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Need this like a hole in the head — Bob Barr jumps in the race.

By J. Wesley ⋅ May 12, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

I wrote an earlier post about how John McCain’s betrayals of Republicans may give him the moderate street cred to win in an otherwise unwinnable year. Turns out, his chickens may come home to roost after all. Bob Barr has just announced for president on the Libertarian Party ticket.

Normally, this would be an event on the scale of the annual World Mountain-Bike Bog-Snorkelling Championship in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales. But in a year where the GOP nominee can only get about 75% of his own party’s primary vote, the right third-party candidate can cause some mischief. If you’re still voting for Ron Paul or Mike Huckabee at this point, you’re interested in sending a message.

In some ways, Bob Barr looks like an attractive alternative for disaffected Ronulans and Huckabites — he’s small-government, pro-gun rights, and was a pit bull against Bill Clinton. On the other hand, he’s an ACLU guy who is representing a pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage party. That SHOULD be a real deterrent to Huckabee supporters, but there’s no guarantee it will be. For many people, anti-McCain hatred stopped being about reason a long time ago and turned into something visceral and reactive.

As for Bob Barr, it will be interesting to watch the Strange New Respect he’ll garner from liberals and the media (but I repeat myself) now that he’s acting the spoiler.