A warning to Bob Barr: Brawls over illegal immigration and gay marriage loom
So far as we know, Bob Barr hasn’t yet decide whether to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Graves of Ranger in a Republican primary fight for the 14th Congressional District.
But somebody out there is already trying to help the 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate make up his mind – with a quick bit of opposition research that prophesies that a challenge to Graves would quickly devolve into a brawl over immigration and gay marriage.
We don’t know the author, but you can examine the sheet by clicking here. It accuses Barr, a former Georgia congressman, of registering as a lobbyist for the ACLU, and – in 2008, as a Libertarian – of openly campaigning against GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
Let us just say that, given the way that McCain is viewed by many grassroots Republicans in Georgia, that last point may be somewhat insincere.
Among sheet’s main arguments:
Bob Barr opposed H.B. 87, Georgia’s tough new illegal immigration law
– Barr claims that Georgia’s [tough] new illegal immigration law was only passed “to make good headlines” and says it is “bad policy.”
– Barr’s ACLU buddies have joined with the Mexican government in suing Georgia over H.B. 87.
(Source: ajc.com: The Barr Code: 2/14/11)
Here’s a passage from the Barr column in question:
Politics aside, it is interesting to witness so many Republican legislators who profess allegiance to principles of federalism and more limited government police power, tripping over themselves to support legislation such as these immigration-based bills.
Greatly expanding the power of law state and local law enforcement to stop and detain people, premised on a power that resides with the federal, not state government to begin with, hardly fits traditional definitions of “conservative.” When it comes to immigration, consistency is often not a component of the debate.
And there’s this, also from the sheet:
Bob Barr now supports gay marriage
– In Congress, Barr wrote the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage on the federal level as a legal union between a man and a woman.
– Now, lobbyist Barr agrees with President Obama that the law is unconstitutional and supports the decision by the Department of Justice to stop defending the law in court.
(Source: LA Times.com: Opinion: Bob Barr, 1/5/09)
Bob Barr now supports repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
– In a keynote speech to this year’s Log Cabin Republicans National Convention, Barr said that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell should be repealed…..”
(Long Cabin Republicans News Release: Congressman Bob Barr’s Remarks at 2011 Long Cabin National Convention, Apr. 30, 2011)
The Log Cabin speech is still online. Here’s a paragraph:
”A license is a control mechanism; also a means to raise revenue. To license is to grant permission. To license is to control. Which brings us to the real question when discussing whether same-sex marriage should be legal – why do individuals need the government’s permission to marry? The real issue here is not marriage – it is control. Control – the Big C of 21st Century public policy. The important question is whether the government has the proper authority to dictate which individuals can enter into a binding legal agreement. The very nature and history of government action since our nation’s founding reveals it is all about power and control. The effort to define marriage directly or indirectly is but another of many examples of this universal truth.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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83 comments Add your comment
honested
October 27th, 2011
7:09 pm
The only useful thing bobbarr ever did was to expose the ’swindaller’ and send him where he belonged.
Aside from that, he seems to be really good at separating fools from their money!
Between bobbar’s misguided self importance and grave’s downright incompetence, it could be time for a REAL Democrat to clean up.
Looking at what ‘conservatives’ have done for North GA, people might want to think about what that term really means.
double
October 27th, 2011
7:12 pm
Graves don’t pay his just debts,and should not be elected for any political office.
td
October 27th, 2011
7:34 pm
honested
October 27th, 2011
7:09 pm
You seem to forget the very best thing he ever did was to lead the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He did a great job of proving without a reasonable doubt that Clinton was guilty. To bad the Senate played politics on the matter and did not listen to the evidence presented.
Jezel
October 27th, 2011
7:48 pm
After the way you went after Clinton for infidelity…while you were doing the same thing….GO SIT DOWN SOMEWHERE AND BE QUIET.
td
October 27th, 2011
8:04 pm
Jezel
October 27th, 2011
7:48 pm
Clinton was found guilty of lying under oath. You libs have a double standard. You want everyone else held accountable for their actions except for your own leaders.
benjamin franklin cheatham
October 27th, 2011
8:05 pm
It is very apparent that Mr. Barr, nor Mr. Galloway have never had 25 illegal aliens move into the three bedroom house next door. I have, and I don’t live within 200 miles of an onion field. It gives more and more of us, who share that experience, enough insight into this issue to know that those who advocate selectively exempting millions of people from our immigration laws, have self serving and short term, ulterior motives.
