.

I do not want to beat this ‘Bob Barr is the Libertarian candidate for President’ issue into the ground, because there are many other issues to write about, time is so limited, and in the end, if Barr does it for you, then vote for him. Barr does not do it for me and, IMHO, the U.S. Libertarian Party (USLP).

Yet apparently for Marc Gallagher, “It looks like I found out who I’ll be voting for in November for President.” In response to Marc’s revelation djcoe comments that Barr voted the wrong way on the Patriot Act, War on Drugs, the REAL ID, etc. Donna further comments that voting for Barr is like voting for the lesser of two evils vs. voting one’s conscience and in fact that Mary Ruwart “is the real deal!” I agree with djcoe when she opines that “winning is not as important as the message {though I will add that perpetual losses tend to mitigate the message}, the message is the only way a Third Party can move forward. At a time when the LP gained so much ground through Ron Paul, their (LP) nomination for Barr, I fear will only move them backwards, not forward. There will be too much fighting within the ranks. Time will tell (I hope I’m wrong) but in my gut, I think Barr is a charlatan.” {I called him a shill so I think we’re on the same page.}

Marc then responded in a comment to Donna as follows (with my comments, as always, in curly brackets ‘{}’):

Donna,

I certainly appreciate your opinion and understand it. My support of Barr is due to my belief that he is misunderstood {well that cures all evils, we just don’t understand Barr, my bad} by many Ron Paul supporters. Ruwart is certainly a more pure Libertarian {agreed}, but I do not believe she would have united all Ron Paul supporters {no one can unite ALL Ron Paul supporters but Ron Paul so I guess you’re safe there Marc}. Many Ron Paul supporters are staunchly opposed to an “open borders” style immigration policy, which Ruwart supports to some degree. Ruwart also is in disagreement with Ron Paul on abortion, as she is pro-choice. {BTW, Ron Paul says it is a state issue, not federal. Obviously Ron Paul does not support abortion but if a state wants to legalize it then so be it. Keep the Feds out!} These are typical libertarian positions and makes her more of a pure libertarian than even Ron Paul. {Frankly I too do not agree with all the Libertarian planks but that did not stop me from running as a Libertarian in 2006. At the time, the LP was the closest party to my platform.}

Also, there was at least one (unscientific) poll done on Ron Paul forums to select who Ron Paul (RP) supporters should get behind, and Barr won rather convincingly even when Chuck Baldwin was included. {Being ‘unscientific’ negates the poll, Marc. It makes it interesting but it means NOTHING! So please refrain from touting it as support of RPites for Barr.}

Because of these reasons, I don’t believe Ruwart would have united Ron Paul supporters. {Frankly, I do not think you have made your case.}

Bob Barr’s historical votes do look bad on paper {Thank you!}, but if you listen to him now he is running on a Ron Paul platform. {Marc, how long have you been in politics? Maybe a few hours? It is absurd to state that Barr’s actions ‘do not look good on paper’ and then in the same breath state how wonder his rhetoric is now. You haven’t learned that politicians will say anything? DO NOT BELIEVE THE RHETORIC, BELIEVE THE ACTIONS.} He introduced Ron Paul at CPAC. They are friends. {I too have friends with which I disagree with politically. So what in the hell is your point?} Barr now has continuous regretful statements {Feeling bad about the past doesn’t change it.} about his vote for the Patriot Act and also has self-hatred for voting for the authorization of force in Iraq. {Oh please, Marc. Why are you so ready to forgive and forget?} If you haven’t read the recent article by Brad Jansen in the American Spectator about Barr’s history of votes, please do. It is rather enlightening and shows that sometimes there is more to these votes than the vote itself. {The trouble is that there are too many votes the wrong way and one does not need to go through similar contortions in explaining away Ron Paul’s votes. You’re trying too hard, Marc, oh, and failing to be convincing.} The link is here:
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13262

