Steve Kubby attended Bob Barr‘s victory party tonight, and received a standing ovation upon entering the room. Bob Barr then called him to the front, and recognized Mr. Kubby as a true libertarian hero. Barr also pledged to fight the injustice of medical-marijuana prohibition. Kubby received a second standing ovation.
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By the way, during his speech Monday endorsing Mary Ruwart for a position on the Libertarian National Committee, Steve Kubby told the crowd that all government charges against him related to his medical marijuana use have been dropped, and I believe he also said that his entire record has been expunged. This is wonderful news for a man whose life has truly been saved by medical use of marijuana.
Oops…my “I don’t like the sound of that” was directed at the Barr piece, not your subequent comment, which wasn’t there when I started typing.
I don’t like the sound of that. It doesn’t strike me as a drug war position paper, but his vague call for directing “resources” to Latin America is questionable for sure. Strange that he would post this article at such a time, when he surely was thinking about running for the nomination.
By the way, that last remark was intended as light-hearted sarcasm. Reading it, someone who doesn’t know me might not know my tendency to quip about everything.
This is going to be a balancing act for radicals. We DO want to keep pressure on Barr so that he doesn’t feel emboldened to tell conservatives what they want to hear to draw votes from McCain.
We will have NO influence if we declare our unconditional refusal to vote for Barr, and even less if we let him know he doesn’t have to worry about our being in the LP after the election.
The proper approach for LP radicals is to constructively work for state and local candidates and ballot access and to focus on better internal education (or any internal education, which would be a good start). We can work for the party through November without having to specifically work for Barr-Root, and neither an unconditional commitment nor an unconditional rejection makes sense.
Lance, here is the article by Barr rattling sabers over Latin America:
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/printedition/2008/03/19/barred0319.html
It’s not really fair to treat this as his current opinion, though, since he wrote this way back in 2008.
greg, where is it that Barr has called for that recently? He should definitely put Plan Colombia on his list of repudiations.
I think Barr is reconsidering his view on the War on Drugs in a very active way. He has already lobbied against one of his drug warrior bills. He seems to have added language recently which hints at ending prohibition entirely eventually, where as a few weeks ago he was stuck at moving it to the state level. It probably feels as strange to him to be saying these new things as it sounds to us.
I’m not saying Barr should be let off the hook by any means. I think he should be pounded relentlessly until he ties up the loose ends of his “conversion”. But I also think that anti-Barr folks should think a little about the real positives his campaign could achieve for liberty. Even, and perhaps especially, on the issues where he was previously abhorrent.
I’m more impressed by his progress on the drug war issue than I am by his gay marriage/DOMA stance. He needs to move more on that issue, along with lining up his ducks on the drug war.
What it will take for me to support Barr/Root: (1) Perfection. No deviation from acceptable libertarian norms. (2) Time. (3) Blood. Neither has taken the hits for the party or the philosophy that people like Steve Kubby, Mary Ruwart, or Ron Paul have. They are “unscathed” libertarians and that’s why they’re not perceived as being real libertarians. They need to take some shots and come back from it with dignity. Let’s see.
Oh, and Barr would have to call for the abolition of his employer, the CIA.
Red – I know cultural conservatives have a hard time dealing with objective reality, but you do realize that Ron Paul IS for legalizing all drugs, right?
John Ashcroft stood up against warrantless wiretaps and it cost him his job.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/15/comey-silence/
If he now stated that he opposes PATRIOT act style intrusions and is a free marketeer, would it be acceptable for the LP to nominate him? Think about your answer.
Lance, if Barr is so intent on ending the Federal War on Drugs, why does he call for increased U.S. government intervention in South America to fight “narco-terrorists”? That is not an incremental approach; it is moving in the wrong direction.
Also, if one can lift the veil of cynicism, it’s pretty clear that Bob Barr could do more to move the drug war in the right direction (toward its end; out of the federal gov’s hands; recognizing medical marijuana ) than any candidate we had to choose from…including Steve Kubby, who I consider a friend and a hero, but who would do a lot less to persuade the folks who are actually keeping the drug war alive at this point.
Barr will reach a tenfold audience, with the message that as a former hardcore drug warrior, he knows the the drug war is not working. That is a very powerful thing for the LP.
FWIW, I think it was in the debates, Barr did say that he wants to see the issue devolve from the federal level down to the states, and eventually, left to the people themselves to regulate. So he is positing (and promoting) the real-life political arc that ending the drug war will have to take. I think he’s come pretty far in a fairly short time.
