Something You May Have Missed Last Week About John McCain

While conservatives were celebrating the Heller decision that properly held the DC gun ban to violate the Second Amendment, you might have missed another 5-4 decision: that the "millionaires' amendment" to McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional. Yes, John McCain thought it would be a good idea to restrict the free speech rights of citizens based upon how much money they have. Has there ever been a more socialist-oriented, even-out-the-playing-field violation of free speech? Shouldn't that have been obvious to John McCain? And shouldn't you doubt his conservative credentials as a result?

"Barr sure sounds better than McCain"

That's the title of this article by a conservative columnist in the New Jersey Star Ledger. Conservatives are beginning to rally behind Bob Barr.

Transcript of Bob Barr Interview on ABC

Get it here. Bob Barr's most memorable line of the interview might just be, when asked if he questions John McCain's "conservative credentials": "I'm not sure that anybody can legitimately say that McCain is conservative."

Bob Barr: A Real Choice

I'm back from vacation, and this is one hell of a great way to get this thing going again. It's called "Bob Barr: a Real Choice":

A Short Break....

Yeah, I know...I just get this blog rolling and I go on vacation? But vacations are important too. See you in two weeks.

Bob Barr Tells John McCain That America Is Not an Occupying Power

More on the true conservative position on foreign policy here.

John McCain is "Ambiguous" About Whether He Would Obey the Law as President

The current administration has been criticized for its notions of an "imperial" presidency--a presidency that is above the law and the constitution. Conservatives have rightly criticized the president for that view. Bob Barr has led that charge, promising that his notion of presidential power is far less expansive than George W. Bush's. Simply put, Bob Barr believes in following the constitution and rejects the idea of an imperial president. As this article from Reason shows us, John McCain is significantly more ambiguous about his own views of presidential authority. Republicans should insist on a much greater commitment to the constitution than McCain offers in this regard.

John McCain the Waffler

Here's an interesting piece from an unlikely source. The Philadelphia Inquirer is a liberal paper, but Dick Polman's column about McCain "at the Waffle House" is a spot-on attack that should appeal, in large part, to conservatives wondering about McCain's conservative credentials. McCain, unlike a true conservative, waffles and changes his tune when the political winds blow a different way.

McCain v. Barr--the Debate

No, the major parties haven't yet agreed to let Bob Barr in on the debates, but here's a link to a nearly hour-long discussion between Matt Welch of Reason magazine and Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review Online. Welch has had the goods on McCain for a long while. His book McCain: the Myth of a Maverick does a nice job of accurately portraying McCain as the big-government/anti-liberty/neo(faux)-con candidate that he is. Welch wants us to vote for Bob Barr and I think he makes, by far, the more convincing argument. Ponnuru plans to vote for McCain. Watch the video and see who has the better pitch. For my money, it's Welch all the way.

If you want the abridged version that does about 11 minutes on Bob Barr and disaffected conservatives, go here.

Tom DeLay's wife is voting for Bob Barr

Now that's the kind of independent thinking from true conservatives that will send a message to the national GOP. More here.

Bob Barr on Glenn Beck

See the whole, hour-long, wide-ranging interview here.

"Reduce and Simplify Taxes"

That's the message from Bob Barr, not John McCain. In a recent press release, Barr sets forth his goal, leaving open the idea of the Fair Tax, a flat income tax, or some other means of eliminating the absurdity of the current tax structure in the US. That's a fundamentally conservative concept that John McCain can't be trusted to adopt, let alone follow through on. A vote for Bob Barr sends a message to the GOP that certain ideas cannot be compromised and one of those ideas is a commitment to simplifying and reducing the federal tax burden on the average American. McCain goes on about earmarks--and, make no mistake, earmarks are an outrage--but earmarks are a tiny part of the fiscal problem in a government that spends too much money on bloated bureaucracies like the Department of Education and takes too much money from the average working taxpayer.

The candidate who will truly reduce government, lower taxes and increase freedom is Bob Barr, and a vote for him sends the message to the Republican Party that John McCain is completely unacceptable on all three counts.

John McCain's Deal-Breaking Moment With Republicans

We all have our top-five list of reasons why John McCain hates liberty and shouldn't be the GOP nominee, but there is not a clearer more obvious deal-breaker for me with McCain than campaign finance reform.

