CNET calls Barr the “privacy candidate”
July 17th, 2008 by Jason PyeDeclan McCullagh with CNET has a recap of Bob’s speech at Freedom Fest. McCullagh calls Barr the “privacy candidate for president”:
Speaking here at a political conference on Friday, Barr focused almost exclusively on privacy and eavesdropping–and argued that both major parties are far too surveillance-happy. “Both of them will continue down the same track,” Barr said, noting that both McCain and Obama supported last week’s bill to immunize telecommunications companies that illegally opened their networks to government snoops.
Congress’ legislative rewrite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is “not about surveilling al-Qaida,” Barr said. “It’s about surveilling U.S. citizens in America.” He added, for good measure: “This administration is the most anti-privacy, the most anti-individual freedom, in our nation’s history, certainly in my lifetime.”
[...]
Barr also likes to swipe at the Real ID Act, a law creating a federalized identity card that’s effectively on hold until December 31. “It was passed by the Congress not as a national ID, which it is in every way except a name,” he said. “It is a national ID for the first time in our nation’s history…If certain people were elected president, it would not go into effect.”During the Libertarian Party’s presidential debate in Denver, the candidates were asked what they’d do about Real ID and the Patriot Act. Barr’s reply was captured on video by C-SPAN: “Fear has become the driving force behind all public policy in our country…(For the Patriot Act), I’d drive a stake through its heart, shoot it, burn it, cut off its head, burn it again, and scatter its ashes to the four corners of the world.”
July 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Good and hard hitting piece of news. This is a great contrast point for Barr versus the two-headed Republicrat offering. Barr can draw on what a slippery slope the surveillance obsession by government is, is by showing where England is at right now, almost in the lap of Big Brother.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Important campaign issue to contrast.
To the Barr campaign: For attacks on McCain, you should go to
Glenn Greenwald’s http://www.therealmccain.com also since you are working together with them on civil liberties issues, like FISA. It is easy to expose
McCain, but also important, as many still has the perception that he is a “straight talking” politician, instead of realizing he is in a competition with Obama to see who can flip-flop the most:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c
July 17th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
And the DIGG!!!
http://digg.com/politics/Bob_Barr_The_privacy_candidate_for_president
July 18th, 2008 at 3:02 am
will never vote for McBama
July 18th, 2008 at 9:45 am
While you’re contrasting yourself with McCain…Don’t forget to have a go at Obama & his flip/flops of late.
Particularly his “tiptoe” up to the FISA issue. After all. One of the biggest weaknesses of politics in general is the tendency for the opposition party to be “Against” whatever onerous legislative powers the party in power is giving themselves. Yet, when the Opposition party becomes the party in power…they suddenly find themselves saying “We can do good with this power” and they become what they fought against.
This is why I’m voting for Bob Barr & the Libertarian party.
I’m an Austro-Libertarian Anarcho-Capitalist, so for me, the Barr campaign is a means to an end…it’s not the ideal, but it’s a step in the right direction. I’m a pragmatist. And a step in the right direction is far, far better than more of the same in McBama.
For those who blog, don’t forget to link to the Barr campaign with good anchor text that “joe six-pack” might search for in google (i.e. lower taxes, gas prices, etc)
July 18th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I just place a bumper sticker on my car yesterday that reads “Dump McBama–Bob Barr 2008″………..so what if Barr wrote a check to his wife that she used to pay for an abortion…..Currency is fungible….money is fungible….so what!…..If Barr hits hard on evesdropping, FISA and privacy he will get many disgruntled McBama supprters to vote for him instead….this is the ONE ISSUE that truly is a wake-up call for the US! Go Barr!
July 18th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
@John Lowell - Not all Libertarians are rabid, dope-smoking, atheist, NARAL members. I for one think it’s murder and should be treated as a capital crime…At the STATE level. However, Bob Barr has consistently voted pro-life (a fact which causes grief among some in the “libertarian movement”).
