Things are going to be fun the next few months:
Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr has announced that he’s running for president as a Libertarian.
His candidacy would be a wild card in the White House race and many believe it would hurt Republican Sen. John McCain.
Barr made the announcement Monday at a news conference. He first must win the Libertarian nomination at the party’s national convention that begins May 22. Party officials consider him a front-runner thanks to the national profile he developed as a Georgia congressman from 1995 to 2003.
Barr, 59, helped lead Bill Clinton’s impeachment. He quit the Republican Party two years ago, saying he had grown disillusioned with its failure to shrink government and its willingness to scale back civil liberties in fighting terrorism.
As he has announced as a libertarian, I will use some libertarian speak and give this news a hearty “Heh.” Also today, we see this:
Virtually all the nation’s political attention in recent weeks has focused on the compelling state-by-state presidential nomination struggle between two Democrats and the potential for party-splitting strife over there.
But in the meantime, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and his libertarian-minded GOP backers are collecting delegates at the local level and planning a revolt against Sen. John McCain at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September, quietly, largely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in Minnesota at the beginning of September.
We will give this a “Double Heh” with a twisting “Indeed” dismount. A wry observer might note that they are not only against you, they are working for the other side.
And while I cheer this chiefly for the mayhem, the simple fact of the matter is that either Ron Paul or Bob Barr would be better than John McCain. I am still pretty convinced that Bob Barr is batshit crazy, but at least he has been right on some pretty important issues, and right on some trivial ones as well.
You have to love it, though, and while it is a used and worn observation, Bush really was a uniter- everyone hates Republicans.
Incertus
I really hope they do some damage to McCain’s prospects, of course, but I doubt they’ll actually swing any state. It would be delicious if they did, especially given that Texas has tightened up and that’s Paul’s base state. If they decided to back Barr and give the finger to McCain, wow. And if Noriega benefited and knocked out “Box Turtle” Cornyn, that would even be more awesome.
Bobzim
“Operation Paul-os”?
horatius
A lot of house cleaning’s overdue in this country. It’s like one of the stalls at a concert where booze is liberally served. The urine and faeces are overflowing. Time to clean up.
Helena Montana
My son, who, sadly, is about as far right wing a Republican as you can get said that uniter thing about Bush. I ’bout dropped my teeth.
Helena Montana
And may I add what a pleasure it is to see that ratfuckers get ratfucked?
Krista
/Canadian judge gives it an 8.5
Svensker
Except for P.Luk., who’s voting for McCain.
Z
Well, you can’t fool all the people all the time. It has taken longer for some than others, but Republican bubbles having been steadily bursting for years now. It has finally reached critical mass. This is what I love about my fellow Americans.. as soon as they really start paying attention, they see through the stupid.
SamFromUtah
Except for P.Luk., who’s voting for McCain.
Now, now, that’s for our own good, and it hurts him more than it hurts us.
ThymeZone
And Joe Lieberman, who is busy inspecting McCain’s bearings every morning.
Delia
So who’s it going to be, Barr or Paul? It seems to be the libertarians should unite under one banner. Or are they, um, too libertarian for that?
Tsulagi
Go Ron Paul!
nightjar
Maybe the gooper clusterfuck will get going bout the time ours winds down. Politics is fun as a barrel of laughing lizards.
Punchy
What’s this mean? Picketing? An on-stage anti-McCant speech? I dont think they’ll even let him in the building, will they?
Expect Bob Barr soon to be labeled, “the secondmost liberal–behind Obama–in Congress”. Ackshool facks are stoopid.
SamFromUtah
So who’s it going to be, Barr or Paul?
Barr, natch. He’s just gooder.
demimondian
And Paul (for all I hate his racial rhetoric) is spreading his special brand of Libertarian chaos in Nevada, too. First, his supporters actually tried to pretend that democracy had any place in Republican politics in Nevada, and, now, even worse, they’re encouraging him to run as an independent there if they don’t actually get democracy.
