This isn’t the first time someone has accused Sen. John McCain of not being conservative enough, but now former Republican congressman-turned-Libertarian Bob Barr is upping the ante on his critique of McCain’s conservatism by running against him in this year’s presidential election.
The Los Angeles Times:
“The government has run amok fiscally,” he said at a press conference. Saying that during the first quarter of this year the private sector was losing millions of jobs while the federal government was “hiring with enthusiasm,” Barr added, “As the American people see their standard of living falling, the standard of government keeps going up.”
Expected to win the nomination of the Libertarian Party when it holds its convention in Denver over the Memorial Day weekend, Barr, 59, criticized Republican John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, for not being a true conservative.
“There’s not a great deal of substance there in terms of a commitment to cutting the size of government,” Barr said He said no one who had authored the McCain-Feingold campaign reforms that cap individual donations could call himself a conservative, “at least with a straight face.”
Barr also lashed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for saying that if Iran threatens Israel’s existence, the United States should “obliterate Iran.” Calling the New York senator’s statement “tremendously dire,” Barr called the possibility of Iran possessing nuclear weapons “remote” and said he has seen “no evidence that indicates that is an imminent likelihood.”
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Jump to Comments
By Maani, May 13 at 7:01 pm #
Shenonymous:
“Maani, I agree with you. Now would that be a first! An atheist agreeing with a theist!”
Stranger things have happened! LOL. And it actually would not be the first time...Believe it or not, we HAVE agreed before...though possibly not on issues related to faith! LOL.
Peace.
Report thisBy troublesum, May 13 at 4:03 pm #
Republicans won’t vote for an anti-war candidate; Ron Paul’s campaign has already proven that. If he takes the strongest anti-war, anti-torture, pro civil liberties positions Barr will be taking votes from Obama not McCain.
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, May 13 at 3:16 pm #
Ron Paul, McCain, Bob Barr should all be debating now.
Report thisBy Shenonymous, May 13 at 2:20 pm #
Maani, I agree with you. Now would that be a first! An atheist agreeing with a theist! What is this world coming to? Well, no doubt we will have a new circus of comments coming down the highway.
Report thisBy Tom Semioli, May 13 at 10:52 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Still blaming Ralph? You have a real spoiler in the Democratic Party now - the name is HILLARY CLINTON. Had Democrats listened to Ralph, you could have landslided Bush twice. Get ready for four more years of Republican rule. Nice work, Dems.
Report thisBy Maani, May 13 at 9:12 am #
Anything that siphons votes away from McCain is a good thing.
Report thisBy oregoncharles, May 13 at 9:00 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
The more the merrier.
To be serious: a strong Libertarian candidate balances out the left-wing candidates, Cynthia McKinney for the Greens and Ralph Nader. It’s too bad Barr isn’t more of a Libertarian. I think he’s been a strong voice for civil liberties, but not for other aspects of their ideology. Ron Paul is closer, but apparently not willing this year.
I especially like jackpine savage’s point that there are libertarians of the left, because I think the Greens are that. “Libertarian Socialists” is only a contradiction if you’re a right-winger. In fact, we advocate both. He’s also right that the Democrats have a shockingly poor record on liberty issues. For just one example, marijuana enforcement and the number of people in prison shot up under Clinton, just one of the ways he laid the foundations for Bushism (and made me a Green.)
Report thisBy jackpine savage, May 13 at 7:05 am #
I’m with Paolo...Barr is not really a libertarian. And though he may be the biggest name looking for that nomination, it doesn’t mean that he’s going to get it.
And Paolo is also correct in pointing out the error in assuming that libertarianism is just another form of conservativism. Libertarians come in right, center, and left varieties...and there are a good many Americans who are libertarians and don’t even know it.
Those who believe strongly in civil liberties would be be better off with the libertarians, but they generally call themselves Democrats...though the Democrats have never shown any particular concern for civil liberties.
A real libertarian candidate (a strong one) would probably do very well if the public actually heard the message...and that’s why the public won’t hear the message.
Report thisBy Paolo, May 13 at 4:46 am #
Check out the website http://badbarr2008.com/index.html to get an idea of why Barr is not a libertarian, but simply “Republican Lite.”
It is a common misconception that Libertarians are just Conservatives or ultra-Republicans. Bob Barr unfortunately feeds that misconception.
Report thisBy Aegrus, May 13 at 4:45 am #
This is hilarious. So, we have Nader being bait for the Left and Barr as bait for the Right. All we need is Hillary running as an independent to have the kind of Democracy armchair Lefties want to see. You know, the kind who would vote for the National Socialist Party if it was the only third party on a ticket? It’s not Dem or Repub, right? };>
Report thisBy Paolo, May 13 at 4:40 am #
As a libertarian, I am not very enthusiastic about the prospect of Bob Barr being the presidential candidate. Barr, who only recently became an LP member, has many decidedly un-libertarian viewpoints. He supports American intervention overseas, even in Iran, when he sees such intervention as protecting our (loosely defined) “interests.” He also supports the insane War on Drugs, even calling for escalation of actions against South American countries.
I think he would be better than the warmongers McCain and Clinton, but that ain’t sayin’ much.
Report thisBy JimM, May 13 at 4:33 am #
Maybe he can still entreat Sasha to put him in a comedy series or something. He can be a target dummy for the NRA as he is there already.
Report thisHe can do some good by hurting McSame’s chances against Barack