Reality Check, Please
A while back I mentioned that I was surprised to find myself in agreement with Pat Buchanan’s stance on the Iraq war. I now know we’ve entered some strange alternate universe, because I find myself in agreement with Bob Barr. Check this out: An agonizing choice: Conservatives have plenty of cause to abandon Bush, by Bob Barr. Here’s the money quote:
Bush’s problem is that true conservatives remember their history. They recall that in recent years when the nation enjoyed the fruits of actual conservative fiscal and security policies, a Democrat occupied the White House and Congress was controlled by a Republican majority that actually fought for a substantive conservative agenda.
Barr wrote this piece before the second debate. If he had written it after hearing Bush’s fabrications about how’s he’s gotten federal spending under control, I’m sure Barr’s article would’ve been downright rabid.
You may remember Congressman Bob Barr from the days of the Clinton impeachment. Few did more to take down the President than he did. Politically he’s on odd sort: he fits into the “family values” camp of the Republican Party, but he also has a strong libertarian bent: he’s joined the ACLU, and spoken out against the Patriot Act. This Slate.com article was written before Clinton’s impeachment, but it gives you an idea of what he’s like. And here’s a Fox news story on him joining the ACLU.
I should point out that I’m not down with the xenophobic implications of Barr’s article. But I am from the Paul Tsongas (balanced budget) wing of the Democratic Party, and I’m certainly not a fan of the neo-con’s foreign policy, so I’m on board with most of the points in Barr’s article.