Oh, Lord. What a cluterratfuck
ThymeZone
McCain-Paul. Stir in a little Hagee, and you have cornered the Crazy Motherfucker Vote in the coming election.
MattF
And last week– specifically, on Wednesday morning, everybody knew it. Something in the air…
Krista
That would be so delightful to watch, wouldn’t it. The Repubs are having a great time watching the Clinton/Obama cage-match. It would be nice for the right-wing to put on a similar show for us, no?
nightjar
Nothing so entertaining as when wingnuts eat their own. They consume everything but the fur.
Garrigus Carraig
O frabjous day. It’s a shame Doc has decided against running third party; an Pony-Walnuts-Doc-Barr election would be rollicking. Just imagine a four-way vice-presidential debate!
I’m not sure Doc will be able to shake up the convention, but Barr should draw some votes from Walnuts, which he can’t afford. At. All.
Splitting Image
All good news. Despite the current narrative in the big media outlets, the Republicans are facing a far deeper schism than the Democrats.
Democratic problems are caused by people’s personal loyalty to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Despite what some people are saying, Obama is not planning to shiv feminists in the back and Clinton isn’t planning to shiv black activists (at least not outside of the campaign).
Libertarians, on the other hand, have very good reasons to feel betrayed by the GOP, and evangelicals have a few as well. Even some Mormons may be questioning their loyalty at the moment. Romney was a terrible candidate for a host of reasons, but for some people it kept coming back to “We can’t have a President who is… who is… one of THEM!”
bostondreams
I actually had drinks with Bob Barr when he came to UF to particpate in a Bill of Rights workshop put on by my very left department chair and full of lefty professors and grad students. It was great, and I have to admit that my opinion of him was raised quite a bit. He admitted his own partisanship, but said some rather great things about folks like Russ Feingold and other liberals. While social issues divide us, he said, there were some basic principles we could agree on. It was, as I said, an eye opening discussion.
sean
Barr gets my vote for eating cheese that Borat’s wife made…”with milk from her tit”
calipygian
I’m in Omaha right now and heard a minute long radio commercial on a popular Omaha station for Ron Paul, paid for by the Ron Paul campaign.
I guess that only makes sense in the context of a delegate revolt, if it makes any sense at all.
Kevin
Isn’t Mike Gravel (haha) also trying to run as a Libertarian?
TheFountainHead
In other news, Ayn Rand rolls in her grave.
Incertus
She can roll all she wants, as long as she doesn’t write anything else.
Sock Puppet of the Great Satan
From the “everyone hates Republicans” article:
Go Newt! ‘cos if anything will save the Republicans, it’s getting the jackboot of the Census Bureau off their throats of the ‘Merkin people.
HeartlandLiberal
Can you say SCHADENFREUDE?
Try it.
There, doesn’t that feel good? I knew you could. $DEITY knows I am enjoying it.
I will of course never vote Republican again, I don’t care if it is for dog catcher.
And if H. Clinton steals the nomination from Obama, I will GLADLY vote for Bob Barr on the Libertarian ticket instead.
Dan
Bob Barr to GOP: “Go boil your bottoms, you food trough wipers.”
b. hussein canuckistani
edited for accuracy
Bubblegum Tate
A-to the muthafuckin’-men!
John Cole
I would like to point out that my title was awesome, since none of you ungrateful wretches has noticed it.
Josh
I admit I’ve never read anything by Rand. I picked up Atlas Shrugged once, opened it, saw it was about 1,200 pages written in 6 point print and figured it was the product of a diseased mind. Given my interactions with her acolytes, I was right.
Blue Raven
I had that fantasy going into the California elections two years ago. Then I realized that the Demo candidate for insurance commissioner was far too crooked and in the insurance companies’ pockets for me to feel safe voting for him. The Repub was moderate and had a much cleaner record. The only Republicans who won statewide office that year were incumbents and the insurance guy.
nightjar
Well, I did notice it, but the mental image of rodent sodomy was too much for my delicate sensibilities. Ugh!
