By W. James Antle, III on 7.28.08 @ 6:14PM
I just got off a wide-ranging bloggers' conference call with
Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr. Some of the
topics:
- Barr strongly opposed the housing bill awaiting President
Bush's signature.
- He said cutting spending would be the top priority of a Barr
administration
- Everything would be on budget, including Iraq "which would be
wound down"
- He said he would try to get into the debates with McCain and
Obama, but declined to say whether he would debate Ralph Nader,
Chuck Baldwin or other third-party candidates
- Barr argued that he was not an isolationist on foreign policy,
that he would not "zero out" all U.S. foreign aid and military
spending abroad, and that he supports a strong national defense
posture (but "not offense and occupation) like that which Ronald
Reagan used to win the Cold War but he will also reduce foreign aid
and overseas military commitments
- Barr talked about streamlining the legal immigration process
while deporting, without major national round-ups, those in the
country illegally. He didn't take a full restrictionist line,
emphasizng the importance of attracting skilled foreign workers as
legal immigrants
In a future conference call, Barr said he would address the
intricacies of state ballot access issues but he expected to be on
the ballot in "virtually" all 50 states. He named Oklahoma as the
one possible sticking point.
topics:
Foreign Policy, Military, Iraq, Immigration