Free Republic

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr praised Al Gore, who challenged the United States Thursday to run on 100 percent zero-carbon electricity within 10 years. Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia who attended the former vice president’s Washington, D.C., speech Thursday, said Gore’s plan “makes sense.” “America responds well to challenges, if it is laid out, if it’s in terms that people can understand and relate to, if it makes sense – and what he’s laid out makes sense,” Barr said in an interview with Cybercast News Service after Gore spoke. In a speech at the Daughters...

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr praised Al Gore on Thursday for his commitment to addressing climate change and said he has met with the former vice president several times to discuss possible solutions. In a speech Thursday at Constitution Hall in Washington, Gore said that he has also discussed climate change with presidential candidates Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Both McCain and Obama believe that action needs to be taken on global warming and have separately criticized the Bush administration for its approach on the issue. Barr said he believes the most effective energy solution will...

The judiciary is becoming an important election issue. John McCain is warning conservatives that control of today's finely balanced Supreme Court depends on his election. Unfortunately, his jurisprudence is likely to be anything but conservative. The idea of a "living Constitution" long has been popular on the political left. Conservatives routinely dismiss such result-oriented justice, denouncing "judicial activism" and proclaiming their fidelity to "original intent." However, many Republicans, like Mr. McCain, are just as result-oriented as their Democratic opponents. They only disagree over the result desired. Judge-made rights are wrong because there is no constitutional warrant behind them. The Constitution...

A WATCH list of suspected and known terrorists, compiled by the US authorities, has ballooned and contains more than one million names, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said today. The ACLU said it derived the figure from a Justice Department report on the FBI's Terrorist Screening Centre, which consolidates terrorist watch list information. The centre "had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007 and that the list was growing by an average of over 20,000 records per month", according to a report by the Justice Department Inspector-General, the rights group said. "By those numbers, the list...

Great post at Protein Wisdom pointing out the contrast between the rhetoric of “domestic spying” and the reality of FISA–that tapped phones on international calls can save lives, stop terrorists, and rescue hostages: The stunning rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors owed its success not just to artful deception, but also to a five-year U.S.-Colombian operation that choked their captors’ ability to communicate. Known as “Alliance,” it began with a satellite phone call in 2003, just weeks after the Americans’ surveillance plane crashed in the southern Colombian jungle, according to U.S. and Colombian investigators and court documents....

Texas' Defending the American Dream summit will include topics for bloggers. Move over, Netroots Nation: The conservatives are coming. As an estimated 3,000 people, mostly liberal bloggers and online activists, convene in Austin next week, the Texas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots organization that champions limited government and free markets, has added for the first time a new-media emphasis to its traditional Defending the American Dream state summit. "We're not trying to go toe-to-toe with Netroots," said Peggy Venable, Texas director of Americans for Prosperity, noting that the conservative meeting might be one-tenth the size of the Netroots...

Libertarians Favor Obama and Other Looks at Election 2008 Libertarian voters make up 4% of the nation’s likely voters and they favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a 53% to 38% margin. Three percent (3%) would vote for some other candidate and 5% are not sure. These results, from an analysis of 15,000 Likely Voter interviews conducted by Rasmussen Reports, challenges the conventional wisdom which assumes that strong support for a Libertarian candidate would hurt John McCain.

"Rep. Barr and the ACLU disagree on many other issues, but we have no doubt that a strange bedfellows collaboration between us will yield great things for informational and data privacy rights," said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said that Barr's agreement to work with the ACLU "demonstrates how deeply concerns about personal privacy cut across partisan lines." He noted that the ACLU has "no permanent friendsand no permanent enemies, just permanent values." "We look forward to working with Congressman Barr in our fight to protect data and information privacy,"...

All part of his daring master plan to make his name as widely reviled among the right as Ralph Nader’s is among the left. Polls in Georgia and North Carolina over the last two weeks show Mr. Barr winning 8 percent and 6 percent respectively of the presidential vote, and in both cases helping keep likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama within striking distance of Mr. McCain in those states — which, taken together, account for more electoral votes than Florida, Pennsylvania or Ohio… [InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt] Towery said North Carolina and Georgia are exactly the places that Mr....