Jen
The cool thing about this is that it has vicious circle written all over it. The more doomed the R’s seem, the less motivated their disenchanted members will be to toe the party line, the more chaos they will sow, and the more doomed the R’s will be.
Dave S.
Good call, Josh@133. I read both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and desperately want those endless hours of my life back.
nightjar
New wingnut campaign slogan. A Vote For Us is a Vote For teh Circle of Doom
Hee, hee.
SamFromUtah
The more doomed the R’s seem, the less motivated their disenchanted members will be to toe the party line, the more chaos they will sow, and the more doomed the R’s will be.
I think so, and it’s because the one thing that all the different factions agree on is that they’re the only one that’s right and everybody else is With The Terrorists. It’s times like this that show that “Negotiation = WEAK” is a stupid way to look at things.
Krista
It’s almost 4pm — time for John’s daily ego-stroking, people! C’mon, I can’t do it alone!
Grumpy Code Monkey
Data point: there are something like eighty gajillion Ron Paul signs and bumper stickers around Austin, while I’ve yet to see anything for John McCain. I’m sure there were a couple at the polling places during the primary, but since then — nada.
Heh. Ron Paul as the GOP’s Ralph Nader makes me feel … happy.
Tim (The Other One)
Rand is best savored during the high school years when the world revolves around you.
smiley
Both. Barr’s running as a libertarian and Paul’s running as a republican. But both will be puling votes away from McCain.
smiley
I should add that’s if they get on the ballot. Expect some McCain campaign legal horse shit about that.
Cyrus
I predicted a few weeks or months before the 2004 election, without the benefit of polling or any silly evidence on my side, that the Libertarian candidate would have the same spoiler effect on Republicans in that election as Nader had on Democrats in 2000. After the 2004 election, of course, I was kicking myself. Expecting libertarian principles to motivate any significant number of Republicans to jump ship in protest over massive expansion of the government’s size and power, not to mention a crazy little thing like torture? How naive of me. (No offense to the people around here like our esteemed bloghost.) Now that an actual, genuinely well-known Republican like Bob Barr is running as a Libertarian, though, maybe I was just early.
jrg
Reading the comments at the bottom of the article, I could not help but notice that Ron Paul supporters seem to hate Baby Jesus, and they seem to believe that freedom is, like, free. Don’t they realize that with inflation, “Freedom isn’t Free” bumper stickers are selling at $2.50 a pop, up $.50 from last year?
What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they want to live in a totally awesome Christian nation? Also, why on earth do these Paulistinians like Saddam Hussein so much that they think he should still be running Iraq?
Seriously, though, I might give a few bucks to the Libertarian party this year, in the hopes of siphoning off a few votes from the Christofacist Sharia Party of America.
Zifnab
Don’t be understand that a vote against McCain is a vote for Islamofascism? Why aren’t more people Islamofascalistically Aware? Someone get David Horowitz on the phone.
Face
I have a feeling this is more sinister. If you can manipulate the Census, you can claim more peeps in “your” district, more Reps in very red districts, etc. Associated with the whole “redistricting” scheme, I think.
Suddenly San Fran has a population of 89, and Lubbock, TX has 4.5 million. natch.
dslak
Given how worried many xenophobic and racist conservatives are about whites becoming a minority in the near future, I’m sure they’ve got some plan in the works to prevent the non-white folk from being counted.
PeterJ
I stay away from cults, I won’t read anything penned by L Ron Hubbard and I won’t read Ayn Rand.
r€nato
I was kinda thinking that the Paul-bots wouldn’t go away quietly, and that they would pull some shenanigans at the GOP convention. I’m glad to hear I was right!
I hope the Min-StP cops assign extra officers to the public restroom detail…
I read Atlas Shrugged. I liked it actually, but I also recognized it was fiction, not the basis for a philosophy. I also liked it in spite of it being fucking turgid in places. How long was John Galt’s monologue, 88 pages? Holy crap.
r€nato
“Operation Paul-os”?
More like Operation Mayhem.
