MyDD :: Bobb Barr For President?

Bobb Barr For President?

by Todd Beeton, Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 03:32:56 PM EST

As if this presidential season hasn't been bizarre enough, it looks like it's about to get weirder.

Former Republican Georgia Rep. Bob Barr is considering a run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket.

Barr told FOX News on Tuesday that he should know in the next few days whether he is going to go for it. [...]

Another source todl FOX News that the announcement should happen this weekend, probably on April 5. That is the day Barr is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Heartland Libertarian Conference in Kansas City, Mo.

You'll recall that Barr was one of the House managers during the Clinton impeachment.

The New Republic is reporting that Barr has indeed decided to run but not on the Libertarian ticket, rather as an Independent. Barr has the potential to serve as a spoiler on the right to balance out any Dem votes that Ralph Nader might pick off, but TNR warns against jumping to such a conclusion.

Barr has been extremely critical of the Bush administration from a libertarian perspective, however, stressing issues like coercive interrogation practices, warrantless wiretapping and the Iraq War (he doesn't differ much from Ralph Nader much on this issue). So it's unclear which nominee -- Republican or Democrat -- Barr's bid might hurt come the general.

If Barr does decide to make it official, I welcome him to the field and offer these 5 words of wisdom: Ron Paul For Vice President.

"Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of that dissatisfaction and that awareness. Unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement. But we have to have ….a rallying point out there to harness that energy, that freedom in this election cycle,” [Barr] said.

Tags: 2008 presidential election, bobb barr, independent (all tags)

Permalink :: 12 Comments :: Post a Comment

But what about Mike Gravel!!! (none / 0)

I mean he has the best campaign videos.

I mean I didn't even get through the Helter Skelter video ti was that "good"

and the duck pond video.
and the power to the people video

Student Guy=JoeMentum. No really Student Guy=JoeMentum, after all JoeMentum was an embarrassment so is Student Guy. This sig is FAIL!!

by Student Guy on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 03:36:33 PM EST

I can't resist.. (2.00 / 2)

I must spin this.

Since a larger portion of Barack Obama's support comes from "pure" independents and Republican-leaning independents, he stands more to lose to the Nader effect and any possible Barr effect.

Alright, I'm done.

by bobbank on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 03:37:31 PM EST

Re: Bobb Barr For President? (none / 0)

I'm skeptical...does this guy have the charisma (even in a Ron Paul kind of way) to build a following?

What we could really use would be a Christian fundamentalist candidate running to the right of McCain. Can we convince Huckabee to make an independent run?

by animated on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 03:43:08 PM EST

Re: Bobb Barr For President? (none / 0)

Nope. Huck's gaming for a talkshow host job, as I heard it.

by bobbank on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 03:46:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Bobb Barr For President? (none / 0)

I thought Barr was pretty disgusting during the impeachment of Bill Clinton (I think he played a role in getting Clinton disbarred also). However, he was not a loyal Bushie when it came to fiscal matters.

I don't agree with Barr much, but I respect the fact that he has principles and stuck with them when most Republicans were just blindly following Bush.

Would I support him for President? Don't be silly.

by smoker1 on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 03:43:28 PM EST

Re: Bobb Barr For President? (2.00 / 1)

I think Gravel and Ron Paul ought to run together.

by Spanky on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 04:00:28 PM EST

Re: Bobb Barr For President? (none / 0)

An antiwar candidate? Barr and Paul would be interesting. Maybe it will push the Democratic nominee to be more antiwar?

by TomP on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 04:04:18 PM EST

Re: Bobb Barr For President? (none / 0)

Nice! We could use a Republican spoiler.

by lowentravel on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 04:42:19 PM EST

no we can't (none / 0)

the last thing we need is people challenging the new President's legitimacy if he is a Democrat. Perot siphoned votes that other wise woulda split equally, which means if he had stayed out, Clinton woulda gotten over 50 percent of the vote, and the fact he didn't was a RW talking point they used to undermine him. We need a majority vote so they can't do that. Hell, if Perot had stayed out, Clinton may have maintained this lead http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht ml?res=9E0CE2DE143CF931A1575AC0A96495826 0&sec=&spon=&partner=permali nk&exprod=permalink which woulda kept the GOP from going after him as hard, less problems, maybe kept '94, and not gotten impeached. There is no doubt in my mind the GOP will try to ruin Obama, so we need to weaken their hand.

"there is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right in America"-William Jefferson Clinton, forty-second President of the United States

by DiamondJay on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 07:31:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

No America Need Alan Keyes (2.00 / 1)

Alan (this makes no sense) Keyes gets the constition Party nomination:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/29/ 05216/7578/697/486456

(I know it is a Dkos link but still Alan Keyes people Alan Keyes!!)

Student Guy=JoeMentum. No really Student Guy=JoeMentum, after all JoeMentum was an embarrassment so is Student Guy. This sig is FAIL!!

by Student Guy on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 05:15:58 PM EST

establishment support for 4-way race? (none / 0)

Obama may defeat McCain like LBJ did AuH2O or Reagan did Mondale.

The establishment might be afraid of a Dem having that much political capital.

One way to keep Obama's percentage low is to encourage voters to see the contest as a four-way (or more) between

* McCain (GOP)

Obama (Dem)
Barr (Lib)
McKinney (Green)
and maybe the Constitution Party will field a candidate too.

Rrrinnggg... Time to change the government.

by Carl Nyberg on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 05:26:41 PM EST

not good for our mandate (none / 0)

while I do think he would maybe take more Mccain votes, like most indy's he will draw at least SOME for people who don't vote partisanly, who vote on persons but otherwise may have supported Obama. If this were to cause us to get under 50 percent like Perot did twice, it would hurt Obama politically big time. If Clinton coulda maintained the lead he had on Bush before Perot came back, as show in http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht ml?res=9E0CE2DE143CF931A1575AC0A96495826 0&sec=&spon=&partner=permali nk&exprod=permalink

Expanding his margin over President Bush for the third straight week, Gov. Bill Clinton took a 21-point lead in a new ABC News-Washington Post poll.

The survey of 637 likely voters taken Sunday showed the Democratic Presidential nominee with 58 percent support to Mr. Bush's 37 percent. The sample had a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

If we could have won like that, as Bush had the same support in that poll as he got in the final results, we woulda had a stronger political hand in the 90's. We need a strong hand today, and we cannot afford to even win 49-39-11. If Clinton had gotten 50.1 against Dole's 40 rather than 49.2, I think he woulda claimed a mandate and not gotten impeached, and gotten more done.

"there is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right in America"-William Jefferson Clinton, forty-second President of the United States

by DiamondJay on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 07:35:20 PM EST

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