For those of you who have been around, as well as anyone new here, we do this every month. Check out past months’ descriptions and comments if you have any questions about what sorts of things usually get discussed in the open threads here. You may also post news tips here; we’ll do our best to post them, but as an all-volunteer group blog, we make no promises. You can also sign up to post stories at IPR; drop a note in the comments here.
To start things off, Abbie succinctly summarizes the feelings of many people, young and old, about the leading contenders in particular and the presidential race in general:
Your turn in the comments.
125 responses so far ↓
1 paulie // Nov 2, 2012 at 9:16 am
IPR is loading painfully slow and I am running late for my volunteer commitment today. If someone else writing at IPR can fix that youtube embed please do so. Also, http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2012/11/larry-west-ballot-status-and-registered-write-in-status-by-presidential-candidate-2012/ has a missing or messed up close italics tags at the end of my intro paragraph, someone please fix that also.
2 Darryl W. Perry // Nov 2, 2012 at 10:28 am
http://fpp.cc/2012/11/01/2012-voter-guide/
Below are my endorsements and recommendations for the 2012 general election.
For more information on the ballot measures, see BallotPedia or NTU
President
Write-in NOTA
Voters in Nevada are encouraged to vote for “None Of These Candidates”
Voters in Oklahoma are encouraged to cross out the names of both ballot listed Presidential candidates.
Governor
Delaware: Jesse McVay
Indiana: Rupert Boneham
Missouri: Jim Higgins
Montana: Ron Vandevender
New Hampshire: John Babiarz
North Carolina: Barbara Howe
North Dakota: no endorsement
Utah: Ken Larsen, Jr.
Vermont: no endorsement
Washington: no endorsement
West Virginia: David Moran
US Senate
Arizona: Marc: J. Victor
California: no endorsement
Connecticut: no endorsement
Delaware: no endorsement
Florida: no endorsement
Hawaii: no endorsement
Indiana: Andrew Horning
Maine: Andrew Ian Dodge
Maryland: Dean Ahmad
Massachusetts: no endorsement
Michigan: Scotty Boman
Minnesota: Tim Davis
Mississippi: no endorsement
Missouri: Jonathan Dine
Montana: Dan Cox
Nebraska: no endorsement
Nevada: None of These Candidates
New Jersey: Kenneth R. Kaplan
New Mexico: no endorsement
New York: no endorsement
North Dakota: no endorsement
Ohio: no endorsement
Pennsylvania: Chris Eded
Rhode Island: no endorsement
Tennessee: Dr. Shaun Crowell
Texas: John Jay Myers
Utah: no endorsement
Vermont: Chris Ericson
Virginia: no endorsement
Washington: no endorsement
West Virginia: no endorsement
Wisconsin: Joseph Kexel
Wyoming: no endorsement
US House District in parenthesis
(races without endorsements are not listed)
Alaska: Jim McDermott
Arizona: Joe Pamelia (4)
Joe Cobb (7)
Powell Gammill (9)
Arkansas: Jesse Paxton (1)
Chris Hayes (2)
David Bangrac (3)
Delaware: Scott Gesty
District of Columbia: Bruce Majors (non-voting Delegate)
Indiana: Chard Reid (5)
Rex Bell (6)
Bard Gadau (8)
Maryland: Arvin Vohra (5)
Nickolaus Mueller (6)
Mark Grannis (8)
Missouri: Robb Cunningham (1)
Rick Vandeven (8)
Montana: David Kaiser
Nevada: None Of These Candidates (all seats)
New Hampshire: Brenden Kelly (1)
Hardy Macia (2)
North Dakota: Eric Olson
Texas: Patrick Hisel (28)
James Stanczak (29)
Ed Rankin (30)
Other offices/Ballot measures
Alabama: Amendment 2: No
Amendment 4: Yes
Amendment 6: Yes
Amendment 7: Yes
Amendment 8: Yes
Amendment 10: Yes
Amendment 11: Yes
Alaska: Ballot Measure 1: Yes
Arizona: Prop 116: Yes
Prop 119: Yes
Prop 120: Yes
Prop 204: No
Arkansas: Issue 1: No
Issue 2: No
Issue 5: Yes
California: Prop 30: No
Prop 32: Yes
Prop 33: Yes
Prop 34: Yes
Prop 37: No
Prop 38: No
Prop 39: No
Colorado: Amendment 64: Yes
Florida: Amendment 1: Yes
Amendment 3: Yes
Amendment 4: Yes
Amendment 6: Yes
Amendment 10: Yes
Amendment 11: Yes
Hawaii: Dam and Reservoir Owners Assistance Amendment: No
Idaho: Prop 1: Yes
Prop 2: Yes
Prop 3: Yes
HJR 2: Yes
Illinois: HJRCA 49: Yes
Kansas: Boat Property Tax Amendment: Yes
Kentucky: House Bill 1: Yes
Louisiana: Amendment 2: Yes
Amendment 5: Yes
Maine: Question 2: No
Question 3: No
Question 4: No
Question 5: No
Maryland: Question 3: Yes
Question 6: Yes
Massachusetts: Question 2: Yes
Question 3: Yes
Michigan: Prop 2: No
Prop 3: No
Prop 4: No
Prop 5: Yes
Minnesota: Amendment 2: No
Missouri: Cisse Spragins; Secretary of State
David Browning; Attorney General
Sean O’Toole; Treasurer
Amendment 3: No
Prop A: Yes
Prop B: No
Prop E: No
Montana: Scott Vandevender; State Representative 84
LR-122: Yes
Nebraska: Amendment 1: No (if the proposal exempted victimless crimes, I would support it)
Amendment 2: Yes
Amendment 3: No
Amendment 4: No
Nevada: None Of These Candidates (all offices)
Question 1: Yes
New Hampshire: Michael Baldasarre; Executive Council, district 3
Ken Blevens; Executive Council, district 4
Richard Kahn; State Senate, district 14
Rich Tomasso ; State Senate, district 16
Mark Warden; NH House, Hillsborough 39
Keith Carlsen; NH House, Cheshire 6
Ian Freeman; NH House, Cheshire 16
Aidan Ankarberg; NH House, Strafford 5
Darryl W. Perry; Cheshire County Register of Deeds
Darryl W. Perry; Cheshire County Register of Probate (write-in)
Max Abramson; Rockingham County County Attorney
Question 1: Yes
Question 2: Yes
Question 3: Yes
New Jersey: Public Question 1: No
Public Question 2: Yes
New Mexico: Bond Question A: No
Bond Question B: No
Bond Question C: No
Constitutional Amendment 2: Yes
Constitutional Amendment 3: Yes
Constitutional Amendment 4: Yes
Constitutional Amendment 5: Yes
North Dakota: Measure 1: Yes
Measure 2: Yes
Measure 3: Yes
Measure 4: No
Ohio: Issue 1: Yes
Issue 2: Yes
Oklahoma: State Question 758: Yes
LRCA State Question 759: Yes
LRCA State Question 762: No
LRCA State Question 764: No
LRCA State Question 765: Yes
LRCA State Question 766: Yes
Oregon: Measure 78: Yes
Measure 79: Yes
Measure 80: Yes
Measure 82: Yes
Measure 84: Yes
Pennsylvania: Ken Krachuk; State House 153
Puerto Rico: Question 1: No
Question 2: Independence or Sovereign Free Associated State
Rhode Island: Question 3: No
Question 4: No
Question 5: No
Question 6: No
Question 7: No
South Carolina: Jeremy Walters; State Representative 26
Amendment 1: No
South Dakota: Constitutional Amendment N: No
Constitutional Amendment P: Yes
Initiated Measure 15: No
Initiated Measure 16: Yes
Tennessee: Daniel Lewis; State House 52
Texas: Bill Grisham; Bexar County Tax Assessor Collector
Patrick Dixon; Travis County Commissioner Precinct 3
Utah: Andy McCullough; Attorney General
Virginia: Question 1: Yes
Question 2: Yes
Washington: Initiative 1185: Yes
Initiative 502: No (Despite the fact that it would legalize the production, possession, delivery and distribution of marijuana, this initiative has serious flaws which could harm medical marijuana users.)