His name is Ron Paul, son! His name is Ron Paul, son!
ET
Speaking of Ayn Rand, I saw this clip of Barr where the interviewer asked his biggest influence and he said any Rand. I near about gagged. Up until that point he sounded more sane than just about every Republican.
Blue Raven
I read some of her shorter works while in college, and objectivism actually helped me get out of the loop I was in thinking I had to please the world and not myself. I’ve always been too spiritual and tender-hearted to go along with much else of her attitudes and opinions, but boy, did I need to hear “enlightened self-interest” when I did. I’m also glad I read Branden’s story of his time with her during the same phase. Gave me some really good perspective on her and kept me from falling too far overboard as well.
r€nato
If Bob Barr would only ‘fess up that his Clinton witch-hunt was totally retarded, I could have some respect for the guy.
r€nato
Ron Paul sounds more sane than just about every Republican, as well… until he starts talking about any topic other than the war and Bush/Cheney’s evisceration of the Constitution.
SmilingPolitely
“His name Ron Paul, son!” Bwahahahaha!
That’s freakin’ great!
TheFountainHead
Put it this way, which would you rather have, a world where High School students were taught the theory of evolution and a few of them read Ayn Rand, or a world where High School students are taught that maybe Jesus rode a dinosaur and Liberal Facism was a required summer reading text?
SamFromUtah
Put it this way, which would you rather have…
If only those weren’t the only two options in existence!
Fulcanelli
Man you guys are on FIRE today. I’m cryin’ over here…
Barr and Paul diving into the shallow end of the pool. Should be fun to watch. Me and the MUP’ll be sitting on the patio watching, nursing a single malt, Barry will have the pool drain stopper in his hand.
Awesome title, John. Gawd, you rawk!
Tax Analyst
You’re right, Krista, and it’s quite disappointing that no one picked up your subtle (pronounced “sub-tull”) hint to
kiss John’s…er…stroke John’s ego.Waytago, John. “Ayn Random Ratfuckery” IS an awesome thread title post.
You know, it actually IS pretty damned good.
Fulcanelli
BTW, John remember that sleep aid you were looking for? It’s called the writings of Ayn Rand. Definitely NOT habit forming.
Kevin
Steve Poizner? He won because he essentially bought the office, using his fortune to run tons of TV ads. He tried to buy his way into the Assembly before that, but it didn’t work.
Dennis - SGMM
Blogger? No. Bodhisatva of blogging? Perhaps. John Cole’s recent post title, “Ayn Random Ratfuckery,” has this commenter grasping in vain for superlatives that are super enough to characterize it without diminishing its awesomeness. Cole’s transformation of novelist Rand’s last name reveals worlds of meaning to those knowledgeable about the Libertarian movement while his use of the neologism “Ratfuckery” subtly emphasizes the hip and in-the-now tone that has kept Balloon Juice at the top of every astute Internet user’s Bookmarks. Those who worship the words of Dorothy Parker or H.L. Mencken will be comfortable adding John Cole to their panoply.
/Rinses keyboard with straight bleach.
Delia
I think I read an Ayn Rand novel back in high school but I can’t remember which one it was. I believe that’s for the best.
Z
Dennis – SGMM,
I can haz panoply?
Zifnab
I read Anthem. This was coming off of Orwell’s 1984 which was a great read in spirit but had entirely too many logical fallacies to swallow whole. Orwell predicted a world in which everyone in the elite upper class agreed with each other and shared power equitably and fairly – you had three super states that never actually tried to conquer one another, just continue fighting endless wars to keep their people in check. That was too much for me to believe. Sooner or later, someone starts drinking his own kool-aid. And then its only a matter of time before Panzers start rolling towards St. Petersburg. This, combined with the fact that the society was falling apart. Eventually, people would just start running out of food. You can’t sustain that level of corruption and malfeasance over the long term.