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr tells the Brody File that when it comes to judges John McCain cannot be trusted. Basically what he is saying is that voters shouldn’t just accept the line that McCain will nominate judges like Roberts and Alito. Watch above [link in post #2]. Read below. Bob Barr: “I know that many conservatives for example say well we have to vote for McCain even though we don’t like him because he’ll give us better judges. Well, ask people to think a little bit about what they’re saying. John McCain gave us McCain/Feingold which is the most...

The ACLU urges Senators to reject legislation that eviscerates the oversight structure of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Last night, the Senate voted to begin consideration of FISA legislation, although the timing of votes on the legislation is not clear. Last week, the House of Representatives passed an the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 6304) that not only allows for the wide, sweeping collection of Americans' communications, but also grants immunity to telecommunications companies for their role in domestic spying. The ACLU vehemently opposes this bill. "Moving forward on this terrible bill is disappointing to say the least,"...

For conservatives unhappy with McCain as our candidate, I’ve heard a few mention Bob Barr as an alternative for their protest votes. Make sure you know who your voting for before you do so, and make sure if your protest is that of principle that you share the same principles with whom you pull the lever for. For some conservatives, Bob Barr’s teamwork with the ACLU to fight against the Patriot Act and the NSA’s terrorist surveillance program is enough to drop consideration. He has also sided with the ACLU on the immigration issue, opposing local law enforcement from helping...

The ACLU is threatening to sue the U.S. Naval Academy because they say prayers before lunch.

The Talk Shows Sunday, June 29th, 2008 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; former Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Bob Barr, Libertarian presidential candidate.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., Dave Freudenthal, D-Wyo., and Bill Ritter, D-Colo.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; retired Gen. Wesley Clark.THIS WEEK (ABC): Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; Ralph Nader, independent presidential candidate.LATE EDITION (CNN) : U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Govs. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and Bobby Jindal, R-La.; Terry McAuliffe, campaign...

He has been called a spoiler. A would-be Ralph Nader. A thorn in the side of Senator John McCain and the Republican establishment. None of it bothers Bob Barr, the former Republican congressman from Georgia turned Libertarian Party candidate for president, who gleefully recounted what he says a group of Republicans told him at a recent meeting in Washington: Don’t run. “ ‘Well, gee, you might take votes from Senator McCain,’ ” Mr. Barr said this week, mimicking one of the complainers, as he sat sipping Coca-Cola in his plush corner office, 12 stories above Atlanta. “They all said, ‘Look,...

ACLU tries to halt mealtime prayer at Naval Academy By Josh Mitchell | Sun reporter 8:09 PM EDT, June 25, 2008 A national civil liberties group is renewing a push to end mealtime prayer at the U.S. Naval Academy, where a group of midshipmen recently complained to officials that they felt pressured to participate in the longtime practice. The tradition, believed to date back to the college's founding in 1845, now involves a chaplain's leading grace before a noon meal that all 4,200 midshipmen must attend at King Hall. Midshipmen are not required to pray, though they must stand during...

Barack Obama's campaign manager said former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, running for president on the Libertarian line, could play a crucial role in winning Obama the presidency. He said Barr could play a particularly large role in two states: Alaska and Georgia. Alaska is "one of the states where we think Barr can get 6,7, 8 percent," Plouffe said. "Barr will get some votes [in Georgia,. If barr were to get two percent in most states, our belief is he’ll get four percent here, most of it coming out of McCain’s hide."

John McCain's trailing Barack Obama in new poll by quite a solid margin. Is the presence of libertarian candidate Bob Barr in the election only adding to that deficit? Watch tonight, 7 and 9 ET.

Bob Barr "very serious" about running as Libertarian By: SGT News | Submitted on: 04/03/08 SOUTHERN ARIZONA (SGT NEWS) - Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr will likely announce this weekend that he intends to run for the presidency under the Libertarian Party ticket, and plans to mimic the small government and Constitutional principles that Republican Ron Paul focused on earlier in the campaign season. “Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of that dissatisfaction and that awareness. Unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement,” Barr said of Paul....

Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia has accepted a presidential nomination from the nation's third-largest political party and GOP officials say that could mean trouble for their party in the fall election. The Libertarian Party has selected Barr, also a former federal prosecutor, as their candidate, and Republicans think he could siphon off votes from their party's presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Though is bid is definitely a long shot, Barr - who made a name for himself in leading the U.S. House's impeachment of President Bill Clinton - could exploit unease felt by traditional conservatives leery...