Let's be as simple as possible: John McCain sponsored a bill that made it illegal for advocacy groups to air ads immediately before an election. He thought it was proper and constitutional to silence free speech based on his concept of the "public good."

Read that again, and think about the implications. John McCain thinks that silencing free speech is a good idea. He wants the government to shut you up for your own good.

And he wants Republicans to vote for him? In order to be a president who defends the constitution, one needs to be a person who has not tried in the past to undermine it completely.

Conservative Republicans should say no, no and no again to John McCain. His assault on the constitution must be stopped.

Vote Bob Barr.

Bob Barr on The Colbert Report

I have to admit that the "Babar" line made me laugh out loud.

No Permanent U.S. Bases in Iraq

That's what Bob Barr says, because he's not a nation-building faux-conservative like John McCain.
More here.

Debating For Liberty: a Challenge

From the Barr '08 campaign:

Bob Barr Welcomes Election Contest with Barack Obama and John McCain, Urges Weekly Debates

Atlanta, GA -- Tonight the Democratic Party effectively finished its nomination process, choosing Sen. Barack Obama as its presidential candidate. Sen. Hillary Clinton fought long and well, helping spur a record voter turnout on the Democratic side. In most any other year she would have been her party’s standard-bearer, but she fell short against Sen. Obama, perhaps the Democrats’ most eloquent proponent of liberalism.

Sen. John McCain defeated his leading opponents even earlier to become the presumptive Republican nominee. Sen. McCain has a distinguished career, beginning with his military service during the Vietnam War. He well represents a Republican Party that has become an advocate of slightly smaller big government at home and aggressive war-making abroad.

I, and the Libertarian Party, offer a very different alternative to the American people: limited, constitutional government dedicated to protecting individual liberty. I look forward to a vigorous contest this fall and meeting my fellow candidates to debate the many important issues facing our nation. But there is no need to limit the debates to the usual handful of carefully choreographed contests.

In congratulatory letters I am sending, I challenge Senators Obama and McCain to meet me in weekly debate in cities across America with just the candidates and a moderator to keep order. Let us argue the issues, after which the American people can make their decision on Election Day. Surely the citizens of the greatest nation on earth deserve no less.

A Vote for Bob Barr Is Not a "Wasted" Vote

You'll hear talking heads like Sean Hannity try to tell you that as a Republican you'd be wasting your vote to vote for Bob Barr. Courtesy of the Libertarian Republican Blog, here's a rebuttal that hits the nail on the head. John McCain is a waste of your vote, not Bob Barr:

"BOB BARR IS NOT A WASTED VOTE
BY SAM FINLEY

You will hear these words a lot for the next few months. Many Republicans will tell you that voting for any candidate other than John McCain is a wasted vote. But in the case of Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, I’m here to tell you these folks have it dead wrong.

If anything, the real wasted vote in this election is John McCain. A vote for McCain is an approval of the continued “talk small government, but enact big government” policies that the GOP has pursued for years. It is a validation of that they can get away with slighting conservatives and libertarians’ wishes for lower taxes, lower spending, and more individual freedom, because they think we have nowhere else to go.

However, by voting for the former Republican Congressman from Georgia, we can send a clear message to the GOP establishment that their abandonment of limited government principles will no longer be tolerated.

It is a chance to tell them that if they want our vote in future elections, then they need to start getting behind ideas that Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan would applaud…rather than backing issues that must have them spinning in their graves.

Having said that, there is the argument that a vote for Barr over McCain is a vote for Barack Obama. But considering that McCain supports many of the same socialist policies as the Democrat from Illinois, then those of us who love freedom need to ask ourselves this question: If McCain wins this election, what do we win? Not much if you ask me.

The fact is that Bob Barr will be the only legitimate pro-liberty candidate on the ballot this November…and he deserves the support of any Republican who is tired of watching the GOP continue its wayward decline to irrelevance. A vote for anyone else is merely wasted.

*Note - Sam Finley is a sportscaster and writer in Oregon. He is a longtime RLC member. He is one of the original Co-Founders of Libertarians for Bush in 2004."

More Bob Barr on TV

He'll also be on the 7pm EDT edition of Glenn Beck's show Thursday June 5.

