GOP hates Bob Barr
June 29, 2008 by Dusty
And why wouldn’t they? He is a right of the center guy that seems to have more scruples than any Rethug on the ballot. Yes, I am looking at you John Weathervane McCain. According to the NYT writeup yesterday, Barr is trying to appeal to the vast majority of Ron Paul enthusiasts, of which there are many.
Third party candidates can fuck up a party’s wetdream. Nader has done it to the Dem’s and Ross Perot did it to the Rethugs. From the NYT writeup:
On the ballots in 30 states so far, Mr. Barr has the chance to be a spoiler for Mr. McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, in several states, among them Alaska, Colorado and Georgia. Mr. Barr’s campaign advisers also assert he has similar potential in other mountain states, New Hampshire, Ohio and other swing states.
The Republican Party and the McCain campaign have swatted away the Barr candidacy, but some Republicans are taking it seriously. If the early polls hold up, and Senator Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee, pours heavy resources into Georgia, that state could be up for grabs, said Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia.
Nader isn’t a new face on the general election front and I personally think any damage he will do to the Democratic nominee is marginal, but Barr could embarass the Rethugs. A point to make, and the NYT does, is that no Libertarian has ever gotten more than 1% of the vote. Money isn’t flowing into this campaign yet either. From the NYT writeup:
Yet Mr. Barr faces formidable obstacles. No Libertarian candidate has ever won more than 1 percent of the vote in a presidential election, and Mr. Barr is severely lacking in money, resources and name recognition. He has yet to lease a campaign headquarters, have a fund-raiser, tape a television advertisement or hold a campaign event.
There is also the fact that the convention which nominated him wasn’t completely behind him either. It took six votes to hand Barr the nomination, and it was by a very thin margin. Before anyone gets excited about Barr, they should consider his record as a former Rethug member. His votes for the Patriot Act bill, the Iraq AUMF, impeaching Bill Clinton and sponsoring the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 shouldn’t endear him to anyone but the most right of the rightwing nutjobs.
Barr is attempting to distance himself from those votes now however, blaming them on the (R) after his name at the time. He now states he is “for a speedy and complete withdrawal of troops, with no permanent bases; on same-sex marriage, he believes that states should make their own laws; and on wiretaps without warrants, he is fiercely opposed, arguing that the bill that would legalize searches without warrants violates an individual’s constitutional rights”.
Barr is eyeballing the Ron Paulistas right now that consider themselves Libertarian. The Paul supporters aren’t flocking to Barr at this point however. Some are highly pissed off that Barr is pandering specifically to Ron Paul supporters. Ron Paul has refused to endorse Barr’s candidacy as well.
The long and short of it is how much support in November Barr and Nader will draw from the two main parties. Polls, which I hate with a passion, are showing both Nader and Barr garnering 3% of the vote in specific toss-up states. Obama’s bean counters are happy that Barr has joined the fray, saying he might make the difference in states which are important and still close between Obama and McCain.
All in all, it remains to be seen what Barr can do..money is his nemisis right now, and the same goes for Nader. This general election season looks to be all about the money and breaking records for how much you can raise and spend. Obama has the edge there and frankly I just want to get past the Democratic convention and head into the final stretch..I am so ready to get this shit over with, it ain’t even funny.
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I am so ready to get this shit over with, it ain’t even funny.
I’m with you on that, Dusty…but we should be careful what we wish for, eh?
I find it a bit sad that we should even need to talk of a third party candidate as a spoiler. I mean we are talking about a precious right, but at the same time I understand why some would and will be upset at the spoilers. Of course that all pales in comparison to the damage that would surely come from a (god forbid) third Bush term via (what did you call him?)… John Weathervane McCain!
Hey PM!
The third party folks have valid reasons to be disgusted with the two parties that run out nation. I am not enamored with Obama and frankly do not see myself voting for him.
His position on the FISA bill really chaps my ass. There is no middle ground on that bill for me..none.
