There has been quite a bit of discussion lately concerning the (oh, God how I hate to utter these words) Libertarian candidate for President, Bob Barr and his campaign contributions to Senate and House races and whether there was Libertarian opposition in the races or not.

According to opensecrets.org, for the election cycle 2008, the Bob Barr Leadership Fund PAC has made contributions totaling $22,800 for Republican candidates in House races and $0.00 for Democrats; and $17,500 for Republican candidates and $1,000 for Democrat candidates in Senate races. These figures are based on data released by the FEC on April 28, 2008.

The issue here, in my most uneducated and unenlightened opinion, is why the hell is someone whose only job since 2006 seems to be in the Libertarian National Committee, giving money to other parties in the first place?

“Oh, he's only giving to races where there's no Libertarian candidate running”.

Really? Do you mean to tell me that in Georgia, Bob Barr's home state; there are zero Libertarians that couldn't have benefited from the $2,300 Barr donated to Gingrey for Congress on February 27, 2008-that there was not one person with whom Barr interacted frequently at Libertarian functions that was deemed worthy of support in order to spread the Libertarian message? I mean, Bob Barr does interact with Libertarians in Georgia, right? Oh, maybe not...he was awfully busy hobnobbing with the likes of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John McCain and Newt Gingrich just the day before at the CPAC get-together; where the rumors were already flying about Barr's potential run for President. Granted, he hadn't officially announced his candidacy-there was an amazing 45 days between the time his PAC expended money for the Barr 2008 Presidential Exploratory Commission and the Libertarian Convention in Denver.

Also, according to the Georgia State Government website, the deadline for filing for third party candidates is not over until July 7, 2008.

Seriously, 45 days? I know people who spend less time planning a fucking vacation and this well-oiled political machine is able to consider, fund, explore and implement a run for the highest office in the country in the same amount of time someone has to return merchandise to a store. Even more expedient is that there were but 10 days between the time he formally announced his candidacy and the actual voting in Denver. But I digress.

The point is, Bob Barr is supposed to be a representative of the Libertarian Party and because of his past experience in public office, should be at least minimally aware that some people might construe his donations to other parties as support...I know for a fact that some of the ordinary folks that contributed to his PAC were laboring under the misconception that the money was going toward Libertarian ideals if not actual Libertarian candidates.

Another one of the donations by Barr to Republican candidates that just plain set my blood to boiling was his $1,000 donation to Senator Larry Craig on May 8, 2007. Just over a month later, the famously wide-stanced Craig was arrested for lewd conduct; I am willing to give Barr the benefit of the doubt that he had no idea what a freakazoid Craig was when he donated the money, but I cannot and will not cut Barr any slack for posting the following to his website www.bobbarr.org under the title, “'07 awards-even for the idiots” dated 12-26-07:

Of course, we're all appreciative of the fine work our police officers perform in our behalf, but every once in a while an officer goes above and beyond the call. When this occurs, the officer is singled out for the Police Power of the Year Award. The 2007 award goes to Minneapolis Airport police Sgt. Dave Karsnia, who apparently has nothing better to do than sit in men's room stalls all day waiting for someone in an adjoining stall to tap his foot. Kudos to Karsnia for making his long stints in men's rooms pay off last summer when he arrested U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) for tapping a foot.

“nothing better to do”? What the hell reason do you think this poor, underachieving cop had for “sitting around in men's room stalls” in the first place? Could it possibly be that the citizens were tired of pasty old white dudes with wide stances using these restrooms to pick up other dudes? That, just in case their sons or grandsons might someday need to relieve themselves, they would prefer that the toe-tapping creeps were at least being investigated and except in this case, put in jail?

This is a member of the Libertarian National Committee defending a man, who by the time Barr wrote this piece of crap had, (according to wikipedia):

Craig pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct by signing and mailing a plea petition, dated August 1, 2007, to the District Court in Hennepin County, Minnesota.[42][43] He paid $575, including fines and fees. Senator Craig signed the petition to enter his guilty plea, which contained the provisions, "I understand that the court will not accept a plea of guilty from anyone who claims to be innocent... I now make no claim that I am innocent of the charge to which I am entering a plea of guilty." Craig mailed his signed petition to the court, and his petition to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge was accepted and filed by the court on August 8, 2007

I bring this up because while Barr might've been excused for donating to Larry Craig's campaign prior to his arrest, there can be little justification for his defense of Craig once his proclivities became public knowledge -other than being an ass blanket for the GOP Hypocritical Pervert Brigade. It only makes sense that those people you deem worthy of donations would also be deemed worthy of supporting- I can't think of a single, solitary person who donates their hard-earned money to politicians that have diametrically opposing views. In the world of politics, money talks and money equals support.

On May 13th prior to the election in Denver, the esteemed Thomas Knapp had this to say about one of Barr's donations:

Aside from the obvious—Libertarian Party “leaders” shouldn’t be supporting Republican candidates—any support, ever, for evil loathsome chickenhawk slimeball asshat Saxby Chambliss is (or at least should be) just downright personally offensive to any American who has ever served in uniform. So far as I am concerned, a campaign contribution to Chambliss is the functional equivalent to a donation to al Qaeda.

- Third Party Watch, comments on:
"Philles responds to revelations about Barr contributions"

This is why questions concerning Bob Barr's donations are not only germane to the discussion, but seems to fly in the face of everything the Libertarian Party stands for-and to have this kind of political back stabbing by the standard-bearer should never be sanctioned or allowed.