Senate Joint Resolution 8221: Yes
West Virginia: Amendment 1: No
Wyoming: Constitutional Amendment A: Yes
LRCA Constitutional Amendment B: Yes
3 Darryl W. Perry // Nov 2, 2012 at 10:41 am
http://fpp.cc/2012/11/01/2012-voter-guide/
Below are my endorsements and recommendations for the 2012 general election.
For more information on the ballot measures, see BallotPedia or NTU
President
Write-in NOTA
Voters in Nevada are encouraged to vote for “None Of These Candidates”
Voters in Oklahoma are encouraged to cross out the names of both ballot listed Presidential candidates.
Governor
Delaware: Jesse McVay
Indiana: Rupert Boneham
Missouri: Jim Higgins
Montana: Ron Vandevender
New Hampshire: John Babiarz
North Carolina: Barbara Howe
North Dakota: no endorsement
Utah: Ken Larsen, Jr.
Vermont: no endorsement
Washington: no endorsement
West Virginia: David Moran
US Senate
Arizona: Marc: J. Victor
California: no endorsement
Connecticut: no endorsement
Delaware: no endorsement
Florida: no endorsement
Hawaii: no endorsement
Indiana: Andrew Horning
Maine: Andrew Ian Dodge
Maryland: Dean Ahmad
Massachusetts: no endorsement
Michigan: Scotty Boman
Minnesota: Tim Davis
Mississippi: no endorsement
Missouri: Jonathan Dine
Montana: Dan Cox
Nebraska: no endorsement
Nevada: None of These Candidates
New Jersey: Kenneth R. Kaplan
New Mexico: no endorsement
New York: no endorsement
North Dakota: no endorsement
Ohio: no endorsement
Pennsylvania: Chris Eded
Rhode Island: no endorsement
Tennessee: Dr. Shaun Crowell
Texas: John Jay Myers
Utah: no endorsement
Vermont: Chris Ericson
Virginia: no endorsement
Washington: no endorsement
West Virginia: no endorsement
Wisconsin: Joseph Kexel
Wyoming: no endorsement
US House District in parenthesis
(races without endorsements are not listed)
Alaska: Jim McDermott
Arizona: Joe Pamelia (4)
Joe Cobb (7)
Powell Gammill (9)
Arkansas: Jesse Paxton (1)
Chris Hayes (2)
David Bangrac (3)
Delaware: Scott Gesty
District of Columbia: Bruce Majors (non-voting Delegate)
Indiana: Chard Reid (5)
Rex Bell (6)
Bard Gadau (8)
Maryland: Arvin Vohra (5)
Nickolaus Mueller (6)
Mark Grannis (8)
Missouri: Robb Cunningham (1)
Rick Vandeven (8)
Montana: David Kaiser
Nevada: None Of These Candidates (all seats)
New Hampshire: Brenden Kelly (1)
Hardy Macia (2)
North Dakota: Eric Olson
Texas: Patrick Hisel (28)
James Stanczak (29)
Ed Rankin (30)
Other offices/Ballot measures
Alabama: Amendment 2: No
Amendment 4: Yes
Amendment 6: Yes
Amendment 7: Yes
Amendment 8: Yes
Amendment 10: Yes
Amendment 11: Yes
Alaska: Ballot Measure 1: Yes
Arizona: Prop 116: Yes
Prop 119: Yes
Prop 120: Yes
Prop 204: No
Arkansas: Issue 1: No
Issue 2: No
Issue 5: Yes
California: Prop 30: No
Prop 32: Yes
Prop 33: Yes
Prop 34: Yes
Prop 37: No
Prop 38: No
Prop 39: No
Colorado: Amendment 64: Yes
Florida: Amendment 1: Yes
Amendment 3: Yes
Amendment 4: Yes
Amendment 6: Yes
Amendment 10: Yes
Amendment 11: Yes
Hawaii: Dam and Reservoir Owners Assistance Amendment: No
Idaho: Prop 1: Yes
Prop 2: Yes
Prop 3: Yes
HJR 2: Yes
Illinois: HJRCA 49: Yes
Kansas: Boat Property Tax Amendment: Yes
Kentucky: House Bill 1: Yes
Louisiana: Amendment 2: Yes
Amendment 5: Yes
Maine: Question 2: No
Question 3: No
Question 4: No
Question 5: No
Maryland: Question 3: Yes
Question 6: Yes
Massachusetts: Question 2: Yes
Question 3: Yes
Michigan: Prop 2: No
Prop 3: No
Prop 4: No
Prop 5: Yes
Minnesota: Amendment 2: No
Missouri: Cisse Spragins; Secretary of State
David Browning; Attorney General
Sean O’Toole; Treasurer
Amendment 3: No
Prop A: Yes
Prop B: No
Prop E: No
Montana: Scott Vandevender; State Representative 84
LR-122: Yes
Nebraska: Amendment 1: No (if the proposal exempted victimless crimes, I would support it)
Amendment 2: Yes
Amendment 3: No
Amendment 4: No
Nevada: None Of These Candidates (all offices)
Question 1: Yes
New Hampshire: Michael Baldasarre; Executive Council, district 3
Ken Blevens; Executive Council, district 4
Richard Kahn; State Senate, district 14
Rich Tomasso ; State Senate, district 16
Mark Warden; NH House, Hillsborough 39
Keith Carlsen; NH House, Cheshire 6
Ian Freeman; NH House, Cheshire 16
Aidan Ankarberg; NH House, Strafford 5
Darryl W. Perry; Cheshire County Register of Deeds
Darryl W. Perry; Cheshire County Register of Probate (write-in)
Max Abramson; Rockingham County County Attorney
Question 1: Yes
Question 2: Yes
Question 3: Yes
New Jersey: Public Question 1: No
Public Question 2: Yes
New Mexico: Bond Question A: No
Bond Question B: No
Bond Question C: No
Constitutional Amendment 2: Yes
Constitutional Amendment 3: Yes
Constitutional Amendment 4: Yes
Constitutional Amendment 5: Yes
North Dakota: Measure 1: Yes
Measure 2: Yes
Measure 3: Yes
Measure 4: No
Ohio: Issue 1: Yes
Issue 2: Yes
Oklahoma: State Question 758: Yes
LRCA State Question 759: Yes
LRCA State Question 762: No
LRCA State Question 764: No
LRCA State Question 765: Yes
LRCA State Question 766: Yes
Oregon: Measure 78: Yes
Measure 79: Yes
Measure 80: Yes
Measure 82: Yes
Measure 84: Yes
Pennsylvania: Ken Krachuk; State House 153
Puerto Rico: Question 1: No
Question 2: Independence or Sovereign Free Associated State
Rhode Island: Question 3: No
Question 4: No
Question 5: No
Question 6: No
Question 7: No
South Carolina: Jeremy Walters; State Representative 26
Amendment 1: No
South Dakota: Constitutional Amendment N: No
Constitutional Amendment P: Yes
Initiated Measure 15: No
Initiated Measure 16: Yes
Tennessee: Daniel Lewis; State House 52
Texas: Bill Grisham; Bexar County Tax Assessor Collector
Patrick Dixon; Travis County Commissioner Precinct 3
Utah: Andy McCullough; Attorney General
Virginia: Question 1: Yes
Question 2: Yes
Washington: Initiative 1185: Yes
Initiative 502: No (Despite the fact that it would legalize the production, possession, delivery and distribution of marijuana, this initiative has serious flaws which could harm medical marijuana users.)