You read that right. The leader of the Bill Clinton Impeachment Team in the House says Bush is SO much worse than Clinton ever was. Check it out in this fascinating MobLogic.tv video. Barr also talks about the history of his mustache, civil liberties, privacy and other important topics. (video link- http://www.moblogic.tv/video/2008/06/20/bob-barr/)

While most Republicans are likely to consider Rep. Ron Paul of Texas a mere pest, his devoted followers could be a problem for Sen. John McCain in November. Paul, the GOP congressman with the squeaky voice but with a following of vocal supporters, will not go away. He's suspended his presidential campaign but his crusade goes on. Paul got into the presidential race with no chance of winning. But his opposition to the war in Iraq, his isolationist foreign policy, and his leave-us-alone views on the domestic front won him faithful supporters during the debates earlier this year. Based on...

An official Declaration of War has been introduced by U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), along with eight of his colleagues in the House. "Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (that) pursuant to Article 1, section 8 of the United States Constitution, the Congress hereby declares that a state of war exists," a draft of the resolution states. Co-sponsoring Rep. Virgil Goode (I-Va.) explained his support for the measure. "I firmly believe that, if we don't stop them now, they will come after us again,...

Upon hearing that Rep. Ron Paul has ended his campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination, Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president, issued the following statement: "Congressman Ron Paul has fought tirelessly in both the Libertarian Party and the Republican Party to minimize government power and maximize individual liberty. I want to thank him for all that he has done for liberty in this nation, and encourage him to continue his fight through whatever avenues he sees fit." Barr represented the 7th District ofGeorgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, where he served as...

AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Ron Paul ended his rebel campaign Thursday night and announced a new effort to help elect libertarian-leaning Republicans to public office around the country. "With the primary season now over, the presidential campaign is at an end. But the larger campaign for freedom is just getting started," Paul told supporters in a letter posted on the website of the new group, Campaign for Liberty. "We will be a permanent presence on the American political landscape," added Paul, who announced his move during a rally coinciding with the Texas GOP State Convention in Houston. "That I promise...

From Barr 2008: Washington is filled with rumors of pending American or Israeli military action against Iran, says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for President. But “an attack on Iran would be unnecessary, counterproductive, costly and dangerous,” he warns. Our own intelligence services tell us that Iran is not actively working to build a nuclear bomb and is years away from having nuclear weapons capability. “There is no imminent threat, and only an imminent threat can ever justify a preemptive strike,” insists Barr. “The tragedy in Iraq demonstrates the counterproductive consequences of initiating war without any compelling justification.” Although...

Civil-Liberties Group Announces $335-Million Drive The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday announced a campaign to raise $335-million, far more than it has sought before in a single drive, according to the Associated Press. The campaign will focus on raising money to expand the organization’s work in Florida, Texas, and other places where the New York group is not as established. “The purpose is to build a civil-liberties infrastructure in the middle of the country — where battleground states are often under-resourced and our efforts are most needed,” said Anthony Romero, the civil-rights group’s executive director. The organization has already...

Ron Paul plans his own convention By David Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Maverick GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has booked an arena in Minneapolis for a "mini-convention" that could steal some of John McCain's thunder just days before he accepts the Republican nomination. A Paul campaign aide said the Texas congressman hopes to pack about 11,000 supporters into the Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 2, which coincides with the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in neighboring St. Paul.

According to the video below, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey has said that “many Republicans will vote for Libertarian candidates in House races.” The Washington Times is reporting that former House Whip Tom DeLay’s wife plans to pull the Bob Barr lever on Election Day: Tom DeLay will vote for John McCain but the former House Republican leader said his wife, Christine, is planning to vote for Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr. “I’m trying to convince my wife not to do that,” the Texas Republican told editors and reporters at The Washington Times on Friday. “She said it publicly...

In case you are interested. Of Course there is a Part 2 and 3.

Ousted Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., is heading over to the American Civil Liberties Union to work on informational and data privacy issues, the organization announced Monday. The firebrand conservative -- a gun rights advocate, anti-gay rights activist and prosecutor in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton -- told Fox News on Tuesday that the collaboration is not as strange as it might appear at first blush. "We have actually worked very closely with conservative groups and with the ACLU on a number of issues over the last few years, very successfully in stopping some of the government snooping programs,"...

