Libertarian Party Convention This Weekend
The Libertarian Party is holding its annual convention this weekend in Denver, Colorado. Looks like C- Span will be covering at least a couple events. Unfortunately for me, I only have basic cable which doesn't carry C- Span. But, not to worry, I guess you can watch it live online by going here.
Their schedule says coverage will start at 9am today and 10:30am Sunday, although I don't think there's going to be gavel to gavel coverage as when I watched my first convention. Still, it should be fun, even though I don't really follow the internal politics of the LP anywhere near as much as I used to.
My preference for the presidential nomination? I don't really have one. My main concern is which ones might be in with the War Party crowd. Some are accusing candidate Bob Barr of being War Party, but from what I've read so far, he seems to think more along the line of the way I do on Iraq. That's just from what I've heard and he's got some other rather unpleasant baggage he carries with him.
Another top tier candidate is Wayne Allen Root. One might worry that the initials of his name speak for themselves. I'm a little concerned with his attitude that seems to be that there was nothing wrong with attacking Iraq in the first place, we just didn't do it right.
Whoever gets the nod, I'll likely vote for, unless they're too in with the War Party. Even if they are, I might vote for him (or her), anyway. After all, why get your panties in a wad over a candidate that will likely get between .5 to 1% of the popular vote in November?
You can see the rest of the candidates for the LP nomination here. If I were to pick a favorite one right now, it would probably be Mary Ruwart, if only because she's easiest on the eyes.
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Update: C-Span now has last night's LP presidential "debates" in their archives: http://tinyurl.com/4du5flI realize most of you could care less about that. The main reason I posted this update is I finally followed up on that tinyurl deal. I'd seen people converting large hyperlinks into small ones using it and always wondered how that worked. Well, it's free, so if you have trouble converting links in your comments to active hyperlinks, as I often do, maybe you should try tinyurl.com.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 7:01 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Bob Barr,hmmm his stance on flag burning certainly doesn't represent libertarian philosophy does it?
That and a number of other issues. He was the sponsor, or co- sponsor, of the Defense of Marriage Act, although I think there are some libertarians I've known that might support such a thing.
He was also the main player in withholding funds for the Washington D.C. medical marijuana initiative from being counted. I watched that on C- Span when it was happening.
But, he seems to have let his hair down a little since he left congress and mellowed. We shall see.
Some are very opposed to Barr being involved in the LP. I'm not as bothered. To what extent, and whether he should be the presidential nominee, I don't know.
I remember watching him debate some anti- gun guy over some gun control proposal some years ago. The anti- gun guy asks something along the line of, "We require cars be equipped with seatbelts for safety...surely we should have safety measures for handguns...".
Something like that, anyways. Anybody else would have stuttered and stammered like, "huh...sure. I guess we do have to have some standards...".
Instead,Barr responded, "People should be able to drive whatever kind of car they want".
Only a libertarian oriented guy would of responded like that. Screwed up the gun control guy's whole strategy.
I thought it was great and actually opposed it when the LP worked to unseat Barr from congress back then.
Ooops. Got the times wrong. It was 9Pm, Eastern Time and 11pm Eastern Time. Oh well. Back to Aces High!
He with the initials W.A.R. spells his name Wayne Allyn Root. He's taken down a few pegs in this article from a Las Vegas newspaper:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/may/24/vegas-white-house-hope/#/The_candidate/
Interesting article. I'll have to say it reads like it was written by someone with a bone to pick with either the LP, Root, or both, before the story was written.
As an aside, somewhat interesting the reference to Root saying he didn't see Obama at college. I could have sworn I read somewhere that the two were roommates.
I should clarify that I thought I read that Root claimed he and Obama were roommates in college.
I'll have to admit the Platform and Bylaw Committee goings on at the convention are often of little or no interest to me. I do enjoy reading about personal interactions that occur, though.
The Third Party Watch blog is covering the goings on if anybody is interested in what's happening behind the scenes. Sounds like a bit of pushing and shoving going on in some venues.
Coverage starts with the May 23 post.
http://www.thirdpartywatch.com/
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