Topic: Bob Barr
"Snubgate" -- Barr skips Paul's press conference What didn't happen at Ron Paul's September 10 press conference -- Bob Barr didn't show up -- overshadowed what did. Here are some highlights of the past day's coverage.by George Dance
(libertarian)
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Reason (11:50 am):
Ron Paul's press conference with the top third party candidates just wrapped up, but it was missing one of the scheduled speakers: Libertarian Bob Barr. Barr pulled out of the conference this morning, but the LP's Austin Petersen hadn't been told. He showed up with campaign literature and was kicked out of the hallway by Paul spokesman Jesse Benton. "He was extremely angry," Petersen said. "I feel like the fall guy."
(David Weigel, "What About Bob?", Reason Hit & Run, Sep. 10, 2008.) http://www.reason.com/blog/show/128716.html
Liberty Maven:
Notably missing from Ron Paul's anti-establishment party press conference is Bob Barr. Speculation was running rampant that Barr had rejected the sentiments of the conference. The first question asked was related to this where Ralph Nader said he had personally talked to Russ Verney, Barr's campaign manager. Nader relayed that Verney stated that Barr fully and unequivocally supports the positions being outlined during the press conference.
Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr, the former Georgia congressman, rejected comparisons to Cynthia McKinney on Wednesday and made a bid for Ron Paul's undivided support.
Paul, who this year sought the GOP presidential nomination, told reporters at a Washington press conference that the two-party system is broken. He urged Americans to vote for one of the third-party candidates running, including McKinney, who is also a former member of Congress from Georgia. McKinney, the Green Party nominee for president, appeared with Paul at the National Press Club, as did independent candidate Ralph Nader and Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin.
Barr, who served in the U.S. House as a Republican from Cobb County, was scheduled to be there, too, but changed his mind.
"Bob had a press conference right after that one," said campaign spokesman Andrew Davis. "He didn't want to dilute his message by being on the same stage as people like Cynthia McKinney, who is completely opposite of what a Libertarian is."
Green Party spokesman Scott McLarty called Barr's statement "a disappointment."
"The Green Party has been in alliance with the Libertarian Party on many issues, including election integrity and ballot access fairness," McLarty said, adding that Barr "seemed petty and hostile to Cynthia McKinney in particular and the Green Party in general. They all disagree on a number of issues, no doubt about it. But it was the agreement that was important and Bob Barr brushed that aside."
All four candidates -- Barr, McKinney, Baldwin and Nader -- apparently signed a statement from Paul pledging their support for limited government, personal liberties, bringing U.S. troops stationed abroad home, and for an investigation into the Federal Reserve....
Barr sent Paul a letter Tuesday asking him to be his vice presidential nominee. Barr already has a running mate, Wayne Root of Las Vegas. Root said in the letter he would step aside for Paul.
Paul has not responded to the request, Davis said.
(Aaron Gould Sheinin, "Barr asks Ron Paul to be his running mate," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sep. 10, 2008.) http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/09/10/barr_paul_veep.htm
Independent Political Report:
"Yes, sharing the stage with an uppity Negress like McKinney would make it difficult for Barr to regain his seat within the evil fascist GOP elite."
(G.E. Smith [Jason Seagraves], Editor-in-chief, Comment on "Barr didn’t want to be on stage ‘with people like McKinney’," Independent Political Report, Sep. 10, 2008.) http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/09/barr-didnt-want-to-be-on-stage-with-people-like-mckinney/
Washington Times:
Supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a conservative who made a run for the Republican presidential nomination, were fuming Wednesday over what they said was a last-minute decision by Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr to skip a press briefing with three other long-shot candidates designed to challenge the election dominance of Democrats and Republicans.
Mr. Barr, at his own solo news conference an hour later, said he passed on the group effort for fear it would "dilute" his candidacy and reduce his party's influence after the November election....
Mr. Barr said he did not oppose the Paul statement of principles, but said he was trying to maximize his party's vote count in November and its clout with the new administration. He noted that the platform of Reform Party nominee H. Ross Perot helped shape the debates on welfare reform and federal spending after he won nearly a fifth of the vote in the 1992 presidential election.
"We can endorse these principles, but we also think it is important not to dilute our message. The goal is to amass as large a percentage of votes as possible to affect policy. You can't do that by a collection of amorphous groups," Mr. Barr said.
(David R. Sands, "Unity proves divisive for third parties," Washington Times, Sep. 11, 2008.) http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/11/unity-falters-for-third-parties-paul-backers-fume-/
Don Rasmussen (Campaign for Liberty):
"I just sat in stunned silence as Bob Barr blatantly lied to the national press corp (or the half dozen members that bothered to show up). He stated that he had not committed to attend this press conference. This is patently false. He was fully committed to attend until 30 minutes before when Russ Varney called Jesse Benton and said that Barr was out. This man has not one ounce of integrity in his body.
.Adam Kokesh stood up during the press conference, denounced Barr and withdrew his support. Several others in the room quickly followed. Great job Adam!
"I asked Barr Communications Director Shane Corey after the event why they pulled this stunt and was told to go f*** myself."
