Holy shit, G.E. , tell me you don’t actually believe that….!!!

As an alternate on the LNC, I have gotten nothing but confrontation and disagreement for the views and strategies I have broadcast to the LNC. I am considered to be “very angry”, and that I only have “sour grapes” because Mary Ruwart lost to Barr.

True, I am deeply disappointed that Mary lost on the 6th and final ballot in Denver, and I have expressed disappointment that the delegates chose perceived “star-power” over libertarian substance, but I am anything but “very angry”. I tried to suggest to the LNC and on these blogs that this strategy of watering down the message and getting a reasonably well know name to promote such a watered down libertarianism (some would say Barr isn’t libertarian at all!) is the wrong strategy, and I believed that it will fail.
I also commented that the damage control needed to counteract nomination of a Patriot Act supporter, Iraq War resolution supporter, a drug warrior, and a social conservative who supports replacement taxation instead of deep federal spending cuts, in conjunction with eliminating the income tax, could potentially be enormous.

Is the Barr nomination/campaign proving me wrong, or correct?

My rant was just lamenting the potential for tunnel vision when it’s time to do the post-mortem, which is think is quite high.

There are many factors which affect how a presidential campaign ultimately ends up . . . who is actually elected, how many votes for and in what order the alternative candidates end up in.

However, I don’t think that you can discount the MAJOR libertarian (or libertarian leaning if you prefer) force in this presidential election is Ron Paul.

Barr, for whatever his (or his campaign) motives were for not attending the Paul press conference, they HAD to realize the backlash from the Paul supporters, whether legitimately grounded or not. You simply CANNOT, in this election cycle, “snub” the Ron Paul Revolution” or the subsequent “Campaign for Liberty”, without doing grave damage to your campaign. Cynthia McKinney realized it, Ralph Nader realized it, and Chuck Baldwin realized it, and all acted accordingly.

If Barr does in fact receives fewer than 600 or 700 thousand votes, much of the “best candidate ever for the LP” disappointment will be because of this one “snub” of Ron Paul.

Personally, I believe that Barr is way too egotistical to take a back seat to Ron Paul. THAT is what the motivation was to not attend the press conference. Well Bob, I have news for you . . . you will in fact take a back seat to Ron Paul because of this. Most libertarians, many liberals and even most anti-war conservatives will place Ron Paul head and shoulders above you.

My best guess is that he’s still likely to beat Clark’s raw total, and possibly (but less likely) his %.

I see that as a major problem. If both sides of every issue crystalize around this campaign, as it seems they have, this campaign’s going to be used as evidence ad nauseam for either to promote their own agenda. Purist vs. Moderate, Anarchist vs. Minarchist, name rec vs. party loyalist, professional campaign vs. all volunteer, politics vs. education – “No, we tried that already, just look at Bob Barr!”

Meanwhile, the reality is that there are so many ins & outs this year that trying to attribute success or failure (and even gauging what those terms mean in this campaign) will be close to impossible. If Barr really gets shot down, we can point to the activists that didn’t want anything to do with him in the first place or other strategies we could have taken – but not to the exclusion of outside factors like Palin’s influence on the conservative GOP base he’s been courting, competing or alternate libertarian candidates on the ballot, the crappy fundraising or the many gaffs and flaps that pissed people off along the way when could have just as easily kept the pen down or the mouth shut. This stuff’s just fodder for illogical arguments.

I also agree the petition will be a bit meaningless in the end, though I e-signed it anyway. And the presidential election is over for the LP for this year.

I actually rather hope Barr does exceptionally poorly now. If he polls 400,000 votes or so, it will basically prove the LP can run an “unknown” who actually promotes its tenets and do equally well.

My view is to just bite the bullet, regroup, and work to reinstate principle into the party. I consider this presidential election cycle to be an embarrassment, but the only productive thing to do at this point is to work for the future, and do the best we can for damage control.

700 signatures so far. I have informed the LP.

If so, then Lew Rockwell is NO Libertarian, and no friend of liberty … even if some good things do come out of The Mises Institute, they need a new leader.

UNITING

Again I ask, who should the LP have nominated?

DIVISIVE