Are you going to obsess over rumors about whether he “signed a check” used to pay for an abortion by his former wife…or look at his actual voting record on the issue in question.
July 18th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
John,
My point was simply this, If a candidate with a strong pro-life voting record (a rarity I might add) is accused of signing a check used to pay for an abortion…He may consider it so far beyond the pale as to be unworthy of response. As would I. Merely answering such base accusations lends them credence.
If someone accused me of murdering my firstborn son, I wouldn’t even deign to answer the charges. Otherwise, it would give that person and their charges a legitimacy that they do not warrant.
However, if you want more than a “just” a voting record…if that is unsatisfactory…you don’t have to vote for him. McBama has a strong voting record on this issue as well. Further, I don’t know if Baldwin (Constitution party) has any record on the abortion issue, but as a Baptist pastor, I’m guessing he’s got an equally strong stance.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Dear friend,
I urgently need your help.
I’m in Charleston, West Virginia attempting to get Bob Barr on the ballot. When I arrived early Wednesday morning, I didn’t think it would be possible, but I had to give it a shot.
We’re headed toward 48 state ballot access. Only West Virginia and Oklahoma are problems. However, there is hope in Oklahoma as we have just filed a lawsuit to get Bob Barr and Wayne Root on the ballot there.
If we win that case, only West Virginia will stand in our way of 50 state ballot access - an apex of achievement for a third-party candidate and something the media cannot ignore.
But here’s my problem.
There is no active Libertarian Party in West Virginia and a very limited pool of volunteers.
I have had to bring in out-of-state petitioners from across the nation to get this drive done.
So far I have 13 petitioners on the ground and another nine on their way.
I didn’t think we would have the manpower to get the drive done, but now I think it’s a possibility. I have enough petitioners in the state and on their way to collect enough signatures by our August 1st deadline.
But I won’t have the money to finish the drive if I don’t raise $43,000 by close of business on Monday.
Russ Verney, our campaign manager, wrote to me this morning and instructed me to shut down the drive if I cannot raise the funds by COB Monday.
So far this month, we’re raised less than $100,000. We’re even off pace from our June fundraising totals.
The campaign cannot afford this ballot drive as I write this. We would have to choose between basic campaign operations or the possibility of 50 state ballot access.
Russ has to make a tough call on this drive but he did give me 96 hours to raise the funds to continue the effort.
I ask that you keep this drive alive by helping me raise $43,000 by close of business on Monday.
Please make an emergency donation to fund the West Virginia ballot access drive right now. Please give generously by clicking here.
My friend, I’ve only been in this state for a few days and we need to be on the ballot here.
When I arrived in West Virginia it was 2:30 in the morning. I pulled into a hotel parking lot and a restaurant owner and one of her patrons were standing outside smoking a cigarette.
They didn’t look too happy.
As it turns out, just a few weeks earlier the county had banned smoking in all “enclosed workplaces” including bars and restaurants.
I’m not a smoker, but it’s the property owner’s decision to allow or disallow smoking on their premises - it is not a county bureaucrats’ decision.
When I explained libertarian philosophy to them and told them about our candidate Bob Barr, their eyes lit up.
They did not know that there is an alternative to the two-party system. They didn’t know that there is a party that respects an individual’s rights and personal decisions.
Since then, I’ve talked to many more folks in this state and the same holds true. We need to give West Virginians a better choice and the only way to do that is to get Bob Barr on the ballot.
Please donate today and help me keep this drive alive. I have two weeks left to pull it off and I sincerely need your support.
A gift of $50, $100, $250 or more would be a significant help. If you can’t give $50, give $5 or $10. Every dollar gets us one step closer to getting a pro-liberty candidate on the ballot in what could be our final ballot access hurdle.
Thank you for all that you do.
In Liberty,
Shane Cory
Deputy Campaign Manager
Bob Barr 2008