Free Republic

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.

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...

I'd like to ask my fellow FReepers what you think about the Presidential candidacy of Bob Barr? Given our current choices for President, Obama, Clinton & McCain, is Bob Barr a good alternative this year? I know no one will agree 100% with any candidate's positions. But, instead of not voting, would a vote for Bob Barr be an alternative you would consider? As a disappointed Republican, I'm considering going Libertarian this year. I like most of their positins, especially on safeguarding Liberty for All. I'm tired of carrying Big Brother with me everywhere I go. I'd like to see...

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...

When Bob Barr announced his candidacy for the Libertarian presidential nomination on May 12, I wondered how long it would take for the "A" word to come out. By my best reckoning, it took exactly one week. The first mention of it I read was from it was Susan Hogarth of the Radical Caucus (and in the running for a National Committee slot at the convention), who on May 9 released an Open Letter criticizing Barr's "antilibertarian congressional record and disinclination to fully repudiate it". Since then, many other voices have joined in to form a mighty crescendo; the libertarian...

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...

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...

I’m sipping whiskey for the fourth straight night in Denver, while I and the Libertarians sit in stunned amazement. The Libertarian party (LP) has gone mainstream. They have developed creeping respectability. They may soon risk becoming boring. Not that their convention was boring. Far from it. Being the completely anal retentive ideological purists they are, the seeming invasion from ex-Republicans (Bob Barr) and ex-Democrats (Mike Gravel) made for tense conversations, endless hand wringing, and a lot of late night power drinking as many LP members came to terms with the Gawd awful decision they faced. .... 52% of Republicans and...

(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...

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...

A new poll by Insider Advantage shows challenger Hank Johnson with a hefty lead over incumbent Cynthia McKinney in the Democratic run-off for the 4th District congressional race. The poll shows Johnson leading McKinney, 46 to 21 percent, with a third of voters undecided. The survey recorded the responses of 489 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 5 percent. Run-offs are notorious for low turnout, which often makes telephone surveys unreliable. Matt Towery, CEO of InsiderAdvantage, said he was unwilling to say that McKinney was headed for certain defeat. "But is she in deep, deep, deep,...

  Click to play short clip about Democrats in 2008. NAU CR