Bob Barr for President? Really? Bob Barr?

By Lee Russ

Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 08:53 PM

It seems pretty likely now that the one and only Bob Barr, formerly of the House, will seek the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. That's probably disappointing to the many Ron Paul fans who wanted Paul to run as a Libertarian, but, hey, you can't have everything. At least the racists are likely to be just as happy with Barr as they would have been with Paul.

According to Liberty Maven, in the link above, Barr was a guest on Sean Hannity’s radio program on April 3, and was accused by Hannity of handing the presidential race to the Dems if he runs as a Libertarian. Which Barr rebuffed on the theory that if McCain can't get enough votes to win, screw him.

Since the Liberty Maven post, Barr used the Heartland Conference later that week to announce he was forming an exploratory committee. His reasons for doing so:

America today faces a grave moral and leadership crisis, and those of us who care about our country's future can no longer sit on the sidelines and remain neutral.

Well, God knows a Barr candidacy should help solve the "moral crisis," right? For those who have forgotten Mr. Barr since he lost a primary election in 2002, just a few reminders about who and what Mr. Barr is, courtesy of the Religious Freedom Coalition of the Southeast's web site:

First elected in 1994, highlights of Rep. Barr's political career include:

• Supporting a constitutional amendment to undermine separation of church and state. "Congress has the opportunity to send enemies of religious freedom a clear message that their attempts to erase religious belief from America's culture by cleverly manipulating the judicial system will not be tolerated," Barr said.
• Becoming the first member of Congress to introduce an "inquiry of impeachment," long before the public had heard of Monica Lewinsky.
• Giving a keynote speech at a gathering of the racist and anti-immigrant Council of Conservative Citizens, a direct descendant of the White Citizens Councils set up across the South in the 1950s to defend segregation.
• Calling hate crimes legislation to protect the rights of gays and lesbians, women and disabled Americans "a backdoor way to obtain protected status for sexual orientation and sexual deviancy."
• Sponsoring the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. Despite the fact that he was married three times, sued by his second wife, and, according to published reports, was once seen at a fundraising event licking whipped cream off of the chests of two women, Barr explained his sponsorship of DOMA this way: "The flames of hedonism, the flames of self-centered morality are licking at the very foundations of our society: the family unit."
• Earning consistent 100 percent ratings from the Christian Coalition.
• Sponsoring an amendment ­ passed by Congress ­ that barred the Washington D.C. Board of Elections from tallying the votes on a referendum to legalize the use of marijuana for patients suffering from cancer, AIDS or glaucoma. Officials estimate it would have cost only $1.64 to count the votes.
• Campaigning on a pledge to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts.
• Voting to cut funding for Head Start, Medicare, Aid to Families with Dependent Children and student loans.

You know, if moral is as moral does, Barr don't. But his connections to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC)will put him in good stead with the racists who are looking for a candidate of their own. In fact, his explanation of his CCC connection sounds a lot like Paul's explanation of those mysteriously racist newsletters published under his name: "I didn't know." In Barr's case, he obviously can't disclaim knowledge of his own appearance before the CCC, so he ties his ignorance on the nature of the group. His denial is about as plausible as Paul's was.

A problem for Barr right now is that he's not the only person making noise about running for the Libertarian nomination. In fact, among the others is Dem Mike Gravel, who last month announced he was joining the Libertarians, while still hopelessly seeking the Democratic nomination. Compared to Gravel's one month old conversion to the Party, Barr is an old hand at Libertarianism. He joined back in 2006.

If you ask me, one or more of these potential candidates is quite likely to so tarnish the image of the Libertarian Party, that any gains the Party has made in recent years toward respectability will likely be more than reversed.