Bob Barr will make a fine Libertarian Party Presidential candidate, perhaps the best ever, even eclipsing Ed Clark's high water mark of nearly 1 million votes (1.1%) in 1980.

Problem is the Party is in the grips of leftwing Anti-War Libertarians (many outright Anarchists), thes days. Most of the Pro-Defense wing has left for the GOP into the Republican Liberty Caucus, Club for Growth, ect...

Barr will get a substantial vote among just the hardcore Libertarian set - base of about 500,000.

But if he hopes to increase that into the millions, he'll need to walk a fine line on foreign policy, careful not to run away Pro-Defense libertarians who might be inclined to vote for him.

Just today we learn of yet another report about to be released showing how the Surge in Iraq has been a stunning success since September.

If Barr takes the Ron Paul non-interventionist/pacifist line and claims that the War is a "failure" he'll end up looking foolish and run off a great many potential libertarian Republican supporters.
Eric Dondero | Homepage | 04.06.08 - 8:17 am | #

Eric, it's one thing to be anti-war... it's another to be in the grip of madness - see Code Pink as a glaring example.

We do need to find a way to get out of Iraq, a way that makes it worth our having been there in the first place. But we don't need to be there forever.

OTOH, next time there's a conflict, we need to make damn sure we NEED to be mixed up in it.
The Libertarian Guy | Homepage | 04.08.08 - 8:56 am | #