Posted by Tom Knapp:
No, I am not a Barrista (as anyone who’s read this blog regularly knows). But when he speaks truth to power in front of an audience that isn’t interested in hearing that truth, how can one help but applaud?
Either we believe, as lawyers, as lawmakers and as citizens, that there is value in laws, that laws that are passed have meaning and have a purpose, or we don’t …. I don’t think that we should go down the path of allowing our leaders to have their cake and eat it too. There’s nothing magical about military tribunals …. We can try them, we should try them. That is precisely what ou[r] law provides for. And the first time we’re faced with a situation we say, ‘Oh, we want to have them to go to the military, let them torture them for a while.’ It’s not advanced interrogation techniques. Waterboarding is torture.
Of course he got booed by an allegedly conservative audience at an allegedly conservative event … for what may have been the most quintessentially conservative policy statement made at that event.
25 responses so far ↓
1 David F. Nolan // Feb 22, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Yeah, occasionally Barr gets it right.
Question of the day: All things considered, who’s more libertarian – Bob Barr or Wayne Root?
2 Robert Capozzi // Feb 22, 2010 at 4:38 pm
A: There is no scale of L-ism, so the best answer is “equally so.” Just as Nolan, Holtz, Hogarth, etc. this hombre are equally so. There is no Libertarian Pope!
3 AroundtheblockAFT // Feb 22, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I coulda sworn we had Pope Murray the First during the 1980s.
4 Don Lake ........... out side looking in // Feb 22, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Read your posts, just take a minute to read them!
Counter productive recruiting tools!
Just look at the 1999 – 2009 ‘one point landing’ of the deform reform movement!
A non Lib whom does not like Barr [or Steve Gordon] —– I’d warm up to him any day before giving the time of day to Root!
5 Mik Robertson // Feb 22, 2010 at 6:24 pm
This was good coming on the heels of that article on pagans. Barr can apparently run hot and cold.
6 Brian Holtz // Feb 22, 2010 at 6:45 pm
There are various scales of libertarianism, each emphasizing a particular set of issues or issue dimensions, and each with its own holes and precision problems. The result is that there’s no objective total order or even partial order for libertarian-ness.
A bibliography of Nolan quizzes is here. My favorite is one I derived almost plank-for-plank from the LP platform: the Political IQ (Independence Quotient) Test. As far as I can tell, Barr is about an 80/90, and Root is about an 85/90. On foreign policy, Root is now probably closer to the Platform than Barr.
Click the image to score yourself online:
7 Erik Geib // Feb 22, 2010 at 6:57 pm
DFN @1:
I don’t think Root has the balls to go to CPAC (or any other conservative venue) and say something like this. I’d have to give a slight edge to Barr as result.
8 Erik Geib // Feb 22, 2010 at 7:00 pm
I still believe the quiz should be closer to this…
Should the government have the right to…?
0 = Yes 5 = Maybe 10 = No
PERSONAL
Censor materials you find offensive?
Monitor citizens through wiretapping or surveillance?
Favor religious values over secular values?
Limit individuals from marrying the same gender?
Make decisions on procreation for women?
Stop citizens from possessing firearms for their protection?
Jail or fine adults for victimless crimes such as drug use?
Limit where individuals may or may not live?
Draft citizens into public or military service?
Curb speech or protests that criticize government action?
Should the government have the right to…?
0 = Yes 5 = Maybe 10 = No
ECONOMIC
Prevent foreign products from freely entering the country?
Subsidize corporations, farms, or other industries?
Withhold portions of your income for your own retirement?
Limit your educational opportunities by your zip code?
Decide what health care you have access to?
Set minimum and maximum wages?
Tax the wealthy disproportionately?
Protect jobs from foreign individuals?
Confiscate land for private or public works projects?
Fund wars of foreign intervention with taxpayer dollars?
9 Gary Chartier // Feb 22, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I wonder about their respective results here:
http://www.bcaplan.com/cgi-bin/purity.cgi
10 paulie // Feb 22, 2010 at 7:30 pm
I seem to recall my score being 153 on that one. Although it’s been a while.
11 Gary Chartier // Feb 22, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Somehow, I think that would put you in a different band from either Barr or Root.
12 Root's Ego // Feb 22, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I don’t think Root has the balls to go to CPAC (or any other conservative venue) and say something like this. I’d have to give a slight edge to Barr as result.
I agree.
Root is bold when condemning Obama, slippery when addressing libertarians, and cowardly before neocons (because neocons are his base of support).
13 Austin Battenberg // Feb 23, 2010 at 12:51 am
Even when Barr was in Congress as a Republican he was probebly more libertarian then Root. Root just wants attention. He sounds like a neocon trying to get support from Ron Paul supporters (who are relatively close to true libertarianism).