It is my belief that Barr is the candidate that will further Ron Paul’s message to more people. {Fine. It is your belief. I’m cool with that. Even though you are wrong.} He has the best chance to get the necessary media attention as a serious spoiler to John McCain. {And dilute the LP message.} He has the best chance to win over more conservative Republican libertarians. {Great, more Barrites in the LP.} Some of whom may never support Ron Paul specifically, but for whatever reason would support Barr. To some, like it or not, Ron Paul has become a polarizing figure. {You mean he is having an affect?! Should we all now be politically correct? Come on, Marc.} To some, being a Ron Paul supporter means you are a conspiracy theorist kook. {Interesting, when RP himself is anything but a conspiracy theorist kook. Something just doesn’t smell good in your analysis, Marc.} These are small minded people, but they do vote. {In your humble opinion all conspiracy theorists are kooks and small minded. Yeah, that’s intelligent, Marc.}

If Barr gets 5-10% of the vote and McCain loses by less than that amount, coverage of Barr, and therefore coverage of the Ron Paul message will reach more people. It would also potentially give the American voters the idea that third parties can be viable after all. {Marc, in case you haven’t heard, Chuck Baldwin is running as the Constitution Party Presidential candidate. It is my opinion that Baldwin will siphon off more Republican votes than will Barr. There are many on the Religious Right who are looking for a home, and Barr doesn’t cut it.}

A person who was a delegate for none other than Aaron Russo , and who was leaning towards Ruwart this year posted a message outlining the reasons why Barr is a great choice to spread the Ron Paul message. Actually, that post is so important that I’m going to make it into its own LM article. But here it is from:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showpost.php?p=1475203&postcount=537

—-
From Peace&Freedom {P&F, a blogger}:

Ah, memories. I was on that LP stage four years ago, making one of the nominating speeches for Aaron Russo for President (where I asked the convention to ‘take the red pill,’ and go with a different-than-usual choice). This year I leaned towards Ruwart at the end, but can’t say I’m displeased with the choice of Barr. {Note, Marc, that in the end he leaned toward Ruwart, which I assume he supported Ruwart over Barr. P&F now must justify the LP choice.} His nomination practically helps the Paul Revolution tremendously in 5 ways:

One, it virtually insures a McCain defeat in November, which will make it MUCH easier for the Ron Paul Republicans to start transforming the GOP, IF that’s possible. A McCain election victory would have given that movement no real chance for party reform; now it does have a chance. {As I said above, IMHO, Baldwin will be the primary GOP siphon, not Barr. That said, I do wish the Ron Paul Republicans ‘God Speed’.}

Two, it sets up a 1-2 punch to the Republican Party to move it in a pro-liberty direction, with libertarian pressure being applied to it from both within (from the RPRs) and without (the spoiler role the LP will have this year). {I obviously support that movement but also believe the party apparatchiks to be entrenched and thus significant movement a very difficult prospect.}

Three, because it will be the LP taking the heat for playing spoiler, it accordingly takes the heat OFF the Paulites within the GOP from being scapegoated if/when McCain loses. {This one works for me but not sure how important it is.}

Four, Barr will continue many or most of the Paul themes through the election, thus keeping the Paul movement’s impact on politics going strong through the end of 2008. {Again, I think P&F too eagerly marginalizes Baldwin’s contribution. I would opine that Baldwin is more Paulisk in policy than Barr, though I have not done a one to one comparison and the change in Barr’s rhetoric makes him difficult to believe, thus compare.}

And Five, the Barr nomination partially revives the theoretical possibility Republicans could toss over McCain as their nominee by or at the GOP convention, since the writing should already be on the wall for rank and file Republicans that Mac is dead {a}s a doornail. {This works for me but I think the Republicans are stuck with McCain and I think McCain, unless voters finally catch on to Obama, will lose the election.}

Not a bad day for liberty at all. Barr/Root LP08!! {I do not think that Wayne Allyn Root as VP will work for the voters. Maybe Libertarians but, IMHO, not the unwashed. It would have been better to go with Mary, if that were possible.}
————
Enjoy.

So, once again, Marc and I disagree. Is this a wonderful country (yes, it could be a hell of a lot better) or what?!

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This article, excluding the material cited or the material which is included herein but written by other authors or material covered by other copyrights, is copyright © 2008, by Gary Shumway. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce and distribute it electronically and in print, other than as part of a book and provided that mention of the author’s web site www.redpills.org is included. (Email notification is requested.) All other rights reserved.
Gary Shumway is the author of Winging Through America and SCUBA Scoop.