can go to hell!
Well, Barr is a noise factor, but it does sound like his running mate has more executive experience than the Democratic Presidential candidate has.
The third party trolls here have been quiet..
Someone in the media needs to ask Gov Palin how significant the House class of ‘94 and Gingrich Cox and Barr were in forming her political philosophies.
Barr is nothing but a fruitcake. No one wants to listen to him anymore.
If anyone still doubts Palin’s vetting, they did not watch Sarah last night.
Barr needs to just STFU and go away to the obscurity that failed mentally unstable washed-up has-beens all deserve.
And all of you who still like Barr are welcome to join him.
Sarah Palin has made Barr completely irrelevant, thank heavens.
Okay. He could be helpful if you are trying to bet of the games this Saturday -- take USC -12???
Once upon a time, Bob Barr was a God on this board.
I’m not sayin’, I’m jes’ sayin’.
ass
Once upon a time, Barr wanted Slick Willie impeached. Now he’s just another 3rd party loser. Hey, where’s Ron Paul?
Someone should ask sellout Bob Barr how much time he spent "vetting" Wayne Allyn Root. Last time I checked, Root got the veep job at the LP convention because he dropped out of the Presidential race on the fourth ballot and threw his support to Barr, thus getting the V.P. nod in exchange. Barr's a former CIA official. Did you do ANY background checks on Root, Bob?
I would be happy to compare Root's credentials for Vice President to Palin's anytime. Palin has been Governor of a state bordering two major nations, Russia and Canada. What political experience does Root have to assure voters he can take command of the U.S. at a moment's notice?
He drastically changed his stripes from the Barr of Clinton Impeachment fame. He used to be a Conservative. He is now an ACLU pandering, Illegal Alien defending, opponent to Conservatives.
Once upon a time Benedict Arnold was a hero of the American Revolution with his victories in Canada and Saratoga, and one of George Washington's favorite subordinates.
Times change.
LLS
He drastically changed his stripes,,,,
Bob Barr is not improving with age, he is going down hill in a hurry.
If Bob Barr married Helen Thomas and they had a child, could you imagine what that kid would look like?
Times change, indeed. That’s all I was trying to point out. Bob Barr was as well-loved and appreciated on this board 10 years ago as Sarah Palin is today.
Again, jes’ sayin’.
As a Constitution Party supporter I'll offer a few thoughts. Palin's nomination emotionally enthuses conservatives who've left like myself. Not enough for me to throw reason out the window and vote Republican, but I'll admit that it takes the wind out of our sails for the moment. I notice the CP website has been silent, and that says both good things about Palin from their perspective, but also raises the question of why they should consider themselves relevant.
Chuck Baldwin (the CP candidate) needs to quickly and (re)establish just why conservatives should be supporting the Constitution Party. He needs to show how Palin falls short, but in a classy way that starkly contrasts with the media sleaze.
For example, as a conservative father of daughters, I'm disappointed with Bristol's pre-marital sex and pregnancy. (But I'm not alarmed at her 'teen pregnancy' because her being a teen-ager is not the issue - historically teen women getting married and pregnant has been practically the norm!)
My take is not that this is 'hypocrisy' or any of the other idiotic attacks the media and the left has been leveling. Instead it is a failure of Sarah and Todd Palin to PROTECT their children from the leftist, anti-Christian culture that permeates society. In other words, the problem is not with Palin's values, but that she didn't do _enough_ to uphold them in her own family.
In practical terms today that means turning off the TV, homeschooling, carefully choosing what books and magazines are in your home - creating your own culture and locking out the culture of decadence and immorality that Democratic constituencies champion.
And that, in a nutshell, illustrates why I think the CP is the real solution and the RP is a failure: because the CP is willing to reject liberal culture, while the RP tries to accomodate and endlessly compromise with it. The result is Bristol Palin and the unnecessary challenges she will face because of her parents failure.
Prov. 22:6 speaks the truth. But for parents who've acted surprised when they've watched children go 'astray' from their values, I have to challenge them: Did you consistently teach your values and beliefs? Or did you just spend an hour in church and have an occasional conversation while letting mainstream media, public schooling and dysfunctional peers have 90% of the influence over your kids? If the latter, they did not go 'astray' - you effectively trained them to go the way they went, your values to the contrary notwithstanding.
My $0.02.
Ha! That wimpy mustached little opportunist, Barr, and the completely unknown and undistinguished Baldwin should fold their tents and steal away into the foggy night!