Senate Joint Resolution 8221: Yes
West Virginia: Amendment 1: No
Wyoming: Constitutional Amendment A: Yes
LRCA Constitutional Amendment B: Yes
4 PeterO // Nov 2, 2012 at 1:55 pm
I stuck this on the Election Predictions thread, but it doesn’t really go there, so I’ll add it here.
New Zogby national poll:
Obama 46.6%
Romney 45.5%
Johnson 1.7%
Goode 0.8%
Stein 0.5%
Undecided 4.9%.
In six Zogby tracking polls since mid-October, Johnson has ranged from 1.7% to 3.1%, Goode 0.2% to 0.8%, and Stein 0.5% to 1.1%.
5 PeterO // Nov 2, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Also, this from Sabato Gigante:
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/threes-a-crowd-where-third-party-candidates-might-have-an-impact/
6 PeterO // Nov 2, 2012 at 2:48 pm
“I’m tired of Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney being the only candidates people talk about. There are other candidates too.”
“Is that why you’re crying?”
“Yes.”
7 Deran // Nov 2, 2012 at 3:02 pm
I voted yes on WA State Iniative 502, legalizing cannabis. There has been some noise from medicinal cannabis entrepeneurs against 502. All their talk is lies. 502 isn’t perfect, but there was a youngman, Michael Safioti, 22 years old, who died the other week in the county north of me while sertving some county time for possession of a few grams of cannabis. Saffioti died in jail from a food allergy.Were 502 in efect Mr. Saffioti would not have gone to jail and would not be dead.
I don’t know how it is in other states, but in WA $200 will buy a person a “letter” from a “medical professional” that will allow you to buy over priced medicinal cannabis. It is my opinion that many of those people with such letters are recreational users.
I know there is a great deal of foofarah abt DUIs, but the facts are that this DUI would only test for a THC component aht leaves the body very quickly.
For me it is the death of young Mr. Saffioti that confirmed my Yes vote. If my vote can help avoid such deaths, keep a good number of people from arest for possession, possible jail time, possible life ruining arrest record for “drugs” and a large legal bills, even it is not a perfect bill, a Yes vote is called for, imho.
I would also think all libertarians, and socialists like myself, would vote for Referendum 74 in WA and affirm the legalization of marriage among gays and lesbians.
8 Darryl W. Perry // Nov 2, 2012 at 3:30 pm
@6 – my decision to recommend a “no” vote on Washington’s 502 is the fact that people could be given DUI’s for driving after taking some herbs. My understanding is that medical users would be those most affected. If these two statements are false, then I would recommend a “yes”.
9 Jill Pyeatt // Nov 5, 2012 at 2:12 am
Does anyone have any results for the “Double the LP” event from Oct 26th?
10 Stewart Flood // Nov 5, 2012 at 5:56 am
I looked at their counter both before and after the event. As I recall, they had 91 new members in the three or so weeks leading up to the event, gained 3 members during the event, to a total of 94 and a week and a half later are at 104.
It failed, which is why you don’t hear them talking about it.
11 Kevin Knedler // Nov 5, 2012 at 7:25 am
Gary Johnson events in Ohio on November 2.
600 attended in BeaverCreek, 250 attended in Bowling Green, and 725 attended in Streetsboro (Kent State) Ohio. Best day for GJ in Ohio and the excitement is building. Already talking about 2014 and 2016 elections. Plenty of video on youtube and the lpo.org facebook pages
12 George Dance // Nov 5, 2012 at 7:33 am
It’s not just Wayne Allyn Root; now Bob Barr is supporting Mitt Romney, too:
2008 Libertarian Party nominee is supporting Romney – Human Events
http://gdspoliticalanimal.blogspot.ca/2012/11/2008-libertarian-party-nominee-warns-of.html
13 George Dance // Nov 5, 2012 at 7:37 am
I’ve gotten sick and tired of libertarian Republicans telling Libertarians to vote for Romney; so I wrote my own article telling them why they should vote for Gary Johnson.
Gary Johnson and libertarian Republicans
Why liberty-minded Republicans should vote for Gary Johnson for President
http://www.nolanchart.com/article9940-gary-johnson-and-libertarian-republicans.html
(If anyone wants to reprint or otherwise distribute this, they have my permission. )
14 wolfefan // Nov 5, 2012 at 8:44 am
Here’s a link to an article about Jonathan Dine on the Washington Post website:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2012/11/05/jonathan-dine-the-libertarian-alternative-to-mccaskill-akin/
15 Jill Pyeatt // Nov 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm
SF @ 10: “It failed, which is why you don’t hear them talking about it.”
Thanks for the info, Stewart. I’m sorry it didn’t take off. CA’s registration has really jumped, which is great and a little puzzling.
16 William Saturn // Nov 6, 2012 at 1:50 am
See my interview with Gary Johnson for Wikinews:
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_interviews_former_New_Mexico_governor_Gary_Johnson,_presidential_nominee_of_the_Libertarian_Party
17 wolfefan // Nov 6, 2012 at 7:26 am
Hi – over at the Volokh Conspiracy Libertarian law prof Randy Barnett writes about and links to his WSJ op/ed “The Mistake That is the Libertarian Party.” Some comments from present and former LP activists in the thread that follows.
http://www.volokh.com/2012/11/05/my-wsj-op-ed-the-mistake-that-is-the-libertarian-party/#disqus_thread
18 wolfefan // Nov 6, 2012 at 7:45 am
Hello again – Slate has an article on a couple of “which candidate do you agree with” sites that prominently features third party candidates. I tried isidewith… my first two matches were Stein and Johnson. I guess I’m a little indiosyncratic…
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/11/05/romney_obama_jill_stein_or_gary_anderson_whose_policies_are_closest_to_yours.html
19 Nicholas Sarwark // Nov 6, 2012 at 8:19 am
@2 – What’s up Darryl, none of our Libertarian Colorado US House candidates (we’re contesting al of the seats) are worthy of your endorsement?
@11 – Excellent news on the Gary Johnson events in Ohio. I saw from Garrett Quinn’s reporting that Gary’s rally in Ohio was even bigger than the one he had in Boulder. Congrats, but watch your back.
@17 – I appreciate Barnett’s legal scholarship and his work on Raich, but he (and Somin) are just wrong on this idea of choosing the marginally better major party. We have data on his approach. Look at how things worked out for the Ron Paul delegates in Tampa. Sometimes the foundation is so rotten that rebuilding upon it is counterproductive.
20 Stewart Flood // Nov 6, 2012 at 11:31 am
Jill@15,
I was really glad to see California’s jump. I’m sure that some of it is from local work to increase registrations, but it also has to be a sign of general disapproval of the other parties by voters.
As far as DTLP goes, any plan to “double” membership in that short a time is insane. I could understand a plan to double membership overnight of a ten member organization, but not one our size.
They were so sure that it would work, which is a sure sign that they are insane — or at least some of them are! It is all about the power. All about the power and who’s the big fish in the small pond.
21 Stewart Flood // Nov 6, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Kevin@11,
We are all looking forward to seeing how your state’s efforts affect the numbers in Ohio. The turnouts you have had at your events sound like the campaign is making an impact.
I agree: 2014 campaigns start tomorrow morning.
22 Peter Orvetti // Nov 6, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Mark Ambinder predicts alternative presidential candidates will get 1.6% overall:
http://theweek.com/article/index/235910/my-election-projection
23 paulie // Nov 6, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Anyone know what happened to sitemeter?
