Outside of the tear gas-choked air of Independent Political Report and radical-leaning LP blogs, Barr's media coverage has remained steady, respectful, and (of course) dismissive.
Steady? Well, steady as it goes, anyway.
Dismissive? That goes without saying, and is more a function of media treatment of third parties than of anything unique to Barr.
But respectful? Um ...
... Barr went hog-wild, turning the gathering into a barnyard brawl ... woe be unto those who try to put lipstick on the pigheaded ...
Milbank, you ignorant slut -- do you really think anyone actually reads your obscure radical-leaning LP blog? [Quick plug -- Milbank's Smashmouth is a must-read]
He has shown us time and again that he has no true principle and will change his stance if it is politically expedient to do so. This leaves his sincerity very much in doubt. This is why Bob Barr fails where Ron Paul succeeded. It is sad to note that he has probably destroyed the Libertarian Party in doing so.
... writes Szandor Blestman at The American Chronicle. I'm pretty sure that TAC isn't "radical-leaning" or LP-affiliated. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure it's hardcore conservative, maybe even John Birch Society, stuff. And Alexa says that it's more popular than Bob Barr's campaign site ... and, for that matter, more popular than Reason.
In other news, Weigel reports that in Louisiana, "bureaucratic delays caused by Hurricane Gustav might have kept Barr's signatures from being counted for ballot access."
Dude -- Louisiana doesn't even require signatures. Just a filing fee and list of nine electors. Hell, even the Boston Tea Party would probably have made it if the guy we were relying on hadn't decided to throw his lot in with Ron Paul instead (no hard feelings on that, btw).
The "delay" was not on the part of bureaucrats wielding magnifying glasses over piles of signature sheets ... it was on the part of the Barr campaign, which waited until the last possible minute to file the minimal paperwork involved, and then found the office closed due to Gustav.
Now, it does make sense that Louisiana should give candidates who tried to file on the last day a "sorry we were closed due to inclement weather" pass, and I hope that Barr and Socialist candidate Brian Moore win their suit to get one, but let's not pretend that this was an episode of "Heroic Ballot Access Barrier Assailants versus Amazon Notaries from Hell."
Now I don't truck with all this "objective journalism" nonsense, and frankly I thought Weigel's coverage of the LP's national convention was better than some radicals wanted to admit (if for no other reason than that it boosted my carefully cultivated image as a drug-fueled, whiskey-addled mini-Robespierre of the radical set, you know). But Dave, there's no need to be a kiss-ass at the expense of the facts. Undented campaign bus? Puh-leeze. Unicycle with a flat tire is more like it.
No comments:
Post a Comment