Kokesh raised his hand and started talking; Barr campaign chairman Russ Verney asked him to identify his media organization. "I'm an independent blogger," Kokesh said. Verney and Kokesh talked over each other for about 30 seconds, Verney trying to move on, Kokesh explaining what had made him so angry. "Leadership is not just about knowing when to lead, but knowing when to follow," Kokesh said. "You failed that test today and I retract my endorsement of you."
There were more harsh questions (is Barr a Republican agent trying to destroy the LP?) but nothing quite that harsh. The conference emptied out and Barr's staff kept on message: All respect to Ron Paul, but "support one of these nice candidates" is not a libertarian campaign.
(David Weigel, "Bob Meets the Press," Reason Hit & Run, Sep. 10, 2008.) http://www.reason.com/blog/show/128719.html
Daily Paul:
BOB BARR STATES RON PAUL'S PRESS CONFERENCE WAS NOT WORTH HIS TIME! (Headline)
"Bob Barr has been slamming Dr. Paul publicly since he won the formerly-libertarian party nomination, but this seems to have offended more Ron Paul supporters than anything he has done so far. For those who don't know, Barr spent much of his life jailing people on behalf of the federal government for possessing substances that the state disapproves of, before recently "seeing the light". Ever since his supposed conversion, he has praised the troop surge, argued for intervention in Iran and South America, advocated a national sales tax, and voted for the PATRIOT Act twice."
(Chris Brunner, "Bob Bar Shows his True Colors," The LRC Blog, Sep. 10, 2008.) http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/022780.html
Libertarian Party:
However, before you form an opinion, perhaps you may want to consider the facts and not rely on blogs for your news.
First, the Barr campaign met with Ron Paul's staffers yesterday afternoon to deliver the offer of the LP's VP slot to Ron Paul and to discuss the details of the event that Bob Barr was invited to attend. More details were to be submitted to the Barr campaign but did not arrive until nearly 3 a.m. the morning of the event. At 9 a.m. Barr's campaign manager, Russell Verney, informed the Paul campaign that Bob would not be attending -- however he would still give his backing of the four principles highlighted by Dr. Paul....
The Barr campaign chose not to attend in order to make a very valid point, which was expressed, in their following press conference. Bold leadership is needed right now! Scattering support for the liberty agenda to the four winds as Dr. Paul is proposing will not serve liberty.
Ron Paul deserves respect and credit for what he has done over the last year in rejuvenating so many people across this nation, however either him or possibly his staff have made the bland decision to remain ambiguous with their intent and direction for liberty.
Personally, I will say that I do not appreciate the treatment that LP personnel received today by Ron Paul's staff and the games they have attempted to play over the past year. This morning, our volunteer coordinator was rudely ejected from the press conference before it even started. This was followed by Ron Paul staffers and supporters close to the staff disrupting Barr's press conference.
This pattern is something that we never wanted to disclose but holds true to previous treatment where staff members for Paul's campaign tried on more than one occasion to have Bob Barr uninvited from events, including Bob's gracious introduction of Ron Paul at last year's CPAC conference.
I do doubt that Dr. Paul was aware of these antics.
I hope this answers some of your concerns and questions.
The views expressed in this
article are those of George Dance only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. George Dance is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
A pity this all happened. Seems to be a difference in strategy to attain the same goals between Paul and Barr, and have understanding for both sides. IMHO Barr should have attended the meeting. McKinney could have been the deciding factor why he did not attend, but it was only a few minutes really and would not have made a difference. The 4 point plan is not the LP platform, but very much libertarian philosophy and Paul did great to get four different parties to sign onto.
Hope Barr and Paul can come to an understanding and make a PR or joint news conference. Paul is correct to stay in the GOP (for now) and at the same time facilitate a third party movement. Barr should fire Shane Cory and Mike Ferguson, e.g. show bold leadership and possibly replace Root with Dr. Karen Kwiatkowski - if possible. This will really fire up not only those that call them the libertarian wing of the LP, but also the wider public...
This is only half of the story. The other half is that the disgusting Bob Barr asked Ron Paul to be his vice-president, knowing very well that Ron Paul would not accept such a repellent political manoeuver. Bob Barr is really trying to humiliate ad marginalize Ron Paul. Bob Barr is after Ron's supporters; he could not get their support the regular way so he plays that Washington-DC trick on Ron Paul. This is ridiculous. Bob Bar is a shame and should apologize and withdraw. Poor, poor Libertarian Party.
Mr. Barr is slipping farther into obscurity. At least the press conference was carried by CNN.com/live. It was hard to find at all. Most of the political stories yesterday had to do with Obama not calling Palin a pig. Baldwin is looking better.
I really respected Nader for showing up. I don't agree with his heavy use of government regulation for safety issues. He was able to make the case to follow the Constitution, even when you want to change the law. How refreshing!
Posted By: Billy Joe Allen
Date: 2008-09-11 12:00:24
Barr screwed the metaphorical pooch on this for sure. It is unlikely but possible that Barr has been out to discredit the liberty movement from the beginning. He did work for the CIA after all.
Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2008-09-21 05:57:13
Apparently, Barr and Root think they live outside the rules. The LP convention in Denver officially picked Root as VP. Root and Barr can't simply have Root stand aside and insert Paul as VP candidate, even if Paul were to agree to such a move. Root's name would remain on the ballot regardless.
Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), Paul is a lot smarter than Barr and Root.
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