24 Bill Blair // Nov 8, 2012 at 10:11 am
I have an urgent election question: How did Tiffany Briscoe do?
25 Thane Eichenauer // Nov 8, 2012 at 11:21 am
@24
If I may extrapolate from the information available at the Maryland Board of Elections:
http://elections.state.md.us/elections/2012/results/general/gen_results_2012_4_001-.html
Tiffany Briscoe may have received up to 0.4% of the vote (9,475 write in votes cast). Maryland would appear to have about 30 registered write-in candidates for President.
Her Wikipedia entry does not lead me to believe that she has registered as a candidate in any other state than Maryland. Wikipedia information could be incomplete.
http://elections.state.md.us/elections/2012/results/general/gen_results_2012_4_001-.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany_Briscoe
@111 on another thread “Open Thread for Election Results” dated November 6th on the topic of whether mandatory government imposed labeling of GMO foods is a good idea I’ll also add that LibertyCrier.com has an aside that makes as good or better point than I made.
“When the government is given the power to regulate the corporations seek to corrupt the government, and the corporations inevitably win. The free market, free from government corruption, can provide better labeling systems (through competition) that will offer consumers much more value than anything the government could ever provide.”
http://libertycrier.com/business/monsanto-wins-california-gmo-labeling-law-defeated/
26 Bill Blair // Nov 8, 2012 at 11:28 am
@25
My question was meant sarcastically, but thanks for the info! Can’t believe she actually got any votes.
27 paulie // Nov 8, 2012 at 11:50 am
Yes, if government allows it.
28 paulie // Nov 8, 2012 at 11:51 am
Well, she probably got one vote, assuming she’s a voter and bothered to vote. Note there was no breakdown on those 30 write-in candidates.
29 Thane Eichenauer // Nov 8, 2012 at 12:16 pm
@28
“Well, she probably got one vote, assuming she’s a voter and bothered to vote.”
Presuming she is a voter, presuming that she was motivated to vote (for herself) I would give her 87% odds of having that vote tallied.
30 paulie // Nov 8, 2012 at 2:59 pm
LOL
31 bruuno // Nov 8, 2012 at 10:21 pm
So Dondero’s article is all over the internet. If I recall correctly he is not a terribly popular man among Libertarians and Ron Paul supporters (and just from reading the article I can see why on a personality level at least). Am I wrong? Could someone let me in on what his story is?
32 paulie // Nov 8, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Anything specific you want to know?
33 just libertarian // Nov 8, 2012 at 10:57 pm
His real name is Eric Rittberg.
He is a hysterical neocon who once worked for Congressman Paul for a few years.
He has an interesting blog entry about how he and other staff browbeat Dr. Paul into voting for the bogus war/”force” resolution vs Afghanistan.
34 just libertarian // Nov 8, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Oh, and he moved to Texas to run against Dr. Paul in a GOP primary, and failed spectacularly.
35 Thomas L. Knapp // Nov 9, 2012 at 2:10 am
Dondero didn’t move to Texas to run against Paul. He already lived in Texas (where he worked for Paul before quitting or being fired, depending on whose story you believe).
He also didn’t end up running against Paul, and instead backed another candidate in that primary.
36 bruuno // Nov 9, 2012 at 1:11 pm
@31 paulie- Was just curious about his split with Paul. What happened exactly? Why the seeming bitter feelings on both sides? Thanks.
37 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 1:48 pm
TLK @ 35 correct.
38 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Bruuno @ 36
Accounts vary. Basically, the root of the problem seems to be that after 9/11 Don D’Error went balistically warmonger – I think he already was, but this pushed him over the edge. Meanwhile his boss Ron Paul was much more of a peacenik than Eric Cartman DNDError wanted him to be, although Eric browbeat him into voting for the war in Afghanistan.
Next came the war in Iraq and Ron Paul was not willing to back that, so Eric got all in a huff. Some people also allege that Eric was acting erratically, sleeping in the office, using hard drugs, not bathing, and frothing at the mouth in screaming rage fits on a regular basis.
Another source of tension is that Eric’s always been very pro-abortion, mostly because he likes to have unprotected sex with all kinds of low class prostitutes and low intelligence, low self esteem, promiscuous women, and rather than wrap little Eric he prefers to rely on abortion for birth control. Meanwhile Ron Paul is an anti-abortion obstetrician who believes that his religious and personal conviction on the issue should be the law of the land, although he wants to impose that law at the local level rather than the federal level. Allegedly, Eric went on a screaming, frothing pro-abortion diatribe around this time at a socially conservative, anti-abortion Christian group meeting.
So between those two things, the tension erupted and they parted ways. As Tom explains, accounts vary as to whether Dondipshit was fired or quit in a huff.
Since this meant that Eric was now without a job, his next move was to petition for the LP again, which was pretty ironic because for the previous 15 years he had been screaming to anyone who would listen that the LP is the #1 enemy of liberty, worse than the Democrats, and needs to be destroyed. However, his old friend Bill Redpath ignored that and welcomed him back with open arms. As I recall Eric was pushing Gary Nolan for the LP nomination in 2004 while at the same time forming the partial birth abortion known as Libertarians for Bush.
He has been repeating this ever since – petitioning for the LP for pay, yet at the same time pushing Libertarians for Giuliani, Libertarians for McCain, Libertarians for Rick Perry, Libertarians for Romney, ad nauseum.
Naturally, he hates Ron Paul and talks shit about him every chance he gets, and sometimes gets national news coverage for doing so. He is rightfully hated by Ron Paul supporters and considered a traitor.
Unfortunately, the national LP still considers him a worthy petition contractor. However, from what I have seen he frequently gets bad validity and does sloppy work. I’ve heard numerous reports that he lies about his petitions all the time to the public, and I have his admission in writing that he tells people that marriage equality issues will force churches to marry homosexuals, an outright and bald faced lie he has told to thousands of people to trick them into signing anti-marriage equality petitions. Interestingly though, when frothing against Islam, he claims to be pro-gay. Go figure. I’ve also heard from other petitioners who have worked with him that he frequently gets in screaming confrontations with the public and that he dresses up as a firefighter and pockets donations that are supposed to be for the fire department.
He has also said, again in writing, that the war issue trumps everything else and he will support pro-war candidates even if he disagrees with them on a whole host of economic and social domestic issues. He believes war is needed to make men more manly and considers himself to be a combat veteran because he was stationed in the Persian gulf on a ship while another ship in the area was accidentally hit by an Iranian missile while Iran was a tacit US ally, his ship went on battle alert for a few hours, and he soiled his dungaroos. He calls that the most exhilarating few hours of his life.
Others have pointed out that he is still eligible to join, among other things, Blackwater, the French Foreign Legion, the Israeli Defense Forces, etc., but he hasn’t responded about that.
Sorry, that was more info than you asked about – rant over for now.
39 Thomas L. Knapp // Nov 9, 2012 at 2:20 pm
“[Eric Dondero] considers himself to be a combat veteran because he was stationed in the Persian gulf on a ship while another ship in the area was accidentally hit by an Iranian missile while Iran was a tacit US ally”
Change “Iranian” to “Iraqi” on that (the ship was the USS Stark).
He’s actually been friendlier toward Paul supporters recently, stressing that foreign policy is their big disagreement.
40 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Change “Iranian” to “Iraqi” on that (the ship was the USS Stark).
Oops, my mistake. In any case, the US was arming both sides of that conflict and was not hostile to Saddam yet. So it was not an act of war by any means.
He’s actually been friendlier toward Paul supporters recently, stressing that foreign policy is their big disagreement.