I didn’t say that last part right:
I think he will win over a lot of the folks who think (negatively) of the old Bob Barr when they think of him. This is not the old Bob Barr.
I think Barr is finding his inner libertarian revolutionary. I know some people will think that sounds crazy, but I think the evidence bears it out. He will eventually fully repudiate his non-libertarian political views and votes, I predict. Maybe not in this election cycle, but eventually.
And I think he will win over a lot of the folks who think of the old Bob Barr when they think of him. This is not the old Bob Barr.
I tihnk it’s likely that Barr will catch rougly 1/3rd of the Paul-support.
Here are the results of a poll taken at “RonPaulForums”:
Do you trust Bob Barr?
Yes 36 43.90%
No 46 56.10%
Continuing the “r3volution” indeed…
RedPhillips,
The Constitution is not one of Barr’s talking points, which might have been politically wise at the convention, since many LP hardliners are not constitutionalists.
The problem is that mainstream America likes the constitution, and wishes that presidential candidates talked about it more. The Ron Paul phenomenon makes this clear, but Barr, like Ruwart, is no Ron Paul.
I think I am at risk of losing all of my hair due to pulling it out by reading the messages in this thread!
People, people, people. This is NOT a crisis. It will only be a crisis if you want it to be so. You want things to go your way? Organize better. Learn effective tactics (this is politics, after all) and above all, gain some credibility with those you disagree with. You lose all credibility when you begin saying how you will jump ship, vote for another candidate, cut off funds, let your membership expire, etc.
Who will be able to count on YOU? We may not always agree with each other and may not always get our way, but it’s nice to know that when the chips are down, we can count on each other because in the end, like George Phillies said: “the enemy is OUT THERE”.
I made the mistake all of you are about to do. My only suggestion is DON’T DO IT.
Why doesn’t Barr just go the Ron Paul and Constitutional route and condemn all federal drug laws as unconstitutional and say that drug laws should be up to the States. (No State would legalize hard drugs despite the hopes and dreams of libertarians.)
Class move on Kubby’s part. Despite how high the emotions ran between the Barr and Ruwart camps, we pretty much all liked and respected Kubby… BEFORE the voting started. Several of us in the Barr camp backed Kubby for VP in the first round, but the unity ticket just wasn’t meant to play out. I hope Kubby continues to hold a high-profile spot.
What was he supposed to do, throw Kubby out of the room ? No, he wants the “LIBERTARIAN” (aka:purists) $upport, their $weat and their MONEY mainly…
The conservatives won, congrats to them they now control the Party, let them FUND it…
Yaknow, I was trying to do a positive article on Barr here, and from what I hear, he was quite sincere and impressed a lot of people with this gesture. I don’t think I was able to convey it well since I wasn’t there.
My wife watched Barr on CNN this morning. Guess he stated that “The Party Is United”.
Didn’t take him long to lie did it? Or is he really that clueless?
As deflated as I feel at the moment, I would ask Libertarians to consider positives that may be taken away from the 2008 convention.
First, I wish to remember what an excellent debate presentation it was for the Presidential nomination. An important moment in the history of the LP.
Second, though there were some exceptions to decorum, I found that the LP was able to ratify a platform thankfully because the great majority of the convention delegates were able to conduct themselves with Courtesy & Respect for everyone.
I could not have believed a few days ago that the eventual ticket would be Barr/Root, a ticket without a candidate long loved within the LP.
Root and Barr both had greater support than first imagined. They brought in more interest to the party which is to be applauded.
They ran serious and credible campaigns. Upping the bar for future nominee contests.
Thank you to all. May the ticket make the party members proud.
Long live the LP. Let freedom ring.
More importantly than being a CIA asset. He didnt recant his drug-war views, correct?
“Barr also pledged to fight the injustice of medical-marijuana prohibition. ”
Medical-marijuana prohibition. Not drug-prohibition.
I never thought i’d see the day when the Libertarian candidate didnt support full legalization.
Gene – I, of course, was not in attendance, so I did not hear the words spoken. This is a second-hand report from Tom Knapp, with whom I was drinking tonight (along with Susan Hogarth, Paulie, Jeff Wartman, Jake Porter and a bunch of other fine folks), and I did not even do the story justice. From what I gather, Barr was very eloquent in celebrating Steve’s accomplishments.
That said, he’s still a CIA asset.
DRJ – In this particular incident, yes, no question.
Classy on the part of Barr to recognize Steve. Then again, Steve deserves the recognition.
I’ll believe Barr’s conversion on the War on Drugs when he stops calling for increased federal intervention in South America to fight “narco-terrorists”.
magnanimous in victory.