Bob Barr Enters Presidential Race as Libertarian
- Thread starter FireMax
- Start date
Barr certainly had this much right: don't come whining to him or the Libertarians if Juan McAmnesty loses this election. If the current GOP and its flag bearer had any message worth buying, then nothing Barr said or did would have the least impact.
Sean Hannity? :barf: Apostate Catholic, pseudo-conservative, full-time GOPimp.
Sean Hannity? :barf: Apostate Catholic, pseudo-conservative, full-time GOPimp.
BoringAccountant
New member
Sorry...but someone please answer this question honestly...
Why would Barr enter the race so late if he is claiming to be in it to win it? Where has he been the last year or so, even the last 8 months he could have gotten in and garnered some support.
The fact that Barr is already saying...
Why would Barr enter the race so late if he is claiming to be in it to win it? Where has he been the last year or so, even the last 8 months he could have gotten in and garnered some support.
The fact that Barr is already saying...
paraphrased of course, shows that he knows he wont win, but why run then? Surely he doesn't WANT to see the Republican lose, can he?
Where exactly did I say McCain was my savior? Where is anyone cheering the fact that McCain is our quarterback this time around. Because I believe in being pragmatic doesn't mean that I get the warm fuzzies about who I'm voting for.
+1
Its one thing to give the race an honest go. Its an entirely another thing to jump in as a spoiler or to get yourself some face time. Thats just making a farce of the political process.... which is why this guy (and by extension the libertarian party) will be seen as a joke.
I consider myself a Libertarian and will not vote for Barr over McCain in this election.
McCain was very low on my list of candidates for the RNC nomination. Any lower and I would have gone third party but as bad as he is on some issues he is acceptable on others, notably gun rights. Hillbama is simply to bad to allow into office when the alternative is McCain. If it were Rudy with the nomination I would have jumped ship.
McCain was very low on my list of candidates for the RNC nomination. Any lower and I would have gone third party but as bad as he is on some issues he is acceptable on others, notably gun rights. Hillbama is simply to bad to allow into office when the alternative is McCain. If it were Rudy with the nomination I would have jumped ship.
As it appears that I will be a delegate at the convention...I will have the opportunity to try and ensure a true libertarian will be running on the LP ticket. I am fortunate that I am taking my R&R at such a time as I can attend the convention. That convention is at the end of this month in Denver. That is where Bob Barr will have to prove himself to more than just myself!
Abandoning Paul already are we.
The bottom line is that someone who makes an earnest run at an office doesn't wait till this late in the game to do it. People who do are either idiots, or are running for some other reason than trying to get elected. Either way they aren't deserving of votes.
Yet bet I'll consider it. My wife & I haven't seen a 'viable' candidate yet we could vote for without gagging. We're probably gonna 'donate' our votes to our kids in the military...they pick, we vote. In my opinion, they have the biggest investment in the outcome at this particular moment in history. It's something we can give back.
I'll check Barr's position on issues, and make sure there's nothing I can't personally live with; then pass the info on to the aforementioned soldiers and air-folk as another choice.
I'm not buying into the 'lesser of the two evils' crap anymore. Hold your nose voting is exactly how we got into the mess we're in today. As far as I'm concerned both the RNC and the DNC deserve an ass-kicking, and the most important message to send them is "YOU can NOT take my vote for granted, EVER again!"
I am all for a third party too, as long as it actually STANDS for things I believe in. Yes, we will lose for awhile. So what? The freedom our 'prospective presidents' hold in such low regard wasn't 'free' either, or won (and safeguarded) by men afraid to take risks.
I'll check Barr's position on issues, and make sure there's nothing I can't personally live with; then pass the info on to the aforementioned soldiers and air-folk as another choice.
I'm not buying into the 'lesser of the two evils' crap anymore. Hold your nose voting is exactly how we got into the mess we're in today. As far as I'm concerned both the RNC and the DNC deserve an ass-kicking, and the most important message to send them is "YOU can NOT take my vote for granted, EVER again!"
I am all for a third party too, as long as it actually STANDS for things I believe in. Yes, we will lose for awhile. So what? The freedom our 'prospective presidents' hold in such low regard wasn't 'free' either, or won (and safeguarded) by men afraid to take risks.
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I don't exactly remember how far back I first heard that Barr was thinking about this, but my comment then still stands. He'll be the new Ross Perot making sure the Dems get into office. Perot put Clinton in over George H.W. Bush by taking votes away. NO, I WON'T VOTE FOR BARR FOR THIS VERY REASON. If Barr was serious, he should have been in months ago.
United States presidential election, 1992
Bill Clinton/Al Gore (D) - 44,909,806 (43.0%) and 370 electoral votes (32 states and D.C. carried)
George H. W. Bush/Dan Quayle (R) (Inc.) - 39,104,550 (37.4%) and 168 electoral votes (18 states carried)
Ross Perot/James Stockdale (I) - 19,743,821 (18.9%) and 0 electoral votes
Andre Marrou/Nancy Lord (L) - 290,087 (0.3%) and 0 electoral votes
United States presidential election, 1992
Bill Clinton/Al Gore (D) - 44,909,806 (43.0%) and 370 electoral votes (32 states and D.C. carried)
George H. W. Bush/Dan Quayle (R) (Inc.) - 39,104,550 (37.4%) and 168 electoral votes (18 states carried)
Ross Perot/James Stockdale (I) - 19,743,821 (18.9%) and 0 electoral votes
Andre Marrou/Nancy Lord (L) - 290,087 (0.3%) and 0 electoral votes
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IMHO, the biggest problem with ANYONE running on ANY 3rd party ticket, is that the VAST majority of people in this country see only 2 choices for president. Whoever the Dems run, or whoever the Reps run. thats it. To the vast majority, anyone running on a 3rd party ticket, if they have even ever heard of them, or know they are even running, will be discounted as a fringe loon, running on the ticket of a fringe loon party, without even knowing anything about the person running, or the party, and without bothering to even look into the matter.