Surprising. But maybe I shouldn’t be surprised; the LP seems to be moving away somewhat from the Barr-Root faction, Johnson stressed peace and civil liberties issues quite a bit in his campaign, Barr and Root are both back in the NSGOP, and we got a somewhat better LNC than the last few.
Meanwhile, Ron Paul has retired, and Rand Paul is more conservative on many issues, so DNDError is most likely trying to worm his way back in to re-capture some sway and possibly find new troughs to feed off in the upcoming Rand Paul campaigns. And, given that Rand Paul endorsed Romney while his dad was still in the race, Eric just may succeed in these endeavors.
41 bruuno // Nov 9, 2012 at 3:23 pm
paulie- Thanks so much for the answer. I have seen comments made about him often but never really heard the story. Thanks so much. From the article he wrote alone he sounds like a seriously unhinged character. Again, much appreciated paulie.
42 Bill Blair // Nov 9, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Pahahaha! It’d been a while since I’d heard of ol’ Donderooooooo. Does he still have that Asian mail-order wife, or whatever she was supposed to be?
43 bruuno // Nov 9, 2012 at 3:50 pm
New York Magazine interview with him in response to his article for those interested-
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/11/eric-dondero-boycott-democrat-libertarian.html
44 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 3:50 pm
You’re welcome!
45 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Last I checked, yes. He claims to be a swinger, but a mutual acquaintance told me she is actually not OK with him screwing around, he just cheats on her and possibly sometimes forces her to engage in three-ways or group sex that she is not into.
46 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Idiocy. He is throwing a tantrum like a two year old, which is common for him. Liberals are rightly pointing and laughing at how ridiculous he is, and lumping libertarians and conservatives in together, which he does as well. Nothing good about this any way you slice it.
47 Thomas L. Knapp // Nov 9, 2012 at 4:19 pm
@46,
Say what you will about Dondero, he is building a personal brand as a “Republican Wild Man.” Morton Downey and Rush Limbaugh built their successes by being the over-the-top Republican that Democrats loved to hate and mock.
His blog knocked down more than 100k page views yesterday. If he can keep that ball rolling, he’s gonna have a hell of a soapbox.
48 Thomas L. Knapp // Nov 9, 2012 at 4:26 pm
Another thing about Dondero:
Unlike Wayne Allyn Root, Dondero has remained an open, unabashed Republican for quite some time. He’s been very open about what he believes instead of trying to play both sides of the fence.
When it comes to WAR, a number of people have made the point “if you don’t like him, out-compete him. Go out there and get YOUR mug on TV.”
Dondero is booked for the Allan Colmes show on Fox tonight. Which show are you booked for?
49 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Sucks for the LP that he keeps calling himself a libertarian and that liberals play into that.
50 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Not so. Don**** often trots out and exaggerates his LP credentials. He absolutely does play both sides of the fence. When it suits him.
He’s also the one that recruited Wayne, so you can thank him for that as well.
I’ve never claimed to be the one who should be on the air. I’ll help others get on the air though if they want to work with me.
51 jim fetzer real deal // Nov 9, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Mayor Art Olivier, the 2000 LP VP nom, will be on The Real Deal with Jim Fetzer at 6pm EST on http://www.revereradio.net
Topic — Olivier’s new film about 9/11, “Operation Terror.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Olivier
http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2011/07/art-olivier-calls-for-new-approach-to-911/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Terror
52 Oliver Steinberg // Nov 9, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Thanks Darryl for giving a nod to Tim Davis, the Minnesota Grassroots Party candidate for US Senate, who tallied over 30,000 votes or more than 1% statewide. Gary Johnson collected about 35,000, showing how useful an on-line campaign can be if you know how to do it. The Grassroots presidential ticket of Carlson and McMahon finished 6th out of ten, polling a little over 3,000 votes. It would have been nice to come in ahead of Virgil Goode but it was not to be. Of course, it should be noted that Carlson didn’t have any actual campaign organization or effort and in the course of the summer his store was raided by DEA, his bank accounts confiscated, and his automobile seized (on a “terror” warrant.) Instead of campaigning in October he went to Canada and Montana to do a little hunting. Wouldn’t you?
53 Thomas L. Knapp // Nov 9, 2012 at 9:13 pm
paulie @ 49,
“Sucks for the LP that he keeps calling himself a libertarian”
Dondero isn’t nearly as damaging to the LP’s brand as the LP is.
54 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 10:11 pm
I’ll have to disagree about that one.
55 Andy // Nov 9, 2012 at 11:33 pm
“Thomas L. Knapp // Nov 9, 2012 at 4:19 pm
@46,
Say what you will about Dondero, he is building a personal brand as a “Republican Wild Man.” Morton Downey and Rush Limbaugh built their successes by being the over-the-top Republican that Democrats loved to hate and mock.
His blog knocked down more than 100k page views yesterday. If he can keep that ball rolling, he’s gonna have a hell of a soapbox.”
LOL! It would be funny if Dondero became a big star….well, funny and scary at the same time.
56 Andy // Nov 9, 2012 at 11:53 pm
“paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 10:11 pm
‘***dero isn’t nearly as damaging to the LP’s brand as the LP is.’
I’ll have to disagree about that one.”
I disagree as well. Dondero calling himself a “libertarian” is bad for the Libertarian Party and Libertarian Movement.
57 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 11:57 pm
More irony.
He is getting booked on all kinds of liberal shows for………..saying he will shun, ignore, not speak to or have anything to do with liberals. Thus doing exactly what he says he won’t do. ROFL. He contradicts himself continuously. Libertarian? Yeah, right.
58 paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 11:58 pm
Understatement of the year.
And there is no potential upside in him becoming more famous.
59 Andy // Nov 10, 2012 at 12:24 am
“paulie // Nov 9, 2012 at 11:58 pm
‘ ***dero calling himself a “libertarian” is bad for the Libertarian Party and Libertarian Movement.’
Understatement of the year.
And there is no potential upside in him becoming
more famous.”
I can think of two:
1) Comic relief.
2) No more Dondero on any petition drives.
60 paulie // Nov 10, 2012 at 1:54 am
Tempting, but I still think the downside is far greater.
61 Jill Pyeatt // Nov 10, 2012 at 2:37 am
jfrrd @ 51: I missed seeing your comment about Art Olivier and his award-winning movie, “Operation Terror”. Yours truly (and my husband Alan) worked as extras on the movie. I’m the redhead climbing to an uncertain fate in the trailer.
It was quite a fun day, actually.
62 Jfrd // Nov 10, 2012 at 6:11 am
Well Jill, the NSA put my comment in the spam folder to rain on our parade, but the podcast will be posted soon enough.
63 Thomas L. Knapp // Nov 10, 2012 at 11:14 am
Paulie @ 54, Andy @ 56,
When I say that the LP is more damaging to the LP’s brand than Dondero is, here is what I mean:
Dondero goes around calling himself a libertarian and then saying stuff that makes the claim seem wildly implausible to most people, even those who are not paying close attention.
The LP, on the other hand, goes around calling itself libertarian, but it has enough past credibility that the implausibility of the current claim isn’t that obvious.
Which would be more damaging to the Coca-Cola brand: A bunch of obvious counterfeit cans of Coke floating around (everybody can tell they’re not the real thing), or a few counterfeit cans of Coke that look very much like the real thing (but happen to have been spiked with cyanide)?
64 paulie // Nov 10, 2012 at 12:05 pm
You would think, but I know many libertarians who take his claim at face value, and many, many people in the general public that I run into not only think that his type is the essence of what a libertarian is – they aren’t even aware that other kinds of libertarians (that is actual libertarians) exist. I encounter this confusion all the time. It was especially bad on the heels of the 2008 presidential ticket, and I’ll have to see how much 2012 has been able to dispel those misconceptions, if it has to any meaningful extent at all.
