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Bob Barr just can't seem to get a break. The Libertarian presidential candidate was hoping to stand in tonight as Republican nominee John McCain's replacement in the debate with Democratic nominee Barack Obama. But now that McCain has announced that he will participate in the debate at the University of Mississippi after all, Barr will have to be content once again to simply stand in the wings complaining that he ought to be included as well. There was, however, some good news for Barr this week. The National Taxpayer's Union put out an analysis of each presidential candidate's spending agenda...

Yesterday, Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr announced that he was filing a lawsuit against the Texas Secretary of State, proclaiming that since John McCain and Barack Obama had both missed the candidacy filing deadline under Texas law 192.031, both were ineligible and both should be knocked off of the ballot. Obviously, in a state with 34 electoral votes (and a state where John McCain leads by 21 points), this is big news. However, there are some inconsistencies in Barr’s case that should be hammered out.

Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr’s campaign filed suit Tuesday seeking to remove Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama from the ballot in Texas, alleging that the two major candidates missed the deadline for officially filing to be on the ballot. The lawsuit by the former Republican congressman from Georgia claims that neither McCain nor Obama met the requirement of Texas law that all candidates provide “written certification” of their nomination “before 5 p.m. on the 70th day before election day” because neither had been formally nominated by their respective parties in time. That would have been Aug. 25. Obama...

Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr’s campaign filed suit Tuesday seeking to remove Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama from the ballot in Texas, alleging that the two major candidates missed the deadline for officially filing to be on the ballot. The lawsuit by the former Republican congressman from Georgia claims that neither McCain nor Obama met the requirement of Texas law that all candidates provide “written certification” of their nomination “before 5 p.m. on the 70th day before election day,” because neither had been formally nominated by their respective parties in time. The suit was filed in the Texas...

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...

Bob Barr saying that Gov. Palin is another Eagleton.

While Zogby has McCain up by two today in a post-Palin bounce, there is one ominous line and statistic in the article: "Still, storm clouds remain on the horizon for the Republicans, a four-way horserace contest between McCain, Obama, Libertarian Bob Barr and liberal independent Ralph Nader shows....." ********** BARR: TOTAL: 5% DEMS: 2% GOPers: 4% INDIES: 11%

Enter Sarah Palin, a lifetime member of the NRA and now the Republican nominee for Vice President. She is well known in conservative circles for her staunch support of gun rights. Certainly selecting her is reassuring to the NRA. While I'm not suggesting that the NRA's endorsement of a Presidential candidate was the only factor in McCain picking Palin, the mere possibility that they might have endorsed Barr very well could be a much bigger factor than the mainstream media and the Republican Party will ever admit. Could it be that he's courting the NRA to make sure that they...

ATLANTA – Bob Barr, a former Georgia congressman and the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president, responds to concerns that he’ll siphon votes from Republican John McCain. “The fact of the matter is the Republican Party has problems that go far deeper than Bob Barr,” he said. Barr is fundraising in Georgia over the weekend. “Our goal is to impede the chances to be president for both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama,” Barr added. Barr is one of two former Georgia congressional representatives running on third party tickets. Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party’s presidential nominee.

A majority of voters say Libertarian Bob Barr, a potential spoiler for Republican John McCain's presidential hopes, should be included in the three presidential debates scheduled in the fall between Barack Obama and Mr. McCain, a recent Zogby poll says.... The online poll of 3,339 likely voters found that 55 percent of voters nationwide - including 50 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of independents and 52 percent of Democrats - want Mr. Barr, a Republican turned Libertarian, to participate in presidential debates... Mr. Barr is sensitive to allegations that he is playing the same spoiler role for Republicans that...

“The Saakashvili government in Georgia made a foolish mistake by initiating hostilities in its breakaway province of South Ossetia,� says Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr in a press release entitled No Foreign Aid for Georgian War. “American taxpayers should not have to pay for that mistake. After all, they already are paying $10 billion a month for the administration’s mistaken invasion and occupation of Iraq. They cannot afford to pay the price for other people’s wars as well.� In response to the press release, Liberty Maven says: It is comforting to know that Barr is quick to point out...