I'm not saying any of it is true, good, accurate, correct, desirable, etc. It's just that most people pay little attention, and only know what they see or read on the news, and they are perfectly fine with that.
Ask a sampling of random people about how many political parties we have in this country, and get them to name them, and most will answer "2, Republican and Democrat". most people dont know any other parties even exist, and if they do happen to hear about one, automatically assume they must be fringe nutjobs. If they werent, they'd be a Republican or a Democrat, in thier eyes. To them, a 3rd party, if they knwo they exist is the Comunist party, the nazi party, the socialist party, the Green party (I'm willing to bet thats the only 3rd party most people have even heard of, only because of Nader), etc.
Until people, and the system in this country change dramtically, 3rd parties, and thier candidates will be ignored by the large majority of vters, anbd have no chance of doing anything but syphoning votes away from one of the 2 major parties.
Those of us who actively read, research, discuss, etc these kinds of things are in the major minority. Most people are just lazy and ignorant, and are just fine with that and have no interest in changing. Mainly because they dont even know they are lazy and ignorant.
Just my thoughts. I could be 100% wrong. I hope I am,but I dont really think so. Face it, most of our countrymen are stupid, lazy, and self centered, and dont know or care one whit about that fact.
The good news, is that the internet is changing alot of things, and people are getting exposed to more than just what is fed them on tv and in papers and magazines, and things are slowly changing, IMHO. Also, geting you name, face and message out on the 'net is free, doing it on tv or in print is not (not even close on a major scale), and more people spend more time on the 'net than they do reading anythign made of paper, and it's quickly gaining on tv too. the future may have hope, and it WILL be interesting. Bring popcorn.
I'm not saying any of it is true, good, accurate, correct, desirable, etc. It's just that most people pay little attention, and only know what they see or read on the news, and they are perfectly fine with that.
Ask a sampling of random people about how many political parties we have in this country, and get them to name them, and most will answer "2, Republican and Democrat". most people dont know any other parties even exist, and if they do happen to hear about one, automatically assume they must be fringe nutjobs. If they werent, they'd be a Republican or a Democrat, in thier eyes. To them, a 3rd party, if they knwo they exist is the Comunist party, the nazi party, the socialist party, the Green party (I'm willing to bet thats the only 3rd party most people have even heard of, only because of Nader), etc.
Until people, and the system in this country change dramtically, 3rd parties, and thier candidates will be ignored by the large majority of vters, anbd have no chance of doing anything but syphoning votes away from one of the 2 major parties.
Those of us who actively read, research, discuss, etc these kinds of things are in the major minority. Most people are just lazy and ignorant, and are just fine with that and have no interest in changing. Mainly because they dont even know they are lazy and ignorant.
Just my thoughts. I could be 100% wrong. I hope I am,but I dont really think so. Face it, most of our countrymen are stupid, lazy, and self centered, and dont know or care one whit about that fact.
The good news, is that the internet is changing alot of things, and people are getting exposed to more than just what is fed them on tv and in papers and magazines, and things are slowly changing, IMHO. Also, geting you name, face and message out on the 'net is free, doing it on tv or in print is not (not even close on a major scale), and more people spend more time on the 'net than they do reading anythign made of paper, and it's quickly gaining on tv too. the future may have hope, and it WILL be interesting. Bring popcorn.
BoringAccountant
New member
jrfoxx, I think you hit the nail square on the head.
Everyday Americans cannot be bothered to do their own research on these things, they get the soundbites the media feeds them and go with that.
This is the main problem with the political process, a small minority of people take it seriously compared to the total number of voters, and therefore they are informed voters when they go to the polls. The rest of the voters maybe have heard this or that about the candidates but not the whole story and therefore are not as informed as they probably should be.
If we want to change the R or the D parties, no matter what our affiliation is, we need to focus on getting the word out to the 'common' voter who knows neither the way the political process works nor the actual stances on the issues and the impact that could have on all of us if some of these candidates were elected. Until then, burying our head in the sand and saying, "I will vote my conscience, to hell with the 'Conservative' Republicans, I will vote 3rd party" will do nothing to help change anything other than the potential outcome of the election, and not in a positive way.
Bob Barr may be serious about running, who knows, he may be 'more conservative' than McCain, but until he can run a good campaign, focus on the middle of the road voters, convince a large majority of the voters that he is serious, and get public attention, he is just a spoiler.
I agree with your idea, they are potentially impacted the most by this election.
Everyday Americans cannot be bothered to do their own research on these things, they get the soundbites the media feeds them and go with that.
This is the main problem with the political process, a small minority of people take it seriously compared to the total number of voters, and therefore they are informed voters when they go to the polls. The rest of the voters maybe have heard this or that about the candidates but not the whole story and therefore are not as informed as they probably should be.
If we want to change the R or the D parties, no matter what our affiliation is, we need to focus on getting the word out to the 'common' voter who knows neither the way the political process works nor the actual stances on the issues and the impact that could have on all of us if some of these candidates were elected. Until then, burying our head in the sand and saying, "I will vote my conscience, to hell with the 'Conservative' Republicans, I will vote 3rd party" will do nothing to help change anything other than the potential outcome of the election, and not in a positive way.
Bob Barr may be serious about running, who knows, he may be 'more conservative' than McCain, but until he can run a good campaign, focus on the middle of the road voters, convince a large majority of the voters that he is serious, and get public attention, he is just a spoiler.
I agree with your idea, they are potentially impacted the most by this election.