I’m not convinced there’s any implausibility to the current claim.
65 Thomas L. Knapp // Nov 10, 2012 at 1:32 pm
“I’m not convinced there’s any implausibility to the current claim.”
When you run two Republican rejects in a row, and the current one’s four biggest claims to fame are that:
1) As governor of New Mexico, he managed to re-direct a substantial portion of the state budget into corporate welfare for prison operators and road-builders;
2) As a presidential candidate, he supported and accepted welfare checks for politicians;
3) As president, he would like to lock US taxpayers into a new system at least as bad as, and probably worse than, the current one;
4) And oh, by the way, he’s cool with pot and same-sex marriage
Then I say that the claim of libertarianism is just superficially plausible enough, but really implausible enough, to create long-term brand damage far worse than having some weirdo out there saying bizarre things.
Then again, we may differ as to what the brand SHOULD stand for.
66 Andy // Nov 10, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Thomas Knapp said: “Dondero goes around calling himself a libertarian and then saying stuff that makes the claim seem wildly implausible to most people, even those who are not paying close attention.”
While a higher percentage of the public is familiar with the word libertarian than they were 10 years ago, there are still a lot of people out there who have either never heard of it, or have heard of it but don’t know what it is, or have heard of it and have a misconception about what it is.
I actually have encountered people who thought that Eric Dondero’s brand of “libertarian” is what a libertarian is (and most of these people don’t want anything to do with libertarians for that reason), and this is scary.
67 Deran // Nov 11, 2012 at 12:32 am
I noticed that the Party for Socialism and Liberation got on 13 state ballots, and only managed to generate 9000 votes. At least at this point. Pretty poor return on the effort. All the parties with “socialist” in the name did very poorly.
68 paulie // Nov 11, 2012 at 3:47 am
Johnson was a Libertarian in the 1980s and early 1990s prior to running for office. Many of the issues he put front and center in his campaign this year were issues where libertarians agree with liberals and disagree with conservatives, so lumping him in with Barr seems to me to be way off.
I disagree that these are his “four biggest claims to fame.”
This is true, but it was never a big issue in this year’s campaign. The number of people who know about is probably small relative to the number of people who heard his message of ending the war on marijuana, supporting marriage equality, ending the wars and the federal reserve etc.
What you are referring to comes from an imperfect understanding of ‘privatization’ that could stem from incrementalist libertarian impulses. He’s now studying more hardcore libertarian theory, so hopefully he won’t advocate for such things in the future.
As opposed to letting the Democrats and Republicans have all the money and engaging in unilateral disarmament, or having it go to the regime general fund? Well, I suppose having LP candidates printed on the ballot, using the government mail and so on is welfare also. I’m relatively OK with it though. Pretty sure it’s not increasing the amount looted from tax victims…at least as far as I know.
Definitely worse than the current one. That part I fully agree with you on. He did seem to be evolving away from it at one point, but then started emphasizing it again unfortunately.
No, not “oh by the way.”
That was the biggest focus of the campaign, along with ending the wars and the fed and balancing the budget.
Watch the ads, read the twitter feed or blog posts, watch the debates and interviews. I did a lot of that – more than just about anyone, probably – so I was and am pretty aware of what the campaign’s central message was. It’s why I decided to get on board despite the other things you mention.
You reverse the main course with the OBTW.
Some weirdo saying bizarre things, and a bunch of other weirdos saying similar things, adds up to one seriously bad impression of libertarianism among huge chunks of our most available untapped target audience.
Whatever their flaws – and we largely agree on them – Ron Paul and Gary Johnson have done a lot more to dispel that bad impression and create a good one, in different and overlapping ways, among that target audience, for the “L” brand than anyone else.
The more attention Eric gets the more he works at cross-purpose to this.
I think we agree pretty thoroughly, except for pathways to get from here to there.
69 wolfefan // Nov 11, 2012 at 7:20 am
Hello – congrats on the good showing, LP! I remember that Wes Benedict’s PAC was planning to do some robo-calling in OH if the $$ came through. Did that happen, and if so in what precincts/counties? I’d like to check results from those areas to see if there’s any difference from the state at large.
70 paulie // Nov 11, 2012 at 11:50 am
You may want to contact Wes directly. I wouldn’t presume he reads every comment here.
71 Andy // Nov 11, 2012 at 12:07 pm
“Johnson was a Libertarian in the 1980s and early 1990s prior to running for office.”
I’m only aware of Gary Johnson having been an LP member for one year in the early 1990′s before he ran for Governor.
72 paulie // Nov 11, 2012 at 12:09 pm
There was apparently also another time in the 1980s, and he claims to have first become interested in libertarian ideas back in the 1970s by reading Rand and a few other things.
73 Darryl W. Perry // Nov 11, 2012 at 12:52 pm
@19 – Nick, I’m sure there were many fine candidates whom I did not endorse. Mostly, I found lists of candidates and read candidate statements – I did not spend hours researching each candidate.
I also missed Jason Gatties in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District.
74 Steven Berson // Nov 12, 2012 at 11:53 pm
Some interesting figures on the level of spending versus the number of votes derived and what per capita spending by the top 4 vote getting political parties was for this Presidential election. Turns out third party’s DO get way more “bang for the buck”!
D $932,094,231 spent / 62,182,364 votes = $14.99/vote
R $1,030,218,318 spent / 58,834,168 votes = $17.51/vote
L $2,919,593 / 1,191,420 votes = $2.45/vote
G $882,354 / 420,515 votes = $2.10/vote
Figures are rough and were gotten by the reports on campaign spending on http://www.opensecrets.org/ and the popular vote counts (which does not include all write-ins yet) being reported at http://www.google.com/elections/ed/us/results
75 Darryl W. Perry // Nov 13, 2012 at 2:27 pm
http://wh.gov/9SAO
We, the undersigned people of the United States of America respectfully request that the President of the United States of America grant us his assurance that he will permit the peaceful withdrawal of any State, territory and/or tribe from the Union of the United States of America, should such an action be undertaken.
Specifically, we seek the President’s full assurance that no force or threat of force, military or otherwise, will be authorized by the President, to counter or impede a motion to secede by any State, territory and/or tribe, or to counter or impede the full implementation of such an endeavor.
76 Thomas L. Knapp // Nov 13, 2012 at 4:13 pm
SB @ 74,
“Turns out third party’s DO get way more ‘bang for the buck’!”
Well, it looks that way … but it’s not necessarily true.
It’s more likely that every party has a base that they’d get whether they spent significant money or not; that the farther beyond that base they get, the higher their cost per vote; and that the reason third parties come out with a lower total cost per vote is that they don’t have the money to begin to touch the votes that are very far beyond their own bases.
Or to put it a different way:
If Gary Johnson had had almost no money, he’d have still received at least 200k votes. So he spent more like $2.90 per vote, for that additional million votes, than $2.41 … and the NEXT million might have cost him $3.50 per vote, and the million after that $5 per vote, and so on, if he’d had the money available to try to go after them.
77 bruuno // Nov 13, 2012 at 4:51 pm
WAR makes an unwanted appearance on punditshaming
http://punditshaming.tumblr.com
78 NewFederalist // Nov 13, 2012 at 5:38 pm
@77… that WAS a hoot!
79 Steven Berson // Nov 13, 2012 at 6:13 pm
TK @ 76 – great points and I in fact agree for the most part with you on this. Unfortunately we don’t have good case studies for a few “all other things being equal” samples to confirm which of our premises are in fact true.
80 Kleptocracy And You // Nov 13, 2012 at 8:05 pm
What is wrong with this ?
