Posted on 09/08/2002 9:22:43 PM PDT by doug from upland
The evening started innocently enough for Brian Whitman, Sunday evening talk show host on KABC in Los Angeles.
He had on his show four minor candidates running for governor of California. Three were on the phone and the fourth, Libertarian candidate Gary Copeland, was in studio.
The conversation eventually turned to illegal immigration. Copeland did not like Whitman's position and called him a racist. Although Whitman kept trying to answer, Copeland kept talking over him and would not let him speak.
Just as Whitman puts callers in "timeout" on his show when they won't let him have his say, he told the engineer to cut off Copeland's microphone. Copeland became incensed and started packing his things to leave the studio.
Then, in great FReeper tradition, Whitman told Copeland not to let the door hit his ass on the way out. He also called Copeland a lunatic.
Then the rain came. Copeland walked over to Whitman and spit in his face. Whitman couldn't believe it. Two others on the KABC staff couldn't believe it.
Whitman had the station call the police and is considering filing assault charges.
Poor Copeland. He may no longer be the Libertarian candidate for governor. An official high ranking representative of the party called in to Whitman and told him that Copeland would be receiving no more backing and they were going to see what they could do to take him off the ballot.
Now that was classic talk radio. The unbelievable happened. A candidate for governor actually showed himself to be a bigger jackass than Gray Davis. Davis has spit on the law but never on Whitman, at least not yet. Brian, get him in studio.
Not true... some swallow...
The line of the day! A real, honest-to-goodness, bring-up-the-orange-juice-through-the-nose, laugh-out-loud truism if I ever read one.
Battery. An unlawful initiation of force against a citizen.
Most libertarians give me ammunition. In this case, the caliber is just a little larger.
Not just any nutjob. He is (was) the officially annointed LP candidate for governer of California. One may safely assume he didn't tumble out of a dumpster yesterday, stagger into California LP headquarters, and stagger out bearing the LP's standard.
Influential libertarian Californians have watched him over the years, liked what they saw, and thought to themselves, "Here's a candidate who has persuasive ability, somone who can represent the best the LP has to offer the citizens of California."
Or maybe he did tumble out of a dumpster, stagger into LP headquarters sucking on a doobie the size of a firelog, and announce his entry saying, "Awwwwriiiight, Dudes! That's killer weeeeed! Does 'LP' stand for: 'Let's Party'? That's what I'm sayin'!"
If so, he likely was made candidate for governor by acclamation.
Nutjob?! He's the Libertarian Candidate for Governor of California, the most populated state in the nation, and the world's 7th or 8th largest economy.
Now you dismiss one of your own as a nutjob, but other Libertarians obviously think highly enough of him to support him for Governor. If he's one of the best that Libertarians have for the job in The Golden State, then Libertarians better be prepared to be laughed at.
Nah. Hitlery's thugs don't spit on cops, they just drive her limo's OVER them.
So far as I can tell, their sole social agenda is the agenda of a high percentage of teens-- to do whatever drugs they want without fear of reprisal....
I once did an informal FR poll to determine what most of the FR libertarians do for a living. As it turns out, many or most of them are in technical fields, which explains a lot, IMHO.
My experience has been that technical people tend to treat "people problems" as technical problems that can be solved using time-honored engineering techniques. If you look closely, the key phrase always boils down to something along the lines of "if everybody would just...."
The problem, of course, is that people almost never "just..." and the engineering solution therefore almost never works. Libertarians are thus at a loss as to what happens next.
In the case of libertarianism, the "just" is that everybody will somehow respect the rights of others, of their own accord. The problem, of course, is not just that there are plenty of people who won't respect those rights, but also (and more importantly) "rights" are nowhere near as clear-cut as the libertarian "engineering solution" would need them to be.
The usually-awful Libertarian candidates -- Copeland, or Rick Stanley here in CO -- are actually a good example of this. The only way these whackjobs could actually get elected is if "everybody just" agreed with them on their pet issues.
Interesting, insightful.
I have often thought the LP is where "high autistics" would feel most comfortable. "High autistics" tend to have flat affects, and are often technically oriented and humorless. Human unpredictability confounds and bewilders them. They are the Dr. Spocks to everyone else's Captain Kirk.
I guess when they do ignite emotionally, they burn very hot--just as this candidate did in California.
There is another component of libertarians who are opportunistic single-issue 'droids--usually dope warriors--who like the LP because it panders to their infantile appetities and arrested emotional development.
You could easily write social and political commentary for a living, Kevin.
All Republicans are just like David Duke.
Kevin.......your forgot to add his campaign motto:
Yes, some real wackos here.
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