Bob Barr appeared on Glenn Beck’s CNN/Headline News program last night for a discussion about energy independence [link to video in post #2]. Barr will be back tonight for an hour-long interview.

On Tuesday, June 10, 10:30 a.m., Bob Barr will be holding a press conference at the West-Side Terrace of the House Canon Office Building. The title of the conference is “Time to Talk with Iran.” Thus far, Bob Barr’s press statements have largely reflected general libertarian principles, even as they have conflicted with statements the former congressman made before winning the LP nomination. Most Libertarians hope that Barr’s opinion on Iran has changed, as well. IPR contributor Tom Knapp posted the following excerpt of a Barr statement on Iran from late last year: Should Washington simply sit back and leave...

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., June 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr has published an op-ed in todays Wall Street Journal calling for the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," the policy which prohibits gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Barr, who was a member of Congress from 1995 to 2003, opposes same-sex marriage as well as efforts to classify gays and lesbians as members of a constitutionally protected minority class. On the gays-in-the-military issue, however, Barr feels differently. In the Wall Street Journal op-ed, he argued that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in...

The circus is back in town. Every two years, as we roll around to another grand Olympics of federal, state and local elections, the hopper in Congress begins to fill up with dangerous and unnecessary amendments to our U.S. Constitution. Few, if any, are for "great or extraordinary occasions," the bar James Madison set for changing our Founding document. In fact, most are either one of two things: a cheap ploy to get votes or an attempt to steamroll through right- or left-wing social policies -- think gun control or marriage -- that have been unable to get any traction...

The political right and left in America share one unfortunate habit. When they don't get their way in courts of law or state legislatures they immediately seek to undercut all opposition by proposing an amendment to the Constitution. As they say, bad habits die hard. Apparently White House lawyers and the Senate Judiciary Committee are currently examining the merits of a constitutional amendment, pending in the House of Representatives, to deny any and all "legal incidents" of marriage (in layman's terms, any of the hundreds of legal benefits and obligations of the legal institution of marriage) to all unmarried couples,...

All part of his daring master plan to make his name as widely reviled among the right as Ralph Nader’s is among the left. Polls in Georgia and North Carolina over the last two weeks show Mr. Barr winning 8 percent and 6 percent respectively of the presidential vote, and in both cases helping keep likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama within striking distance of Mr. McCain in those states — which, taken together, account for more electoral votes than Florida, Pennsylvania or Ohio… [InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt] Towery said North Carolina and Georgia are exactly the places that Mr....

Atlanta, GA — John McCain and Barack Obama are playing a petty game of “gotcha” while Iraqis demonstrate against the Bush administration’s plan to create long-term, if not permanent, bases in Iraq. “The next president should commit to a speedy and complete withdrawal from Iraq,” argues Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president, “and tell the Iraqi people that the U.S. troops will be going home.” It is “no knock against America’s brave fighting men and women to admit that the war and subsequent occupation was a mistake and has been badly mismanaged,” he adds. The next president must...

Watch for him on Wednesday, June 4, when he will appear on “The Colbert Report,” which airs at 11:30 EDT on Comedy Central. Thursday, June 5, he will appear on “The Glenn Beck Program” on CNN Headline at 7:00 EDT. Glenn Beck has had him on several times over the past few weeks and has devoted the full hour-long broadcast exclusively to Bob. He will also appear on “Night Talk” with Mike Schneider on Bloomberg Television later Thursday evening at 10:00.

Bob Barr's Libertarian presidential campaign is poised to play a serious role in this year's elections, with early polls showing him taking away enough votes from Sen. John McCain to give Democrats a chance to win states that should be safely Republican.

So maybe it isn’t very “live and let live” for libertarians to assemble en masse in the hopes of exerting power. But some libertarians, feeling a little heady after their party’s national convention last weekend, are making a bold claim: this is the year their voting bloc will hold some serious sway in American politics. “We are in the beginning of a libertarian moment,” said Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason, the libertarian monthly. Meeting in Denver, the Libertarian Party chose as its new standard-bearer Bob Barr, the former four-term Republican congressman from Georgia who has already been branded a spoiler...