Johnson Campaign Spending Figures through Oct.25, 2012
Vendor/Recipient Total No. of Payments
Political Advisors $953,984 100
Politcal Advisors $849,500 49
NSON Political Advisors $140,400 9
Eh2 Consulting $95,500 11
Bydlak, Jonathan $78,470 14
Daines Goodwin & Co $53,708 26
Zions Bancorp $36,510 49
Merchant Service $13,346 7
Hackstaff Law Group $10,500 5
Our America Initiative $10,000 1
Fundly $8,151 4
Law Office of Douglas C Herbert $7,000 1
Wagon Works $6,500 4
Charles Frohman $4,000 2
Libertarian Party of Nevada $2,758 1
Snell & Wilmer $2,205 1
Frohmann, Charles $2,000 1
Beehive Insurance Agency $1,599 1
Media Temple $1,500 10
Paypal Inc $1,295 5
Republican Party Of Missouri $1,000 1
NH Secretary Of State $1,000 1
How does OpenSecrets.org classify campaign expenditures?
NOTE: All the numbers on this page are for the 2012 election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data released electronically on Thursday, October 25, 2012.
Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
me – Political Advisors AGAIN get fed well by the libertarian candidate leaving almost NOTHING for media. This insanity will never equal success for the alternative LP or for any alternative Party. An alternative Party campaign, due to limited funds must be a LEAN MEAN FIGHTING machine. Money’s tight so you must be a TIGHTWAD when dealing With so-called “advisors”. From me seeing this it says to me that the Johnson campaign JUST LIKE the Barr campaign was used by a FEW to make money off the LP members and donars. The “insiders” make off like BANDITS while advertisements to build the L Brand go UNDONE !
Like I’ve said before, give me the Ron Paul money over the last two cycles and WE will build the LP to a major Party status and I wouldn’t ROB you in the process! After all this we (LP) are in a good position in Ballot Access, but we still are lacking in so many areas. You gave your money (hard earned in many cases) and it seems a few have collected the most of the money for advisory roles.
Frankly friends I saw very little SOUND “strategy” in either the Paul, Barr or Johnson campaigns. Two cycles complete now and where does the membership of the Party now stand ? Where does the LP coffers now stand? Look at the figures (especially % wise of the total) for POLITICAL ADVISORS !
UN FRIGGIN’ BELIEVABLE …….
81 paulie // Nov 13, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Actually the media spending was paid by Political Advisors so it is included in that item.
82 paulie // Nov 13, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Off to DC, leaving in a few minutes.
I may or may not be online in the next week or so.
415-690-6352 if anyone needs me for anything.
Anyone who will be up there and can help us cover the LNC meeting that would be appreciated.
If anyone would like to contribute to help pay for the trip that would be appreciated as well.
83 Kleptocracy And You // Nov 13, 2012 at 11:27 pm
@81 now that’s bookeeping that might get your ass in a bind as this IS the FEDERAL election commision afterall…
“Eighty percent of Americans think the country is on the wrong track, and a majority think Obama is doing a bad job. This is scarcely surprising since 30 million Americans are without work or work part-time.” – Alexander Cockburn
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84 Andy // Nov 14, 2012 at 12:10 am
“Republican Party Of Missouri $1,000″
Why did the Gary Johnson campaign pay $1,000 to the Republican Party of Missouri in October of 2012?
85 Darryl W. Perry // Nov 14, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Most likely for ballot access in the MO GOP Primary
86 Jill Pyeatt // Nov 16, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Have we made any plans to cover the Libertarian National Committee’s meeting this weekend? I know Paulie was hoping to find someone to videotape the proceedings, but I don’t know if someone will be doing that. Is anyone going who can report back to us what’s going on?
87 Chuck Moulton // Nov 16, 2012 at 3:28 pm
There was a strategic planning session. Now the LNC is getting training from the Leadership
Institute.
I don’t know if anyone will be live blogging the LNC meeting on Saturday and Sunday.
Paulie just told me some local activists will try to do a broadcast.
88 Jill Pyeatt // Nov 16, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Thanks, Chuck. I was going to call Paulie, but I won’t bother him since you’ve recently touched base with him.
89 Libertarian Party Needs Your Support // Nov 16, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Healthcare
Making Healthcare Safe and Affordable
As recently as the 1960s, low-cost health insurance was available to virtually everyone in America – including people with existing medical problems. Doctors made house calls. A hospital stay cost only a few days’ pay. Charity hospitals were available to take care of families who could not afford to pay for healthcare.
Since then the federal government has increasingly intervened through Medicare, Medicaid, the HMO Act and tens of thousands of regulations on doctors, hospitals and health-insurance companies.
Today, more than 50 percent of all healthcare dollars are spent by the government.
Health insurance costs are skyrocketing. Government health programs are heading for bankruptcy. Politicians continue to pile on the regulations.
The Libertarian Party knows the only healthcare reforms that will make a real difference are those that draw on the strength of the free market.
The Libertarian Party will work towards the following:
1. Establish Medical Saving Accounts.
Under this program, you could deposit tax-free money into a Medical Savings Account (MSA). Whenever you need the money to pay medical bills, you will be able to withdraw it. For individuals without an MSA, the Libertarian Party will work to make all healthcare expenditures 100 percent tax deductible.
2. Deregulate the healthcare industry.
We should repeal all government policies that increase health costs and decrease the availability of medical services. For example, every state has laws that mandate coverage of specific disabilities and diseases. These laws reduce consumer choice and increase the cost of health insurance. By making insurance more expensive, mandated benefits increase the number of uninsured American workers.
3. Remove barriers to safe, affordable medicines.
We should replace harmful government agencies like the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) with more agile, free-market alternatives. The mission of the FDA is to protect us from unsafe medicines. In fact, the FDA has driven up healthcare costs and deprived millions of Americans of much-needed treatments. For example, during a 10-year delay in approving Propanolol Propranolol (a heart medication for treating angina and hypertension), approximately 100,000 people died who could have been treated with this lifesaving drug. Bureaucratic roadblocks kill sick Americans.
By the ONLY Political Party Plan that attempts to ensure…And EQUAL JUSTICE for ALL…http://www.lp.org/issues
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90 Libertarian Party Needs Your Support // Nov 16, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Yes it made me feel good inside to finally have the LP POTUS ticket surpass Clark’s ’80 record in total votes. A long overdue result !!! I also rejoiced in the success of our downticket warriors and in the major victories in WA and CO and elsewhere in citizen’s awakenings. Yes, 2012 was a very GOOD year for the LP.
I certainly hope all Libertarian can also Rejoice in these great feats. I hope during these Holiday Seasons that you will remember the LP with as large or small of a $$Gift$$ as possible so the LP can get a solid start in ’13 to continue to BUILD on our ’12 successes!
LIBERTY in our Lifetime! – Thanks
91 Michael H. Wilson // Nov 16, 2012 at 9:47 pm
@ 89 I think that particular part of the issues section may by plagiarized from something done earlier and it does not paint an accurate picture of medicine in that time period.
92 Kevin Knedler // Nov 16, 2012 at 10:58 pm
@ # 69
Yes, there were robo calls in Ohio for GJ2012.
It was a few days before the November 6 election. Many people told me they received the call. That is all I know about it.
93 wolfefan // Nov 17, 2012 at 12:16 am
Hi Kevin @ #92 – thanks! And thanks as well to bruuno @77. People who don’t understand how polling works at the most basic leve would be well advised to keep quiet about it.
94 Gigi Bowman // Nov 17, 2012 at 11:16 am
Quote of the day lol I still haven’t digested that this guy was part of the LP EVER!
Wayne Allyn Root:
My message to Benjamin Netanyahu- millions like me in USA are behind you. Do whatever you have to do top clean up Gaza. We have your back!