Bob Barr on TV

Wednesday June 4 at 11:30 pm EDT, and rerun on Thursday at 8:30 pm EDT, Bob Barr will be on Comedy Central's acclaimed The Colbert Report. Somewhere amidst Stephen Colbert's Bill O'Reilly parody, I'm thinking there will actually be some serious discussion of the way the Bush administration (and John McCain) have little regard for your constitutional rights, and why Bob Barr should get your vote.

Bob Barr Reacts to Mike Huckabee's Speech That Insulted Small-Government Republicans

Mike Huckabee and John McCain are cut from the same cloth--the neo (read: faux) conservative kind that supports big-government solutions to issues that face the country. Huckabee's speech the other day blasting the libertarian wing of the Republican Party was a disgrace. He is a poor heir to the Reagan/Goldwater legacy of small government, and John McCain is not much different in that regard.

Bob Barr reacted quickly to Huckabee's remarks: "This is why I am running for President: to provide an alternative to the big spending, big government advocates representing the Republican and Democratic parties. My goal is to roll back the size of government and allow Americans as individuals, families, associations, and communities to step forward as they have throughout U.S. history.”

Read the whole story, with Bob Barr's complete statement, here.

John McCain Doesn't Care About Individual Liberty

Conservative columnist P.J. O'Rourke once said that conservatives are "participants in an enormous non-march on Washington -- millions and millions of Americans not descending upon the nation's capital in order to demand nothing from the United States government. To demand nothing, that is, except the one thing which no government in history has been able to do -- leave us alone."

But the page of John McCain's website that purports to be about the "issues" of the campaign will lead you to the conclusion that John McCain has no plans to leave you alone. In fact, despite the most intrusive big-government program of them all--the Patriot Act--John McCain has nothing to say about the matter. That's because he wholeheartedly supports Patriot Act intrusions into your life. His is not a conservative posititon at all. He is a big-government bureaucrat whom real Republicans should reject.

On the other hand, Bob Barr led the fight against an open-ended Patriot Act--insisting that the measure include "sunset" expiration dates--and now has taken a firm. principled. conservative position against that law. From the Barr '08 website:

" Unfortunately, in recent years government at all levels has shown growing disrespect for the Constitution, particularly the Fourth Amendment that protects citizens from unlawful searches and seizures. The sustained government attack on the sanctity of the rights of the individual, including their right to be secure in their privacy and property, has created a moral and Constitutional crisis. America’s elected officials at all levels must renew their respect for the law and work to protect the rights of individuals."

Notably, Bob Barr's website contains an entire section entitled "Individual Liberty." Bob's the real conservative in this race. he wants the government out of your life, not intruding farther farther into it. His is the stance of Barry Goldwater--that the federal government that leaves its citizens alone is the one that we should strive towards.

A Strong National Defense, Without Nation-Building

Bob Barr understands the need for a strong national defense, but he categorically rejects the efforts of the current adminstration--and John McCain--to use the men and women of the United States armed forces to nation-build. Barr, from his website:

• "For far too long and at the cost of American blood and treasure, our great military has been too willingly and quickly used for purposes other than national defense. Our fighting men and women deserve better and the integrity of our nation must be restored.
• Our National Defense policy must renew a commitment to non-intervention. We are not the world's police force and our long, yet recently tarnished, tradition of respecting the sovereignty of other nations is necessary, not from only a moral standpoint, but to regain the respect of the world as a principled and peaceful nation.
• The proper use of force is clear. If attacked, the aggressor will experience firsthand the skillful wrath of the American fighting man. However, invading or initiating force against another nation based upon perceived threats and speculative intelligence is simply un-American. We are better than the policy of pre-emptive warfare."

These principles are fundamentally the principles of the Republican Party, before it was hijacked by the current administration, who promised a foreign policy that was careful not to engage in nation-building, but delivered precisely the opposite.

Indeed, the issue of fiscal restraint--again, a core value of the GOP, pre-George W. Bush--is intimately related to a sensible foreign policy. Many conservatives are outraged at the prolonged nature of the Iraq conflict, and its exorbitant cost. Yet John McCain offers only more of the same. On this issue, a return of the Republican Party to its roots can best be accomplished by voting for Bob Barr, a true conservative, and rejecting the policies of John McCain.

More from Bob Barr on national defense and foreign restraint can be found here.