Posted on 05/12/2008 7:51:01 AM PDT by SmithL
Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr is expected to announce that he's running for president as a Libertarian.
His candidacy would be a wild card in the White House race that many believe would hurt Republican Sen. John McCain.
Barr had scheduled a news conference Monday. He first must win the Libertarian nomination at the party's national convention that begins May 22. Party officials consider him a front-runner
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I should also add the Iraq nation building has practically single handledly destroyed the Republican Party. I’ll be amazed if Republicans keep a filibuster minority this year.
McCain has given us the finger too many times for me to ever vote for him
The obvious sarcasm in your comment, which conveys to the reader that you are unshakably certain as to the validity of your beliefs, only completely bewilders one who reads with an iota of skepticism. The reason the sarcasm is bewildering is due to the fact that it indicates you are wholly convinced of something for which you have thought very little, whether about the issue or about your presentation of the issue. Yes, I know that we live in a sound byte culture, but does it not seem foolish to deride the notion that a member of the ACLU is running as a Libertarian without adequate explanation as to why it is worthy of derision? After all the name of the organization is the American CIVIL LIBERTIES Union. Sure the ACLU has taken on some questionable causes using questionable methods, but overall the organization is a champion of those things that Libertarians, themselves, seek to protect. To imply WITHOUT ELABORATION that a libertarian’s membership in an organization which advocates civil liberties is tantamount to a death wish is downright silly. A person reading your comment who knows nothing of libertarianism and only the full name of the ACLU would not be bewildered by the sarcasm, but will be convinced by the confidence it implies. They will then incorporate into their worldview the idea that libertarians must not be in favor of civil liberties, which we know is diametrically opposite of the truth. Of course, elaboration on how the ACLU’s practices sometimes contradict its central purpose would have removed the self-important tone of your comment, which it seems is what you were seeking. I’m asking for the sake of dispersing good information and to prevent the spread of bad, that we take just a little more care to explain our positions rather than foolhardily submitting them as if they were gospel. We would not want a less skeptical person to get the wrong idea.
One such narrative is, "Bush lied; people died." The claim is that "neocons," including Feith, politicized intelligence to show that Saddam Hussein's regime had weapons of mass destruction. Not so, as the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Silberman-Robb Commission have concluded already. Every intelligence agency believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, and the post-invasion Duelfer report concluded that he maintained the capability to produce them on short notice. There was abundant evidence of contacts between Saddam's regime and al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. Given Saddam's hostility to the United States and his stonewalling of the United Nations, American leaders had every reason to believe he posed a grave threat. Removing him removed that threat.
It was not the fighting of the war that was poorly executed. It was the politics of the war that was abysmal.
So far as LP/CPers, they are simply wrong both constitutionally and pragmatically in their understandings of war and isolationism.
True, true, but it's just too bad that the ones that made his selection inevitable were the Democratic crossovers and liberal independents in the early caucus/primary states.
The LP will do nothing but help elect OBAMA. I used to be a LP member, but when they want us out of IRAQ, the LP is no better then the DEMS. Now that doesn't mean that they don't have any ideas that I like - smaller government, but the LP is trying to form a party from the top down - it should start with local LP parties - not trying to HELP ELECT A SOCIALIST!!
So you want the USA to become a SOCIALIST STATE when you help ELECT BARAK?? Thank you, you so-called CONSERVATIVES. The Dems will love the LP party in January - for helping them win everything, and what did the LP get? Nothing, except that a few of their ex members (like me) will be mad at them. But They don’t care about their members either, they are a joke.
The founder of the ACLU, Roger Baldwin, was a COMMUNIST!! Come on if you think Barr and the LP would win, you are smoking something the LP would like to DECRIMINALIZE!!
Of course, you do have the freedom to elect SOCIALISM, but I'll vote for McCain. I didn't vote for him, but he is the best on 2 things I'm worried about WOT and USSC justices.
The LP has lots of good ideas domestically (less government), but that is why I'm a member of the LIBERTARIAN REPUBLICANS. If you want to help elect Barak, why not vote for him, Barr is an open boder type and I want a fence (truthfully I want a 2 mile wide mine field on the border.)
1) One of the things we learned from the Iraq war was that Iraq had missles that were in violation of the terms of the cease fire. These missles had a range that was well beyond what was allowed. We also found several tons on uranium, instructions to manufacture biological agents and many tons of chemical weapon precursors. We would not have been safe if we had left Iraq to operate as usual.
2) To invade Iraq and then simply leave it burning would only give militant Islam a reason to attack us again. By changing Iraq, we are changing the opinion of the Muslim world. Al Qeada has gone from being the savior of Islam to its enemy. This is significant. Also, if we take our lessons from WWI and WWII, it is shown that punishing a beligerant country (post WWI Germany) only creates bigger wars, while repairing a country (Marshall Plan, post-WWII Japan) has benefits that far far exceed the costs associated with the repairs.
3) You will have to explain to me how we need the money that is being spent in Iraq to pursue a domestic energy policy. There are at present over two dozen domestic nuke plants that are in one stage of planning or another, being built by the private sector...while we fight in Iraq. ANWR/Gulf of Mexico/California oil exploration is stalled due to environmentalism and no amount of money will get it moving.
You BobBarr supporters, why don't you call yourself what you are -- SOCIALISTS, because you'll help Barak win. The LP is a dead party. Look at the national votes -- they are getting fewer and fewer votes.
I've yet meet an CONSERVATIVE LP member!!
No thanks to you and the other LP KOOKS!! As I said before, the LP is a branch of the DEMOCRATIC PARTY!
The LP is a bunch of KOOKS trying to destroy the USA. Barr will help Barak win and what will thye LP get? Nothing, I know REAL CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS won't join the party, if you help elect a SOCIALIST. The LP should be called the 'American Know-Nothing Party of 2008'.
Well said!
Nobody’s looking for a Party...We’re looking for a leader...You can have your Republican Pary, and Libertarian Party...They have become meaningless...
The U.S. has been on the path to socialism for the past 75 years. It only slowed slightly during Reagan’s 8 years in office then charged ahead again at full speed. The difference between Obama and McCain is going off that cliff at 70 miles an hour or going off it at 50 miles an hour.
I’m not sure where Obama stands on the “WOT”. He says he will pull out of the occupation of Iraq. I doubt that he will.
At most there will be two justices leave in the next 4 years. They are the two most liberal justices. So if they are replaced with other liberals the court retains its current configuration. After the 2012 election is when the real chance to change the court will come. If we don’t have a conservative in the White House then we will be in trouble on the Court.
We will never get a conservative nominated unless we show the Rockefeller Republicans that they can’t keep shoving liberals down our throats and scaring us into voting for them. They’ve gone to that well once too often. It isn’t going to work again. Not on me it isn’t.
I’ve voted Republican since 1964. In fact I screwed my GPA missing classes working for Goldwater. I’ve held my nose and voted for all the liberals they threw up including Dole and both Bushs. Enough is enough!
I’m not going to blindly throw away my vote on another liberal.
You may do as you please. Vote for any of the liberals you like best. I’m voting for a conservative this time.
Barr's the best one of the bunch right now. The LP has had a string of odd ducks attached to it, but Barr's nomination is a whole 'nuther ball game.
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