I can count on one hand the number of Democrats I trust and hold dear..and Obama ain’t one of em.
Dustys last blog post..Holy Joe’s fearmongering Sunday
Just adding to your excellent post (having been a witness to the festivities when Barr won the LP nomination): He is NO Ron Paul and that is the main reason he is not going to get the Paulians on board. Plus, Ron Paul is still very Republican (even if most of his talk and voting stances are “libertarian” in nature), he wants to get re-elected, as well as any other career politician (most Paulians seem to forget that part). If he comes out for the LP candidate, it could hurt him at election time. He has on a couple of occassions come out in support of some of Barr’s stances. But, to die-hard Libertarians who are also fans of Ron Paul, not even that is enough. Many Libertarians who I know and love and respect completely were extremely upset that Barr got the nomination. Some of them even left the convention right after the gavel came down (refusing to stay for the rest of the convention or participate in any more convention activities). People were crying, some were openly fuming and ranting, including one of the candidates that got tossed on the very first ballot. I know of a few Libertarians who literally cut up their membership cards because, in their words, Barr was not a man of principle (based on his past political behavior) and they could no longer support the LP (the party of principle). Of course, reading your post kind of raises some tinges of irony. A lot of his supporters and those who later came to accept his candidacy (including myself) argued that this could be a good thing because he had more money than the average LP candidate (one of the reasons they only get 1% of the vote…the other reason is the lack of ballot access in 29 states!). But, I see one of the main reasons Barr is not raising the money he needs to run a truly viable campaign is that a lot of card-carrying Libertarians, who normally give until it hurts, don’t feel like Barr is a reason to cause themselves any more pain (for reasons stated previously). It’s like they’re saying to Barr, you may be our candidate, but I’d rather vote NOTA than give my money to a man I don’t trust. And, I have heard from some reliable sources, that is just what plenty of Libertarians plan to do come November (IOW, they still won’t vote for Obama, or McCain, but they won’t vote for Barr, either). But, I do believe that Barr holds enough leverage to spook the Rethuglicans into trying to steal some of the LPs ideas come Sept/Oct (electoral crunch time), in order to try to woo Libertarians and Paulians to vote for McLame. I can tell you, it ain’t gon’ happen. (cross-posted)
At the end of the day Dizzy, I see Barr as a Rethug in Libertarian’s clothing. His campaign manager is Ross Perot’s main guy when he ran.
I don’t think that will do much for him if the money doesn’t start flowing towards Barr.
Same for Nader..too many folks realize how voting for Nader is really a vote for the Rethugs.
Dustys last blog post..Holy Joe’s fearmongering Sunday
Well, many people don’t know this, but many of those who followed/voted for Ross Perot, later became Libertarians, so the fact that Perot’s front man is working for Bob Barr is actually a plus for him in a lot of Libertarian’s eyes.
A lot of people like to say that third-parties “spoil” elections for good candidates, but the way I see it is if the candidate was so “good”, there wouldn’t be anything to spoil, it’d be a no-brainer to vote for them. Others could argue that the way that the two party system crushes third-party voices, that it’s them that are spoiling democracy for those who truly want to see change.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of Bob Barr and I lost my love for Ron Paul when I found out his stance on abortion and equal marriage rights. But, I have no real love for Obama and even thinking of McCain is enough to cause spontaneous vomiting. I may or may not vote for Bob Barr as my chosen party’s standard bearer, but I will definitely not be voting for anyone in either of the major parties.
If Perot’s guy can raise money for Barr, that would be half the battle. I don’t begrudge Barr any support he gets..I just don’t trust him as a former Rethug.
As for spoilers..I never see third party candidates that way really…for me, its obvious that both the Dem and Repub candidates don’t suit them..and thats fine w/me. I have voted for Nader in the past.
But I won’t this election. Probably writein one of my felines.
Dustys last blog post..Holy Joe’s fearmongering Sunday