I can understand the business class of Republicans, who control the party, and have an insatiable appetite for more wealth, no matter who it impacts, but I don’t understand how the blue collar Republicans can be so easily taken in.
And, I totally don’t understand what is in it for Democrats. The issue has absolutely nothing to do with human rights. It has always been about transfering cost from the wealthy to the middle class.
double
October 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Yeah Richard Millhouse Nixon TD’s kind of man.
thewindwhistler
October 27th, 2011
8:30 pm
Would this be a mid life career change for Bob. First he was a Congressman then he had a column for the AJC and now he wants to be a Congressman again. I wonder if Bob is having a midlife crisis. It happens you know, when you see your youth and charm slipping away. I won’t get into that, I remember when I lost a lot of weight, bought some new clothes and regained my youth and vitality.
Bob will get through it alright. I do not know about this gay stuff, where does he stand this?
What is this lobbyist stuff, what is he lobbying for? I still think he hit the pinnacle when he wrote about the Sheriff and the $90,000 Dodge Viper, I am still waiting to hear how that came out.
No Longer Republican
October 27th, 2011
8:30 pm
Never have been a big Bob Barr fan, but he would be a MAJOR improvement of Graves…hell my dog would be a major improvement over that moron.
Alexander
October 27th, 2011
8:49 pm
i didn’t really care for Barr as a Congressman, but I believe he’s grown since then. Perfect? No. Better than Graves? You betcha. Barr’s single most irritating accomplishment as a congressman is that he didn’t accomplish much. He was just an opposition guy.
I have had the chance to hang around him since and read his columns. It is unlikely I would agree with his viewpoint on a lot of things, but I will respect what I believe is an honest opinion.
Graves is little more than an opportunitst. I will expect more from Barr.
Jackie
October 27th, 2011
9:22 pm
Barr is toast. His AJC columns make him unelectable in any republican districe in Georgia. He has a better chance of unseating John Lewis than he does of beating Graves.
gimmeabreak
October 27th, 2011
11:01 pm
Barr has not got a chance. Republican turned Libertarian turned Republican and has ACLU attached to his name…not a chance.
honested
October 27th, 2011
11:11 pm
td,
Yeah I forgot he was involved in that witch hunt against the GREATEST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY, but since he put the swindler in the slammer (identifying a serial criminal early) I can forgive him.
Life has hammered down most of the rest of the ‘managers’ since then, and America got to see what pants-wetters they were under shrub.
honested
October 27th, 2011
11:12 pm
jackie,
Given what a lightweight, empty suit graves is, what is it you find appealing about him?
rudikkingme
October 28th, 2011
12:32 am
I’m not a fan of Barr or Galloway, but it really pissed me off that Galloway coddled his trolls with, “Once in a while you have to let the truth wash over you.”
How dare he?
That’s the kind of thing that makes my inner-troll wanna puke.
But I know that Galloway din’t realize what he was implicatin’ and I know he wants to apologize. So that’s why I insist that Jim take it back….TAKE IT BACK…MR..Galloway, and maybe I can convince the other trolls that you really din’t mean it…..
Well?
Jklol
No KoolAid
October 28th, 2011
4:00 am
The games will begin? They haven’t stopped since the 2008 results came in. The current two party system, complete with infighting and games is running this country into the ground. As an issue based independent, reading this about Bob Barr makes me want to vote for him. I’d be happy to plant his sign in my front yard.
Smoke
October 28th, 2011
5:51 am
“It is gross journalistic neglect to publish rumor, unsubstantiated facts, and anonymous/unattributed hit pieces. Pure ulterior motives are at play here.” Since FOX News dropped the “fair and balance,” it must be OK to broadcast and telecast rumors, unsubstantiated facts, and anonymous/unattributed hit pieces.
Smoke
October 28th, 2011
5:52 am
Off subject. Has anyone seen Rick Perry’s certificate of live birth? He looks and acts like a robot.
Smoke
October 28th, 2011
5:56 am
Bob Barr was not faithful, but he doesn’t flip-flop, and shows that there are a few folks with an independent streak in Dixiecratland.
rawmilkdrinker
October 28th, 2011
6:46 am
Bob Barr is like Charlie Norwood was prior to his death; ask either of them a question and you could get an honest opinion without hysterics. Not that I always agreed with their answers, but it was civil discussion. Bob is right about privacy and liberty, neither of which is the same as being safe, cowering in fear because something bad might happen.It certainly will if we don’t give all of our information out and show our papers to anybody who happens by in uniform. Besides which, What business is it of the government or the church who I decide to share with?