Much to the chagrin of the liberal left, Governor Sarah Palin is the nova of this election. I only hope that McCain-Feingold, open border, global warming McCain will lend an willing ear and an open mind to her clear wisdom.
She is now the hope of the country!
Bob Barr you are still a damn Vietnam War protester to me, and; you damn sure used all the student deferments you could get. You make me ill.
Any A$$hole, who works for the ACLU and dares to call himself a conservative needs to be Zotted by the big Guy in the sky.
Rejection of liberal culture does not come from Washington DC. That is the major failure of the Constitution Party- they want to say I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.. Words, Reagan said are the scariest in the English language.
If I may challenge you on a point, I believe that the incursion of Liberal culture isn't because the government isn't doing anything, it is because Conservative started asking the government to fix it. That, my friend, is liberalism just as much as the breakdown of moral fibers. The Constitution Party (if you read some of John Lofton or Chuck Baldwin's writing, you'll see this), is the culmination of this liberal attitude- demanding the government fix culture.
The Constitution Party may agree with Conservatives on various issues, as does the Libertarian party, but the foundation of their principles is far from Conservative.
This is absolutely phenomenal. The more everyone talks about Palin (good or bad), the more oxygen is sucked out of the Messiah’s campaign.
And the more buzz that surrounds this woman, the more people will pay attention to her (like last night), and more people will support the McCain/Palin ticket once they find out she speaks for ordinary people.
The RNC did a phenomenal job sucking the wind out of the two windbags last night. Rudy and Palin were a one-two punch that had them reeling.
And everyone had fun. It wasn’t a DNC style funeral dirge night on the eve of the apocalypse.
The only addition to what you said is that McCain/Palin also deprives oxygen from: Alan Keyes, from the Constitution Party, and from the Libertarian Party. That’s, like, 2000 additional votes combined that will now be going to McCain/Palin (unless McCain/Palin truly “blows it” between now and November 4, and I truly hope not!).
I like Barr, but he needs to shut it down. Palin has somewhat of a Libertarian streak and a real opportunity to unite this with the RP. What a blessing!
Once upon a time, Bob Barr was a conservative. If Bob Barr c. 1998 were to run for President, I'd support him in a heartbeat. The Losertarian sellout currently running for President bears no resemblance to the conservative warrior who impeached Clinton. I didn't change my views, Barr changed his.
I will NOT support a candidate who believes in gay marriage, continuing the status quo on abortion, and immediate withdrawal from Iraq (not to mention he's running to the LEFT of McCain on Gorebull warming and denounced McCain for not worshiping Al Gore's latest speech) It's sad to see Barr destroy his legacy by selling his soul to the very party that threw him out of office (namely, the Losertarians)
You want to see someone who was once a God on FR, didn't sellout on ANY of his conservative policies from earlier in his career, and was never-the-less back-stabbed and betrayed by freepers, check out Mike Huckabee's 2008 primary campaign. I'm just sayin'.
I haven't gotten that from the CP. On the contrary they want to dramatically shrink government and get it out of the way. I would think this is clear from the CP website and platform - that they do not think they can push an agenda using government, but instead want to stop others from using government to push their agendas. So I really don't understand where you are coming from in accusing the CP in that way.
I've read Baldwin's email newsletter for years, and I don't agree that he thinks government can be used to fix culture. I think he agrees with the biblical position that government exists to execute justice on evildoers and protect citizens from injustice (including foreign invasion). We can't make the culture more moral from a top-down effort, but we can establish laws and enforce them to protect people from criminal immorality; too often we don't even do that any more.
If you could give some examples of how you think the CP is activist - that it thinks it can or should use government as a tool to accomplish any agenda beyond basic justice - I would be sincerely interested. That's just not the CP as I perceive it.
I entirely agree. What I was trying to do, perhaps clumsily, is explain how Palin's approach to family challenges reflects the Republican party (and mainstream conservatism) failure in dealing with the growth and corruption of federal government.
Wake me up when the Constitution Party wins a real election.
And wake ME up when a Republican party conservative politician actually moves government in a net conservative direction - as opposed to just enacting liberalism at a slightly slower pace than their opposition.
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Barr might indeed lose votes. With the Palin nomination, the Libertarian party ticket will go from 0.6% to 0.5% of the popular vote. :)
In his home state, Barr is best known for dumping his second wife, Gail, and their two young children just before Thanksgiving in 1986 in order to hook up with his eventual third wife. Barr was a co-sponsor of The Defense of Marriage Act. Bob, exactly which marriage of yours were you defending?
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