yes

So it appears that Root WILL be given a chance to debate Barr after all… Or will he?

The question now is: Why all the secrecy about Barr’s candidacy? Is he really afraid to debate Root? Maybe he is. I guess only time will tell at this point…

There you go. Have at it boys! Let the debating begin!

In the LP, the presidential nominee doesn’t choose his or her “running mate.” The vice-presidential nomination is awarded by the delegates. The presidential nominee can ask nicely for a particular VP nominee, but that doesn’t mean he or she will get whom they ask for.

Personally, I’d be happy with a Kubby/Ruwart or Ruwart/Kubby ticket. Anything else would be a waste of time, money and energy.

Barr has been much longer with the LP than Root and also done more. He has endorsed Badnarik in 2004. Root was born in NY and still consider himself a New Yorker, so it is naturally that NY would support a “local guy”.

If you compare the war against drugs to the war in Iraq, which support is the worst and least libertarian? The answer is obvious IMHO Also: it does not seem very principled to donate to anyone who would do business with you. Root criticized Gravel when he joined the LP, but finds no problem to contribute to any socialist or communist, as long as they invest millions with him.

1. Demanding that an opponent to withdraw is significant. You don’t issue such a significant statement absent the candidate’s authorization. Not unless it was an emergency where you had to respond—and there was no crying need to respond; no reason not to wait for Root’s plane to land. (And what about contacting him by phone?—planes do have air phones.)

2. This is a common political tactic. Have a surrogate do the dirty work. Then if need be, ask the surrogate to fall on his sword. So if Root now fires the campaign manager, it’d prove nothing.

3. Root was up in a plane? So he set up some plausible denial. He’s clever, I’ll give him that.

Sorry, but I don’t trust Root.

I don’t think Root is an honest man. Maybe he really did donate to Lieberman because he liked Lieberman. But I think it’s more politically damaging for him to say what he’s said than to say “I thought Lieberman was good, now I know better.” Thus, unless he cannot calculate that, I’m guessing he’s actually telling the truth here.

I could respect that. Because he’s made plenty of neocon-ish statements in the past, waxed orgasmic about Ronald Reagan and used talk radio jargon like “Islamofascist”, he urged support for McCain/Lieberman, vocally supported the war or a potential war with Iran, gave money—and not a small donation—to a hawkish morality cop (Lieberman).

He could admit that like Barr that he’s changed and make that into a strength, and use his past position to spin the people STILL supporting the war as irrational and unwilling to accept reality.

But instead he puts the past through the Ministry of Truth and creates a new past much better suited to what he wants in the present.

“April 30th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Andy – I don’t know. Let’s say it’s you. You are a principled, 100% libertarian. Your business can get the million-dollar contract if you make the guy happy by donating $2,300 to Lieberman. Alternatively, you don’t get the contract, which puts your business at risk. What’s more, the contract will just go to another, non-libertarian, and Lieberman still gets his $2,300. And even if your $2,300 made the difference for Lieberman (which it wouldn’t), even if he lost, another neocon would have won. I don’t see the advantage of not paying the bribe. Hank Rearden would have paid it. I see a distinction between donating because a bundler asks you to and donating specifically to secure a favor from the government. The latter would be unprincipled. The former is gray. But regardless, I respect Root for admitting this anyway. You could make the argument that the only truly principled thing a libertarian can do is take up arms against the government. But to what ends?”

How do you know that any business deals rested on whether or not Root donated money to Joe Lieberman? If Root’s business were worth investing in, wouldn’t there be people who’d want to invest in it regaurdless his political donations?

What if Root had said something like, “Sorry, but I just can’t send any money to Joe Lieberman because of his horrible record on both personal and economic freedom issues. Seriously friend, do you know anything about the record of the man for whom you are soliciting donations? He’s got an F rating from the National Tax Payers Union which is a group that advocates less taxes and less spending. He’s got an F- rating from Gun Owners of America. He’s bad on free speech. He supports locking up non-violent drug offenders. He’s a big supporter of the police state. I can’t support this man because this man is trying to take away our freedoms. I’d suggest that you rethink your support of him as well.”

Would something like the quote above have put Root out of business? Does one HAVE to sell out to get ahead?

I suspect that Root didn’t just donate to Lieberman because he was asked to make a donation, I think that at least a part of him WANTED to donate to Lieberman because Lieberman is a pro-war Zionist.

Now in all fairness, I will say that Wayne Root appears to be a much better candidate than Joe Lieberman from a pro-liberty perspective.

Am I the only one who is uncomfortable with the fact that 2 years ago this guy sent a donation to Joe Lieberman and less than two years ago he endorsed John McCain and Joe Lieberman as a Presidential ticket?