95 Jill Pyeatt // Nov 17, 2012 at 2:42 pm
GB @ 94: (I can’t even bring myself to repeat what WAR said).
*facepalm* I’m sure Wayne is much happier now that he’s free to say what he wants to. Plus, the silver lining for him from the election is that he can stay in the spotlight for 4 more years, since Obama will be around to trash. I say this without any intent at snarkism.
96 Kimberly Wilder // Nov 19, 2012 at 6:42 pm
Thought folks here might find this entertaining. In Arizona, where they are still counting votes, the Board of Elections has video cameras on various stations in their office. This is pretty cool. Might have helped with accountability in Florida 2000, I guess.
http://recorder.maricopa.gov/elections/Live_Feeds/btcgallery.aspx
97 Trent Hill // Nov 20, 2012 at 5:08 am
Anyone else see the election in NH where a minarchist Republican faced an anarchist Democrat?
Pretty weird. Free State Project wet-dream.
98 New Far-Right_Republican Nonsense // Nov 21, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Based on an inability to read the Twelfth Amendment, Twelfthers have come up with the idea that the 12th Amendment requires a quorum of 2/3 of the electors voting to choose a President.
The actual text of the amendment actually discusses a quorum of 2/3 of the states having at least one Representative present, if the Electors fail to elect a President and the House is to do the electing.
The Twelfthers have the unusually stupid idea of having Republican electors not vote, on the wrong belief that if enough of them fail to vote the election will be transferred to the House of Representatives, where Romney would (enough states having Republican-majority delegations) supposedly be elected President.
This thinking lines up with the Republican secession petitions.
99 paulie // Nov 23, 2012 at 8:01 am
I’m back – only ten days later – and only 700 or so IPR comments to go through.
Ah well, I made it through 4,000 emails yesterday….
100 paulie // Nov 23, 2012 at 8:22 am
Details, please.
101 paulie // Nov 23, 2012 at 8:23 am
They didn’t. The number are cumulative spending through October 2012, not just spending in October 2012 only. It was a primary filing fee.
102 paulie // Nov 23, 2012 at 8:25 am
Apparently the internet was too slow for that, but Bruce Majors recorded some video which he has been posting at vimeo.
103 paulie // Nov 23, 2012 at 8:27 am
http://praxeology.net/libertariannation/a/f12l3.html
How Government Solved the Health Care Crisis
Medical Insurance that Worked — Until Government “Fixed” It
by Roderick T. Long
104 paulie // Nov 23, 2012 at 8:32 am
First I’ve heard of this but just trying to parse it out…if 1/3 of the states have their entire delegations boycott the session of the electoral college, it throws it to the House?
105 just Constitutional // Nov 24, 2012 at 1:48 pm
@104 — No, that is the false belief that is corrected with the text you quoted.
106 just Freedom // Nov 24, 2012 at 1:49 pm
From the Roseanne 2012 Facebook feed –
“Larry Hagman, a longtime member of the Peace and Freedom Party, said he wanted his remains to be “spread over a field and have marijuana and wheat planted and harvest it in a couple of years and then have a big marijuana cake, enough for 200 to 300 people. People would eat a little of Larry.”"
107 JQ2inTX // Nov 25, 2012 at 9:46 am
People who actually listen to Roseanne Barr need to leave that Marijuana or other drugs alone for awhile. It might just help to bring their brains back into reality, instead of the land of wherever the woman is currently living.
108 JQ2inTX // Nov 25, 2012 at 9:55 am
I don’t see any way for the electoral college to not elect President Obama to a 2nd term. Whether or not I agree with him or his policies, he is the duly elected President. Even if the position posited by the people looking for an upset in the house actually get their wish, the House cannot in good conscience reverse the vote of the nation. This is a moot point.
109 paulie // Nov 25, 2012 at 10:16 am
Yes, Republicans are having a tough time adjusting to the fact that Obama will not be leaving office in a few weeks. Oh well.
110 paulie // Nov 25, 2012 at 10:19 am
111 Natural born // Nov 25, 2012 at 7:33 pm
@108 The only chance left to stop Obama would be if the new Congress refused to certify his election by the college based in his prima facie nonqualification to serve as a natural born British subject.
112 paulie // Nov 25, 2012 at 7:44 pm
@111 In other words, no chance. There may be a few loopy birthers in Congress but not nearly enough for anything like that,
113 D. Lou Shenol // Nov 25, 2012 at 9:41 pm
@109 The Rs have noone to blame but themselves. Dole, McCain and Romney, I mean can anyone here spell LOSER !?! Plus they give the people H.W. and then W. which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, NUTS don’t fall far from the tree. Buffoons elected to the highest office in the land.
NOW WHAT America?
Look for a Hillary vs Jeb Bush in ’16. The mushrooms will accept and BELIEVE anything…..
Rockefellers control government : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16bJ0qrg_d8&feature=related
`~CFR – Council on Foreign Relations Hillary Clinton tells who gives the orders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-sUywS0FJ4&feature=fvwrel
“I am delighted to be here in these new [Council on Foreign Relations] headquarters. I have been often to, I guess, the mother ship in New York City, but it’s good to have an outpost of the Council right here down the street from the State Department. We get a lot of advice from the Council, so this will mean I won’t have as far to go to be told what we should be doing and how we should think about the future.” – Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, 7/15/2009
114 paulie // Nov 26, 2012 at 4:36 am
“New government gets down to business”
115 Krzysztof Lesiak // Nov 26, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Michigan write in results have been posted by that state’s SOS:
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/12GEN/01000000.html
Gary Johnson got 7,774, or 0.16%, beating Rocky Anderson, who was on the ballot.
116 Fred // Nov 27, 2012 at 2:21 am
I just want to mention that in your first interview with Gary Johnson’s campaign manager Ron Nielson he said he would make public their spending through October.
RON: We’ve put that out in the form of a letter from our Treasurer for our spending through the end of September.
RON: Our Treasurer will update those numbers for October and at the end of the campaign.
AFAIK that hasn’t been done. If I’m wrong someone let me know because I’d like to see them.
117 George Phillies // Nov 27, 2012 at 10:48 am
@116 Thank you for remembering this.
118 D. Lou Shenol // Nov 27, 2012 at 1:57 pm
@115 if true Mr. Anderson needs to fold up his papers and FORGET about a new JUSTICE Party!
119 Darryl W. Perry // Nov 27, 2012 at 9:20 pm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/11/26/intrade-shuts-out-american-bettors/
Intrade shutting out American bettors
120 NewFederalist // Nov 28, 2012 at 6:31 am
Thanks for the post, Darryl. Just one more reason to detest government.
121 Jose C. // Dec 1, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Paulie,
Please contact (E-mail) me. I have been contacted by someone who wants the Party in Los Angeles to do two ballot drives in Los Angeles County. I need advice as it relates to this request.
122 December Open Thread | Independent Political Report: Third Party News // Dec 1, 2012 at 10:49 pm
[...] Party Needs Your Support on Libertarian Party of Louisiana Making ProgressJose C. on November 2012 Open ThreadThane Eichenauer on Peace and Freedom Party Statement on the Gaza StripAndy on 2014 NY Libertarian [...]
123 Jill Pyeatt // Dec 1, 2012 at 11:02 pm
Jose, if you click on “About IPR” at the very top of this site, it will give you Paulie’s phone number. That’s the best way to reach him.
124 paulie // Dec 3, 2012 at 3:59 pm
I’ll email – I was just offline for a couple of days camping, drinking n stuff
125 Feeseeaks // Jan 19, 2013 at 8:42 pm
Hi there kids! How have you been these days?
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