Bob Barr Weighing Presidential Run
File: Former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr was an impeachment manager against President Bill Clinton in 1998. (AP video still)
Former Republican Georgia Rep. Bob Barr is considering a run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket.
Barr told FOX News on Tuesday that he should know in the next few days whether he is going to go for it.
If he does decide to make an announcement in the next few days, Barr said it “would not be in either Washington or Atlanta.“
Another source todl FOX News that the announcement should happen this weekend, probably on April 5. That is the day Barr is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Heartland Libertarian Conference in Kansas City, Mo.
Barr, who joined the Libertarian Party after leaving Congress in 2003, is looking to attract conservatives who are unhappy with the choice of John McCain as the expected Republican presidential nominee. McCain and Barr are at odds primarily over the role of U.S troops in Iraq, although both agree that tough interrogation methods should not be permitted.
FITNews, who was first to report the possible presidential bid, wrote that Barr will receive the endorsement of Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, a GOP presidential candidate who is still technically in the race but has not suggested he would throw his support to McCain. McCain and Paul, who ran on the Libertarian Party presidential ticket in 1988, also are at odds primarily over the role of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Barr, who represented Georgia’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House from 1995-2003 and served as a House manager during impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week that he identifies closely with Paul’s outlook.
“Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of that dissatisfaction and that awareness. Unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement. But we have to have ….a rallying point out there to harness that energy, that freedom in this election cycle,” he said.
Click here to read the FITNews article on Barr’s possible run for president.
FOX News’ David M. Lewkowict contributed to this report.
I too tend to have libertarian beliefs, but I’m also a realist. This country is already long past any hope of a return to the concepts our founding fathers envisioned. We’ve been a socialist republic for some time now. Despite a few brief moments in the last hundred years or so (Ronald Regan being one of them) Americans want more government. More control. More safety nets at the expense of freedom. I need only point out the current mood of the voters as an example.
McCain angers many Republicans for his moderate views. But only a moderate conservative has a chance of winning the presidency this year. As for the Libertarians, they represent a noble breed, but they are a last feeble gasp. Because of their idealism, there’s no hope that the political machines in power on both sides would ever commit money or resources to a Libertarian candidate. In any case, Libertarians are, by nature, an independent breed of people who shun organized parties. It’s this very nature that makes it nearly impossible for a Libertarian party to be united and a real force in the election.
Couple that with the fact that most Americans have lost faith in their current system (i.e., they simply don’t care) whether through apathy or just plain ignorance, and you set the stage for socialism, fascism, or outright dictatorship.
I won’t go so far as to say a vote for Ron Paul is wasted. It’s still an individual choice to vote for whomever you feel like. But it won’t be that way much longer.
Run Bob Run!!
Just as a Nader candidacy can only hurt the Dems… so too a Libertarian candidate essentially hurts the Republican candidate. So everyone in favor of Hillary/Obama will naturally support Barr’s running…
Wayne,
While I am a person of great faith myself, I do not wish to legislate my beliefs on others. I am free to practice my religion. I don’t need or want the government involved — either for me or against me.
Y’know, marriage was formerly only a function of churches, but the governent thought they could usurp some power by making us take blood tests and issuing licenses and charging fees — for our own good….
Be careful not to think that the founders must have just made an oversight and that surely they meant for the constitution to spell these things out. They really didn’t. Their intent was to protect us from the governent and for us to conduct our own lives as we see fit, freely choosing to act justly and morally, without guns to our heads.
Though a high percentage of Americans may profess to be Christians, America was not founded on the principle of mob rule.
Trust yourself Wayne, to be able to discern good from evil and to act in accordance to your religious beliefs without the government mandating that you or I do so.
McCain is the worst of the worst!! I hope Barr runs and causes McCain to lose
We need liberty in CHRIST; WE need a GOD AMENDMENT FOR PRAYER, BIBLE, CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES as in our U. S. History. America confesses to be 85% christian; we should be able to pass this Amendent. We have 38 states for the MARRIAGE AMENDMENT; we need to get that done.
A libertarian canidate might well put a liberal Anti Christ Democrat in the Presidency.
Let’s pray for a spiritual AWAKENING. WAY oNE
Suze:
Ron Paul has just as much experience and even more love of his country. He too served in the military. Furthermore, he has a far superior grasp of economics and the Middle East dynamic. He actually excelled in his advanced education rather than demeriting his way through school.
Paul has credentials that bury McCain but those things didn’t matter to you. Why then should McCain’s experience and patriotism matter one whit to us…?
Many of us are not going to reward the Republicans for their misbehavior. Voting for them under these circumstances would reinforce their misbehavior. We could vote directly for Obama but choosing liberalism would not be moral either.
I’ll be voting for whomever the Libertarians run….
Those that can only vote based on whether or not their candidate “wins” hardly deserve to vote at all. We have three major candidates that will not control the border, will tax us to death, usurp what are left of our civil liberties, and promote every other country before America because America First and wanting to bring our troops home and keep our jobs here is not patriotic! Ask George Bush. I ask you, what is the difference between Clinton, Obama, and McCaine??
We have a chance to vote for REAL representatives who believe our constitution is more than a “piece of paper”. I am a conservative and up to this point had no where to go. If Bob Barr will run, he has my vote in a heartbeat. Ron Paul as VP would be icing on the cake. Maybe they won’t make it this year, but third party numbers have been getting better each year. Put your vote where your mouth is if you really care about America.
Finally a conservative.