The American Spectator

Just when it was looking unusually good for the GOP and John McCain against the Democrats, in what is an election year naturally favorable to them — Bob Barr decides that now is the time for him to come to the aid of, well, I don’t know who.

p>Considering this information from the article:.”..he is best known for his role in passing the Defense of Marriage Act — which has kept the marriage laws of all 50 states from being at the tender mercies of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court — and as a House manager in br> the impeachment of Bill Clinton. /p>

In 2002, Barr lost his congressional seat after redistricting forced him into a primary with fellow Republican Congressman John Linder. After leaving the House, he has focused on civil liberties and privacy protections, opposing the Bush administration on the Patriot Act and its national surveillance program. “There seems to be a disconnect with his focus on “civil liberties and privacy protections” and his wishing the state to suppress behavior he finds morally wrong, i.e. same-sex marriage. Now, I also oppose same-sex marriage, but I am at least consistent and oppose all government intruding onto personal liberties, even when those liberties go against my own personal beliefs.

p>Bob Barr is no Libertarian, and he can play no practical role this year other than a spoiler for John McCain. br> — David Leone /p>

I think that as a piece of advocacy, the article gets a good grade as a nice try. The fact is that Bob Barr will be treated as a fringe candidate and probably rightly so.

Just set-aside his views on privacy which one can argue hinder the executive from prosecuting a war and tapping into the bad guys phones. To me, and most Americans, this is an extreme view. It will be easily manipulated against him.

What will be his bane are two things — the Clinton “hatred” which the media will love to re-hash at every turn and the gun flub (shooting off a loaded gun as a campaign appearance). Both will make him look like a wacko.

p>Bob Barr should not be taken seriously and this is only a vanity play. And vanity seems to be Barr’s true problem. br> — James Siegler