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Tue 19 Dec, 2006 11:18 am
12-18 07
Clinton Impeacher Quits Republicans
By BEN EVANS, AP
A former Georgia congressman who helped spark President Clinton's impeachment has quit the Republican Party to become a Libertarian, saying he is disillusioned with the GOP on issues such as spending and privacy.
Bob Barr, who served eight years as a Republican congressman before losing his seat in 2002, announced Friday that he is now a "proud, card-carrying Libertarian." And he encouraged others to join him.
"It's something that's been bothering me for quite some time, the direction in which the party has been going more and more toward big government and disregard toward privacy and civil liberties," said Barr, 58, a lawyer and consultant living in Atlanta. "In terms of where the country needs to be going to get back to our constitutional roots ... I've come to the conclusion that the only way to do that is to work with a party that practices what it preaches, and that is the Libertarian Party."
Barr said he has no plans to run for office. In his new role as the Libertarian Party's regional representative for the South, he will help promote the party's message and recruit candidates, he said.
Barr helped manage the House Republicans' impeachment case before the Senate in 1999.
& that means what? he was defeated in his last run for congress.
Re: Clinton Impeacher Quits Republicans
BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:12-18 07
"It's something that's been bothering me for quite some time, the direction in which the party has been going more and more toward big government and disregard toward privacy and civil liberties," said Barr, 58, a lawyer and consultant living in Atlanta. "In terms of where the country needs to be going to get back to our constitutional roots ... I've come to the conclusion that the only way to do that is to work with a party that practices what it preaches, and that is the Libertarian Party."
Bothering him for quite some time? Disillusioned with the direction the Republican party is headed? Barr was a part of that for 8 years. 8 years in which he never once voiced unhappiness with the Republican platform. As indicated in the article BBB, he was a big part of the impeachment hearings which in their own right showed disregard of privacy and violation of civil liberties. (Note: I still do not feel we should gloss over what Clinton did; however impeachment may have been extreme. It was definitely wrong...I will regret saying this I am sure.) If it bothered him so much he should have and could have said something sooner.
BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:Barr said he has no plans to run for office. In his new role as the Libertarian Party's regional representative for the South, he will help promote the party's message and recruit candidates, he said.
So you are saying he has found steady employment. Good for him!
This could be significant. The right is now undergoing some yet to be revealed degree of unravelling.
I doubt that an obscure former member of congree that disgraced himself on a daily basis with hypocricy will unravel anything.
With any luck, he will begin the unraveling of the two party system.
FreeDuck wrote:With any luck, he will begin the unraveling of the two party system.
I wish for that but it'll take more than a nothing to do it.
This is not a nothing. It's a very small something, but a something nonetheless.
FreeDuck wrote:This is not a nothing. It's a very small something, but a something nonetheless.
Bob Barr shot his wad a long time ago with his hypocricy. Who listens to him anymore?
LoneStarMadam wrote:FreeDuck wrote:This is not a nothing. It's a very small something, but a something nonetheless.
Bob Barr shot his wad a long time ago with his hypocricy. Who listens to him anymore?
From the sound of your downwards spiraling panic, apparently
you listen to him, LSM.
Sturgis wrote:LoneStarMadam wrote:FreeDuck wrote:This is not a nothing. It's a very small something, but a something nonetheless.
Bob Barr shot his wad a long time ago with his hypocricy. Who listens to him anymore?
From the sound of your downwards spiraling panic, apparently
you listen to him, LSM.
More musings from the peanut gallery, what a treat.
...and apparently you listen to me as well. Need to borrow a cloth for all the sweat dripping off your brow as your fear escalates?
Sturgis wrote:...and apparently you listen to me as well. Need to borrow a cloth for all the sweat dripping off your brow as your fear escalates?
That feeling of
dampness you're experiecing is you pi$$ing into the wind.
LoneStarMadam wrote:Sturgis wrote:...and apparently you listen to me as well. Need to borrow a cloth for all the sweat dripping off your brow as your fear escalates?
That feeling of
dampness you're experiecing is you pi$$ing into the wind.
Keep dreaming LSM, keep dreaming.
His concern for privacy strikes me as hypocritical.
In fairness to Barr, he immediately came out against the Patriot Act when it was first introduced. Loudly. And he got much attention for it.
He was virtually the poster boy for the impeachment push against Clinton, on TV seemingly every five minutes reciting all the reasons for impeachment in a practiced cadence. How he reconciles that with his concern for privacy is for him to say. But there is no doubt that his leaving the Republican Party over privacy issues is very consistent with his actions since 9/11-actions and statements which earned him scorn from his fellow Republicans who were busy pushing the Patriot Act.
KW
Yup. Barr represents a particular wing of traditional republican/conservative ideology...small, unobtrusive government. This wing is one of the elements of the party which has grown increasingly at odds with the Bush administration in its domestic and foreign policies.
And it isn't the only wing which is disenchanted and increasingly vocal about their unhappiness. Paul Weyrich and the extremist religious crowd represents another. Moderates a third and neoconservative types a fourth.
It is a spinning apart phenomenon we are witnessing. The movement had invested so much of its ideology and strategy in trying to build or portray Bush as a solid Reagan-like center - all things to all conservatives - but because he and his policies have been such a disaster, that center no longer has much gravity.
plainoldme wrote:His concern for privacy strikes me as hypocritical.
Why? Did he spy on people without a warrant? Did he manage secret, illegal, and arguably unconstitutional government programs? Did he push for extensive legislation compromising civil rights, claiming that was the way to fight terrorism Anything of this kind? (These are real questions. I'm not really familliar with Barr, so for all I know the answer to them all may well be "yes".)
Barr is now a proud member of the ACLU.
ROTFLMAO
The center cannot hold...
from Paul Weyrich, Dec 14...
Quote:Creating the next conservative movement is something that needs to be done and can be done.
For those who don't know the fellow, Weyrich has been a key figure in building and organizing the new conservative movement that we've seen arise over the last three decades or so. And he's been one of the first smart enough and honest enough to understand and voice the ways in which Bush has failed to advance policy in the direction the christian right has hoped.
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