Frederick Douglass
October 28th, 2011
6:52 am
Smoke @ 5:52
Rick Perry’s not a robot, he walks like one due to an old service injury. Yeah, the guy fell off a bar during a spirited game of dead bug in Italy back in “72″.
Jezel
October 28th, 2011
6:55 am
td…you do not know the definition of liberal or conservative.
Edward Ruffin
October 28th, 2011
7:36 am
Barr has as much chance of being elected to congress as Gingrich has of being elected president. Barr’s position on the issues is all over the place, little of which is Conservative. He can’t beat Graves.
honested
October 28th, 2011
7:51 am
Again, as no fan of bobbarr, what is it that makes people believe graves is somehow un-defeatable?
Is it his ‘vast legislative record’?
His ‘penchant for leadership’?
That he doesn’t bother himself with constituents unless they show up with a big check?
I don’t get it.
benjamin franklin cheatham
October 28th, 2011
7:56 am
Not changing the subject, but did anyone monitor Shady’s China junket – how many unnecessary guest/family members accompanied him, and what did it cost Georgia taxpayers and what did it accomplish for Georgia taxpayers? Or, was he on another mission for Sonny’s syndicate?
Alexander
October 28th, 2011
8:06 am
Many ACLU affiliates are beyond the pale. But if they hadn’t been on their wall protecting civil
Liberties, anyone posting here about an elected official would be expecting a knock on their door later today. Want to know what it would be like?
Check out the movie: the lives of others
Alexander
October 28th, 2011
8:07 am
…and I admire Barr for his unbending support of our civil liberties.
carlosgvv
October 28th, 2011
9:06 am
I would guess that both Barr and Graves, like Mitt Romney, will do and say whatever it takes to get elected.
TheNetGenius
October 28th, 2011
11:04 am
What have we turned marriage into?!?! Looks more like a sham an social device to drive the economy more an more every with the amount of people getting marriage or wanting to for the sake of it…As a millennial, I realize that marriage today isn’t the bond that my parents had when they got married (35 years in!), it’s a total joke now, nothing like when it meant something. Is there anything sacred anymore? And when are we going to take this world serious for the sake creating parameters & borders to this idiocy? To the woman trying to get your boy in the girl scouts, chop off his chromosome first and see if he’s fine with that first & be a PARENT not an freewill enabler
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 28th, 2011
5:17 pm
Well you see, big government is good when it’s being used to enforce the prejudices of KKKristians
fire eater
October 29th, 2011
4:25 am
I am shocked to see Bob Barr defending third-world immigration and homo marriage…either of these stands will sink him in this district. Bob, what have you been smoking?
Read Pat Buchanan’s new book about America’s grim future, “Suicide of a Superpower.” I would have liked to see this man on the debate stage with the pitiful crew fielded by the Republicans this year. So far no comment on Buchanan’s greatest book from the hatekeepers at SPLC and ADL.
Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis
October 29th, 2011
11:49 pm
The promotion and protection of illegal immigration by Hispanic Roman Catholics to our whig-founded Promised Land is an organized invasion for conquest. The institution orchestrating it, termed “the real Anti-Christ,”"an engine for enslaving mankind” by America’s anointed Founder and Prophet, Thomas Jefferson, is so confident of its success – given its control of Congress and the Supreme Court – that it has openly published a signed confession of treason: “National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry,” Publication / Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, United States Catholic Conference, No. 199-7, ISBN-13: 978-1555861995
“Do not ask for whom the bell tolls…”
They are emptying their teeming slums and brothels of Latin America to take the pressure off their slave aristocracy in place for hundreds of years to usurp our utopian, credal, civil religion’s individual sovereignty and to replenish their dioceses bankrupted by pedophile priest judgements enforced by our courts.
Let us remove their twin Fasces nailed to the front wall of the U.S. House and expropriate their Fifth Column now feeding on our blood.
sho'nuff
November 1st, 2011
8:52 am
I hope that the Honorable Mr. Barr would run for the Senate seat. Chambliss and Issakson must go!!