Barr doesn’t need to lie to state his posistions. Every year he seems to get better and better…like he is growing into libertarianism. Even when you disagree with him, at least he is being honest about his posistions. I like Barr…somewhat, but Root is just horrendous.
I think Barr’s two biggest mistakes when running for president was waiting for the last minute before declaring his candidacy, and picking Root as his VP pick instead of a someone else.
14 Don Lake ........... More DC Heartless Bastards // Feb 23, 2010 at 1:59 am
WASHINGTON – Former vice president Dick Cheney was hospitalized after experiencing chest pains Monday, an aide said.
Cheney assistant Peter Long issued a statement that the 69-year-old Cheney was resting comfortably at George Washington University Hospital and his doctors were evaluating the situation.
Cheney has a history of heart problems, including four heart attacks starting at age 37.
15 Melty // Feb 23, 2010 at 4:01 am
Did Barr really “pick Root as his VP” though?
16 NewFederalist // Feb 23, 2010 at 8:12 am
I give credit to both Tom Knapp and Dave Nolan for positive comments regarding Barr when they are deserved. It shows a great deal of fairness and even temperament to me. Thanks! It reflects well on the liberty movement.
17 paulie // Feb 23, 2010 at 8:54 am
Exactly.
18 Ayn R. Key // Feb 23, 2010 at 9:35 am
This time Barr got it right. Gotta give him props.
But after that ajc screed about religion, recanting his campaign recant, I can’t support him.
19 Thomas L. Knapp // Feb 23, 2010 at 10:30 am
Melty,
You write:
“Did Barr really ‘pick Root as his VP’ though?”
While the LP does have a real VP nomination process instead of just rubber-stamping whomever the presidential nominee picks, the presidential nominee IS given speaking time on the issue. Barr used his speaking time to ask that the convention nomination Root for VP. So yes, he “picked” Root.
Ayn R. Key,
Acknowledging when he gets it right and supporting him (for another presidential nomination, for example) are certainly two different things.
I didn’t see the AJC screed as truly being a recant of his recant on paganism. He never claimed to LIKE pagans; he just withdrew his call for forcibly suppressing their worship ceremonies on military bases.
I understand why pagans, as well as non-pagans who hold respect for variety in religion as a value, found the AJC piece offensive … but I didn’t see anything in it that leads me to believe he’s moving back toward Inquisition territory.
20 LP watcher // Feb 23, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Barr, Ruwart and Root were all locked in polling below a majority at the LP convention. Barr asked Ruwart for her support in exchange for the VP slot, but she refused. So he had to offer the deal to Root instead.
Having Root as the LP’s VP candidate was Ruwart’s choice, not Barr’s.
21 Thomas L. Knapp // Feb 23, 2010 at 7:09 pm
LP watcher,
You write:
“Having Root as the LP’s VP candidate was Ruwart’s choice, not Barr’s.”
Um, no. It was the delegates’ choice, and they came within 30 votes or so of nominating Kubby rather than Root for VP.
Barr asked the delegates to vote for Root — and doing so was his choice and nobody else’s.
22 George Phillies // Feb 23, 2010 at 7:17 pm
It might however be said that having Barr as the Presidential nominee rather than Ruwart *was* influenced by Root, in that the separation between Barr and Ruwart was quite small, so that in order to move the nomination to Ruwart, Root would have had to lead a fairly small number of his own supporters to change their votes from the ones that they actually cast.
23 LibertarianGirl // Feb 23, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Austin Battenberg // Feb 23, 2010 at 12:51 am
Even when Barr was in Congress as a Republican he was probebly more libertarian then Root. Root just wants attention. He sounds like a neocon trying to get support from Ron Paul supporters (who are relatively close to true libertarianism).
Barr doesn’t need to lie to state his posistions. Every year he seems to get better and better…like he is growing into libertarianism. Even when you disagree with him, at least he is being honest about his posistions. I like Barr…somewhat, but Root is just horrendous.
me_SERIOUSLY?? , um just for the sake of reality lets put down the hypothetical quizzes and take a quick look at reality shall we…
Wayne Root has never put people in cages for crimes nor denied people their liberties under the color of office.
Wayne never has , enuf said.
24 paulie // Feb 23, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Ruwart couldn’t in good conscience run with Barr.
Kubby could.
Barr asked the convention to nominate Root rather than Kubby for VP, and unfortunately a bare majority agreed.
25 paulie // Feb 23, 2010 at 7:32 pm
It seems to me rather unrealistic to expect Root to have endorsed Ruwart over Barr.
However, it wouldn’t have been outside the realm of possibility for Barr to have chosen a balanced ticket with Kubby rather than a one-sided one with Root. We know this, since we know that Barr was willing to run with Ruwart.
Unfortunately, Barr and his advisors were going by some bad impressions that resulted from Steve learning to use a telemprompter and having the flu, which fed into rumors about his health, and misunderstanding of Steve’s legal situation, etc.
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