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You write: “Doug Stanhope is the only candidate worth nominating.”

You keep saying that, but I haven’t seen anything convincing to back it up. Lay it out for us. What will Doug Stanhope do besides “garner less than 1% of the vote, finish 5th, and be like every other worthless candidate in the LP’s history?”

Regards,
Tom Knapp

I believe Kubby has the potential of changing the LP away from its Republican tilt. He also is someone who is not afraid to engage to speak from the heart and engage in civil disobedience, just like Loretta, and unlike Phillies, who is very boring (and a little creepy) in person and constantly puts people down for resisting tax extortion, not using an SSN, not submitting to state driver licensing and other such forms of resistance to state tyranny. I believe he is also a rabid partisan of the 19 Arabs with boxcutters conspiracy theory og 9/11. His immigration views I’ve already commented, but I haven’t seen his trade views – is he a protectionist too?

I don’t know enough about Stanhope’s views to say a whole lot yet, but Eric Dondero likes him, which is a strike against him.

“Do you think Bush should lower gas prices?”

This is the mentality of the American people.

We are fucking doomed. Who cares about the LP nomination or anything at all when the world is this stupid.

I’m changing my name to undercover_nilhist_(sp?)

Doug Stanhope is the only candidate worth nominating. But here’s a prediction I guarantee to come true: The coming nomination process will be incredibly divisive. It will make the ‘04 race look like a consensus. Will the dominant Republican wing of the LP ever support Stanhope? Can you imagine the throngs of LPers who will not get behind Phillies no matter what? I guess Steve Kubby is the “consensus” choice – i.e. the one who will garner less than 1% of the vote, finish 5th, and be like every other worthless candidate in the LP’s history.

Thanks for clearing that up—I thought the message was from Loretta herself.

You write: “Tom are you working on Kubby’s campaign?”

I am not working on any campaign. I have not endorsed a candidate for the LP’s (or BTP’s) 2008 presidential nomination, nor have I decided whom, if anyone, I will support or in what manner.

I have corresponded with, and to some minimal extent advised (read: spouted my loudmouth opinions to), several candidates, including George Phillies, Steve Kubby, Robert Milnes and Kent McManigal. I would not, however, elevate any of that to the level of “campaign work.”

The last time around, I “changed horses” in mid-campaign for what I thought were good reasons. I don’t regret that decision, but I also don’t intend to do that this time. Once I pick a candidate, that’s who I’m with through the nomination (either as a plain-vanilla supporter or, if they think I’ll be an asset, volunteer or campaign staff).

It’s still very early in the race. I think we’ll see a few more entrances after November, and maybe one or two toward the end of 2007 if things don’t look too locked up by then. Probably some dropouts or at least “lights are on but nobody’s home” campaigns, too.

What I’m doing right now is gathering information and considering the options available —and since I respect Loretta Nall’s opinion, and assume that she has good reasons of her own for choosing to work on George’s campaign versus supporting Steve, I’d like to hear those reasons. They may very well affect my own judgment of who will win the nomination and/or who should win it.

Regards,
Tom

-p

Loretta didn’t send it.

I sent that as a question to Loretta.

Actually, the email to which you refer was sent by Paul Frankel, as far as I can tell fom the sender’s email address.

Dick Clark

“As for Thom Knapp’s question of ‘Why?’, I’ll reverse it and ask ‘Why Not?’ What is it that she doesn’t see in the other candidates that she was looking for in someone to back? Vision? Electability? Debate Skills? Organization? Credentials? Understanding of how the LP electoral process works?”

I like George Phillies. I consider him a friend. But let’s get one thing out of the way: A Massachusetts physics professor and local ACLU leader who has never previously been elected to public office is not “electable” to the presidency of the United States, even if he was running on a major party ticket. You might wish differently; I might, too. Wishing, however, will not make it so.

So far, “electability” isn’t even on the table. The American electorate will not be send a Massachusetts physics professor—or a California drug activist, an Arizona comedian, a Colorado philanthropist and model, a Texas tax activist who thinks he’s Gandhi, a New Jersey leftie who thinks the Greens and LP should all gather round the campfire and sing Kum Ba Ya while talking about building a border fence and partitioning Iraq to attract “moderates,” or a Texas former computer programmer turned constitution teacher—to the Oval Office in 2008. Get over it.

Having never seen Steve Kubby debate, I can’t speak to the relative quality of his debate skills versus those of Dr. Phillies.

With respect to “understanding of the LP electoral process,” all we can look at is past results: Over the course of four campaigns for LP chair, Dr. Phillies has managed to garner, at his high point, the support of a little over 20% of convention delegates. In one campaign for the LP’s vice-presidential nomination, Kubby has managed to drive to a second ballot and garner the support of 45% of convention delegates. I wouldn’t say that this proves that Kubby “understands the LP electoral process” better than Phillies, but neither does it prove the reverse.

I’ve pretty much wrapped “credentials” into “electability” already, but it bears a little more examination:

None of the thus-far-declared candidates has, to the best of my knowledge, ever been elected to any public office. None of the thus-far-declared candidates has, to the best of my knowledge, has ever been appointed to any public office. None of the thus-far-declared candidates has, to the best of my knowledge, ever generaled a US army to victory on the field of battle. Does anyone care to name those among the 43 previous presidents who were elected without having previously done one of those things? Never mind, I will: [This Space Intentionally Left Blank].

That leaves “organization” and “vision.” While Dr. Phillies has thus far excelled his opponents in terms of organization and, possibly by virtue of his early entry more clearly articulated his vision, it’s rather early in the campaign to conclude that this will remain so.

Which leaves the question still unanswered: Why does Loretta Nall prefer Phillies to Kubby? Since Nall just sent a message to her mailing list under the heading “Why Phillies, not Kubby?” with a link pointing back to this article, I had hoped to find an actual, substantive answer. If a media coordinator can’t explain why he or she supports his or her candidate of choice, how can anyone else be expected to understand why THEY should also support that candidate?

Regards,
Tom Knapp

As for the LP there they are hard to get a hold of. All the contact info they have on the site is email addresses and apparently they’re not too into answering those. Kohlhaas apparently hasn’t had much luck getting a hold of them either and he’s the one doing the fundraising to get us out there. Plus he’s worked Nebraska before so they should know who he is…

If you guys are gonna be in the vicinity of Chadron, email me at princepsaugustus@hotmail.com and I can hook you up with free room and board while you’re doing your work.

Phillies)Americans who quote the Statue of Liberty’s message ‘Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ should remember that it was written when France, Germany and Russia were autocratic monarchies. The huddled masses of Europe now breathe free.

paul) For starters, I’m not so sure that the masses of Europe are free, but if they, so what? What of the rest of the world? Is Phillies a white supremacist?

I’ll be happy to have anyone who cares to explain this to me. You, the campaign….doesn’t really matter.

I’m still endorsing Kubby and am disappointed that Loretta isn’t. That’s really too bad she’s on the wrong team on this one.

In completely unrelated news, are you involved with the Nebraska LP? We’re going to be petitioning over there and need some contact info for who to get the petition sheets from….preferably phone numbers not just email.

-p