On Friday, August 15, the Bob Barr campaign attempted to have the Secretary of State authorize local clerks accept late filings of signatures. Don Cookson of the Secretary of State’s office indicated that there is no provision to authorize such a late filing. The signatures filed by the August 8 deadline amounted to 3,200, short of the 4,000 valid signatures required. The Libertarian Party is expected to go to court to force the state to accept the late signatures.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts announced today it is suing the Secretary of State's office for refusing to put Libertarian Bob Barr on the presidential ballot in November.

A new program by the U.S. Department of Justice targeting Muslim men of Arab descent for surveillance is unconstitutional, civil rights groups say. The new terrorist profile, set to be unveiled as early as this week, is meant to keep tabs on such men who frequently travel abroad and maintain extensive international contacts, the Detroit News reported Monday. Under the measure, the men may be subject not only to stops at the U.S.-Canadian border, but also to wider investigations that could include electronic surveillance and detentions, whether or not they are suspected of wrongdoing, the newspaper said. What is dangerous...

In 1992, I was a conservative, Republican college student fighting for George H. W. Bush's re-election. I could not understand how he was losing after being so popular during the Iraq war. Sure, he had gone back on the whole "Read my lips" thing, but hey, what politican didn't break his word once in a while. Then, I spoke to my grandfather, a seaman in the navy during World War II and a blue collar Republican his whole life. He told me he was voting for Perot. I was shocked and dismayed. I tried everything I could think of to...

Homeland Security: Forced to defend its growing terrorist watch list, the FBI let slip a chilling fact that should silence ACLU grumblers: America is teeming with 20,000 terrorists.After 9/11, federal authorities estimated that as many as 5,000 terrorists were living in the U.S. The new figure is jarring not only because it's four times as large but because it's based on real persons, not estimates. It's not something headquarters wanted to publicize. Officials had downplayed the threat so as not to spook the public. The spin had been that Britain has the homegrown problem, not us. But that was before...

Bob Barr, the U.S. presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, said the Bush administration's diplomatic engagement with Iran is "long overdue." Iran appears to be years away from possessing nuclear weapons, giving time for diplomacy to work, Barr said in a release. He said that war with Iran would be a disaster. "American troops in Iraq would be at risk. U.S. citizens would be targeted for terrorist acts," he said. "Tehran could retaliate against Israel. Oil shipments would be disrupted, causing energy prices to soar even higher. Allied states in the Persian Gulf would be vulnerable to attack. Chances for...

My reasons for leaving the Party that I’ve felt at home in since I became politically aware are numerous. I will start with quoting countless conservatives who feel as I do - I didn’t so much leave the Republican Party, it was the Party that left me. The elected Republican officials failed to implement a conservative agenda, despite having the Presidency and both houses of congress. No Child Left Behind, Prescription Drug Entitlements; they even tried to force Amnesty for illegal aliens upon us. They have given us a government that would make even LBJ blush. Our businesses and land...

Squeezing his thumb and forefinger together in the back of a Manchester bar last night, Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr told a crowd of 80 that when it counts, there's that much difference between the Republicans and Democrats. Americans, he argued, are looking for something new. "The definition of throwing your vote away is to go into that voting booth and vote for one of two parties that will not change the direction this country's going in," Barr told a crowd of about 80 at Murphy's Taproom. "And that's the Republicans or Democrats."

In fact, as much as he despised Clinton, Barr thinks President Bush is worse. "What George W. Bush has done to the fabric of our constitutional government, to separation of powers, to a government of limited powers is absolutely unforgivable," he said. That prospect is greatest in Barr's home state of Georgia. Obama is already running ads targeting an untapped pool of African Americans and younger voters. State polls suggest Barr's single-digit following pulls mostly from McCain. "If Barr can win 5 or 6 points of the total vote -- it's an if but it's conceivable -- then Obama could...

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....

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...

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, a former Georgia congressman, said today that the Republican Party has utterly failed to present a "new program, new leadership or vision." "What's wrong with John McCain is symptomatic of what's wrong with the Republican Party in these first years of the 21st century," Barr said on "Fox News Sunday." "They talk one thing but do something different, and that's become very obvious to the American people." Barr said that he tends to agree with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on issues of civil liberties, while he tends to agree with McCain, a senator from Arizona,...

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,...

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.

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/)

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...

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.

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...

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.

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....

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.

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...

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.