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit seeking to force Denver officials to reveal what type of police equipment they're buying for the Democratic National Convention in August. The suit was filed on Wednesday in Denver District Court. Citing state open-records laws, it asks for budget and spending information dating from January 2007, when the city was chosen as the site of the convention. City officials have declined to release many details, citing security concerns. Denver and St. Paul, Minn., site of the Republican National Convention, will each get up to $50 million from the federal government for...

Barr is in, his running mate Root is a man on fire, and this will hurt Obama. I hear my Republican and conservative friends’ jaws dropping. Come on guys. Get your chins off the floor and let me explain. ... Singe-issue Democrats will defect where as single-issue Republicans won't. Pair this draining of votes with the Nader factor, and the electoral shift hits the Obama fan.

Law Enforcement: The ACLU says police who enforce immigration law are "terrorizing communities." Seeing cops as terrorists is the tip of the iceberg of the group's radical ideology.The Cybercast News Service reports that ACLU legislative counsel Joanne Lin, speaking May 19 in Washington, declared that "local law enforcement has been given the green light to engage in racial profiling." Lin also reportedly added: "Massive immigration sweeps are terrorizing communities across the country, including those who are U.S. citizens, permanent residents and other lawful workers." Those who thought the 9/11 terrorist attacks would keep the hard-left shy in expressing contempt for...

What happened The Libertarian Party nominated former Republican Rep. Bob Barr (Ga.) as its 2008 presidential candidate at the Libertarian convention in Denver over the weekend. The party is already on the ballot in 28 states, and Barr said he will get on the ballot in at least 20 more. National polls put his support as high as 7 percent, but Barr said he is "in this to win,” not be “a spoiler.” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) What the commentators said Libertarians are touting the Barr-led ticket as their strongest yet, said Andrew Malcolm in the Los Angeles Times’ Top of...

For conservatives unhappy with McCain as our candidate, I've heard a few mention Bob Barr as an alternative for their protest votes. Make sure you know who your voting for before you do so, and make sure if your protest is that of principle that you share the same principles with whom you pull the lever for. For some conservatives, Bob Barr's teamwork with the ACLU to fight against the Patriot Act and the NSA's terrorist surveillance program is enough to drop consideration. He has also sided with the ACLU on the immigration issue, opposing local law enforcement from helping...

Controversial Memorial Day Display Comes To Sac Video Report (Sacramento, CA) Hundreds of thousands of flags now dot the grass near the Capitol in Sacramento in a Memorial Day display that allowed only after the ACLU argued in it's favor in court. Lori Wallace reports.

(CNN) – Former Rep. Bob Barr, the newly-selected Libertarian presidential nominee, rejected suggestions Monday that he could spoil his former party's chances of holding onto the White House. "There are two folks that are out to spoil the race here — it's Senator Obama and Senator McCain. They're setting out, I think, to spoil our chances," he told CNN's "American Morning." He added, "There are millions of voters out there that are not going to vote for Senator McCain, and we aim to reach those voters with the message of smaller government and more individual liberty." For years, Barr was...

Former Congressman plans to take the White House as Libertarian candidate Denver - The Libertarian Party has nominated former Congressman Bob Barr as its candidate for president for the 2008 election. "I'm sure will we emerge here with the strongest ticket in the history of the Libertarian Party," Barr stated in his victory speech shortly after being selected as the Party's nominee. "I want everybody to remember that we only have 163 days to win this election. We cannot waste one single day." More than 650 Libertarian delegates met in Denver from May 22 till the 26 for the 2008...

The results on the 1st 3 ballots 1st Ballot Total Votes 631 Bob Barr 153 Mary Ruwart 152 Wayne Allen Root 123 Mike Gravel 71 George Phillies 49 Steve Kubby 41 Michael Jingozian 23 (Eliminated) Christine Smith 6 (Eliminated) Write-In's Ron Paul 10 None of the Above 2 2nd Ballot Total votes 630 Bob Barr 188 33% Mary Ruwart 162 Wayne Allen Root 138 Mike Gravel 73 George Phillies 36 Steve Kubby 32 (Eliminated) None of the above 1 3rd Ballot Total Votes 629 Bob Barr 186 Mary Ruwart 186 Wayne Allen Root 146 Mike Gravel 78 George Phillies 31...