Liberty Maven

Yesterday the FOX 5 affiliate in Atlanta covered Bob Barr’s recent good polling numbers in a handful of states. The ultimate question in the story is “has Barr’s campaign already reached its high water mark?” For the sake of the liberty message I certainly hope not.

The story and link to video report is here.

Bob Barr appeared for an interview on CNN “American Morning” this morning discussing Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic Convention and his own campaign on the issues.

Here is Barr’s rather abbreviated appearance on The Colbert Report where Colbert called Barr a “friend of the show”. He discussed global warming and his polling numbers. Not great. Not horrible.

This is just a quick reminder that Bob Barr will appear for the second time on The Colbert Report this evening at 11:30pm EST. Tune in to witness Barr’s sudden comedic talents or lack thereof. Yet more great exposure for the best choice in November.

According to the Barr campaign, Barr is going to be showing up on various main stream media outlets this week. Tuesday night he appears on The Colbert Report for the second time. He will be on CNN on Wednesday and Friday mornings. He is also taping his second full hour with Glenn Beck on Thursday, likely to be aired Friday evening (as that is when Beck usually airs his full hour TV interviews).

Barr has also shown some continued traction in the Zogby state by state polling as well. Hopefully these new media appearances will continue to help him reach new heights in polling (15%) allowing him to get into the debates. Sure it is unlikely, but anything can happen in politics. I will remain realistic yet hopeful.

Much speculation has occurred about who Ron Paul will endorse following the Republican Convention and his Rally For The Republic. Perhaps just as much speculation has occurred about whether he will endorse anyone at all. If he were to endorse a candidate, the two names that have the most potential are Libertarian candidate Bob Barr and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin. However, it’s high time to realize that Ron Paul’s endorsement isn’t the be all and end all. Let’s take a look at some other candidates that Congressman Ron Paul has endorsed already.

Sifting through the list of endorsed candidates from Ron Paul’s Liberty PAC web site reveals that Paul is no liberty purist like so many of his supporters. To me, this shows Paul does compromise and play politics to further the larger goal rather than focus on specific issues of fundamental disagreement. The fact that he endorses sending money to Paul Broun, an Iraq war and surge supporting Congressman from Georgia demonstrates this. It gets worse, much worse.

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A rather interesting article appeared in the Wall Street Journal today regarding the recent split among Nevada GOP delegates. Some delegates are backing Ron Paul and some are backing John McCain and neither side is giving an inch. The author uses this as further proof that Republicans are not sold on McCain for President. When you then add Libertarian candidate Bob Barr to the mix John McCain has something to truly worry about.

PAHRUMP, NEV. — Two Nevada delegations are packing their bags for the Republican National Convention Sept. 1, and if the latest party ruling stands, neither of them will be seated.

A fiasco at the state convention spawned the dueling delegations — one for John McCain and one for Ron Paul — and their continued wrangling has exposed a split in the party that may spell trouble in a key state for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Running a strident libertarian campaign in the primaries, Texas Rep. Ron Paul tapped a seam of Republican frustration across the country, railing against the Bush administration’s impact on civil liberties, foreign policy and the growing federal government. Mr. Paul’s message resonated particularly in Nevada, a state where frontier spirit and personal freedom runs deep, and he captured second place in the January state caucuses, ahead of Sen. McCain.

Mr. Paul has suspended his campaign, but his libertarian loyalists have not. Their lingering discontentment and underlying philosophical differences may prove fertile territory for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, Bob Barr, and dangerous ground for Sen. McCain if even a portion of the Republican base is too disgruntled to vote. Nevada is shaping up as a key battleground in the presidential race; President Bush won the state by roughly 20,000 votes in each of the last two elections, and Democrats are contesting it strongly this year. Republican hopes in Nevada have also been hampered by the scandal-plagued GOP governor, Jim Gibbons, whose approval ratings have tanked as he has dealt with a messy divorce and a federal corruption investigation.

Read the full article.

The Barr campaign posted a video of Bob Barr doing an odd sort of stand up comedy routine, stump speech in Philadelphia. I admit I actually laughed a few times at his jokes too. Check it out below.

Bob Barr

This afternoon WashingtonPost.com had a Q&A session with Bob Barr. I found it somewhat annoying that he didn’t answer all the questions (or they weren’t included in the transcript) when someone asked a two- or three-part question, but nonetheless it could serve well for those not too familiar with Bob Barr. Oh, and the closet Libertarian purist in me cringed when he called for “some form of a consumption type tax” in lieu of the IRS and payroll deductions.

Read it here.

Penn Jillette (everyone’s favorite magician/comedian/juggler libertarian) appeared on Glenn Beck’s TV show last night. Beck discussed his lack of satisfaction with “either” of the choices for President. Jillette quickly corrected him regarding his incorrect assumption and mentioned Bob Barr and Ron Paul.

Beck then agreed with Jillette and said that he will “probably vote” for Barr. He went on to say that he wants to send someone to cover Ron Paul’s Rally For The Republic in Minneapolis and wants to hear what the speakers at the event have to say except for one thing: about 10% of Ron Paul supporters “scare the living bejeezus” out of him.

Penn Jillette replies with logic as he so often does arguing that 10% is not too bad. He argues that you are always going to have “nuts” in a group and some of those “nuts” may think Beck is nuts.

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