Anthem was even worse. People voluntarily gave up all their coolest toys, en mass. It’s like the entire world got conquered by the Amish. The premise was so totally beyond belief, I couldn’t begin to choke it down. Technology makes your society win. One idiot with a pistol and a hand grenade could conquer the entire Randian Universe. Hell, in Anthem, I think you could get by with a hatchet and an atalatal.
It’s just so god damn unbelievable.
Bubblegum Tate
I have to admit, I’m actually sort of curious about Dianetics, if only to see how it can sucker people in like it does.
Not curious enough to actually read it, though.
D. Mason
I agree that 1984 required some rather liberal suspension of disbelief for some parts but after the past 7 years I can visualize A LOT more of it than when I originally read the book.
Having never read Rand I can’t agree or disagree there.
Seanly
Double that for The Fountainhead and triple for Atlas Shrugged. There is one point in A.S. where she is writing about all the horribly mundane products like toasters and inexpensive radios made by the high copper alloy that plays a role in the book. Then the train with all these common plebes with their cheap transistor radios goes off the rails because the mighty rail company couldn’t use the copper alloy steel.
If people like the shining new popular metal, what is wrong with other people using that popularity to build all sorts of crap with? If it’s more expensive than other steels, then there will be a premium price for it. If it is less expensive then people are producing popular goods for less & presumably making more money.
Also, no rail company in the world would immediately begin changing their rails to some new metal overnight.
Why is it that libertarians seems to have no concept of 1) how markets work & 2) how human nature works?
Dennis - SGMM
Aboluty!
Soylent Green
Religion does not have a monopoly on fairy dust.
Tom
Nobody like McCain. Even the nutjob neocons. This is going to be a landslide loss for the criminal enterprise known as the republican party.
Paul Weimer
Agreed. I read Anthem as a favor to a friend who thought Rand was brilliant and I wanted to try something “bite sized” in Rand.
I tried to read it as science fiction, and failed. It was bad as science fiction and bad as political fiction.
Hours of my life that I will never get back.
Graeme
There may be a time in the future when I can stomach voting GOP again, but it’s hard to imagine at this point.
As much as I hate the Paultards, I was glad to see him every time he was actually allowed in the Republican debates. I was heartened every time folks who were probably pre-screened as Wtards cheered when he talked about what a stupid waste the war is. That was so much more than I expected from the GOP.
Delicious.
As for Reynolds… I thought his review of the Ron Paul book was funny, because I didn’t even get the feeling he’d read it. He just kinda phoned it in, saying essentially “I like to pretend to be a Libertarian, but I read a lot of Heinlein, so I get too excited reading Michael Yon and imagining fantastic feats of military prowess to vote anything other than Republican. Plus, the GOP obviously drives so much traffic to me that I have to blow Jonah Goldberg and his obviously retarded book concept.”
What a fucking cheap shill that guy turned out to be…
bostondreams
Zifnab says:
You know, some folks argue that in fact society and the system that so oppresses Winston Smith does in fact collapse; if you consider the appendix section concerning Newspeak, it may indicate that the society did not last. Consider that it is written from a historical approach, in Oldspeak, and makes references to the government and society in the ‘past’ tense.
So, when I teach this novel, we do spend alot of time on this portion. I guess I’m softie, because it gives my kids hope after the, let’s face it, misery of the rest of the novel.
conumbdrum
Agreed on all counts. I was in a special one-man English class at my high school where I mostly got to pick my own books (The Tin Drum, Light in August, V, etc.), and my mentor handed me Atlas Shrugged, telling me “This book will change your life.” After I finished it, I opined to him that, while the book was entertaining, the whole thing came off as a giant slab of propaganda… like how all the characters that subscribe to Rand’s worldview are virile, world-beating achievers, while those of the opposite viewpoint were, to a person, sniveling, treacherous rodents. Basically, I told him that the whole thing seemed, well, utterly ridiculous. Man, I’ll never forget the look of disappointment on his face.
John Cole
That is more like it.
Seth
Bob Barr deserves at least a handful of votes simply for appearing in Borat and eating Mrs Borat’s special homemade cheese.