My good friend and state chair Steve Gordon looked to be just fine as this was going on. Incidentally, Steve has been on board with impeachment for years.

Thanks for clarifying. That is fascinating. Did Steve Gordon look like he crapped his pants as this was going on?

Before I answer, a quick note about the name.

Paulie cannoli is an alliterative nickname which rhymes. It’s sort of like Red Fred or Eddie Spaghetti. “Mr. Cannoli” just ain’t it.

Now, as to your question: the exchange was at the Alabama Libertarian Party convention, 4/20/08. I asked my question from the floor, and several dozen people heard me and heard Bob Barr’s response.

By the way, Bob Barr gave an interesting answer about 9/11 conspiracy theories. He said some of his friends believe the US government was involved, and some don’t, and he believes his friends.

Hey, so did I !

More evidence of a vast right-wing anti-Libertarian conspiracy…….. the truth is out there…….

Bob blamed the Libertarian commercial for his defeat LONG before he became a Libertarian, thus he wasn’t doing it to flatter them.

Besides, thinking that a gun accidentally going off while he held it would change the opinion of enough voters to swing a 3 point positive to a 28 point negative is dillusional.

What color is the sky in your world?

9/11 truth is credible to a lot of people, and they would be much more open to considering libertarian ideas than those who find 9/11 truth to be incredible.

How could I view it as anything but nonsense to state Barr is somehow still a CIA “operative” or “asset”?

The Agency has numerous “former” employees. I have no inside information as to whether or not Barr is one of them. I don’t particularly care to talk to the people I used to know who could find out.

And all these people are being kept quiet?

Not all of them. You may want to do some research on the work of ex-CIA critics such as Agee, Ray McGovern, Victor Marchetti, and others.

I left something similar. It was not in a body bag.

This, at a minimum, would tend to indicate the same is possible with the Agency:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Agee

I’m not saying it would excuse the mishap entirely. I’ve been around guns since I was a little kid, and I always learned to treat guns as if they could potentially go off at any time, no matter if they were loaded. However, if I was handed a cocked and loaded gun and it went off, that would be an act of carelessness on my part. But the person who handed it to me committed an act of idiocy…

““Respectable to whom? If you count popularity, it has a lot more adherents than the LP does.”

So does Scientology. Or UFO conspiracies. Or young Earth creationists.”

Being in the LP might not be credible. Believing in UFOs might not be credible. Scientology might not be credible. However, imagine there is a candidate running for office who was in the LP, believed in UFOs, was a Scientologist, and believed in 9/11 Truth. The effect is additive, that candidate would be less credible than any person believing in any single one of those ideas.

My point: being a libertarian is already not too credible, so why make it worse by associating with another not too credible movement, 9/11 Truth?

“darolew – I’m not “implying” that Barr is a CIA asset, I’m stating it as an objective fact. Nonsense? Next you’ll tell me the sky isn’t blue.”

What? Barr hasn’t worked for the CIA for decades. He worked for the CIA from 1971 to 1978. It’s an objective fact that Barr has not worked for the CIA for thirty years. How could I view it as anything but nonsense to state Barr is somehow still a CIA “operative” or “asset”?

“People don’t leave the CIA like a private corporation, darolew. They leave it the same way they leave the Crips or the Bloods — in a body bag. They’re all just criminal gangs. And guess what? Barr isn’t exactly calling for the CIA’s abolition either, is he?”

So, I’m supposed to believe — without evidence — that everyone who joins the CIA remains an operative for the rest of their lives? And somehow, Barr’s campaign rhetoric, which has never called for the abolition or retention of the CIA, backs this up?

You are aware that the CIA has 20,000 current employees (estimated), and many more former employees? And all these people are being kept quiet?

I don’t buy that. Just another conspiracy theory.

I don’t agree, but for discussion’s sake suppose they are. Then what objective evidence is there for what is or isn’t ‘respectable’? You can have your opinion and I can have mine, and they are just opinions.

“But Bob Barr is more libertarian than Ron Paul!”

If Sonny Landham is for abolishing the CIA, then HE is more libertarian than Bob Barr.

My differences with Barr are not trivial. If you can’t understand that, that is your limitation.