The Libertarian Party on Sunday picked former Georgia Republican Rep. Bob Barr to be its presidential candidate. “I certainly have no intention of being a spoiler,” he said today. As Dana Milbank recently reported, Barr does note hide his disdain for John McCain:
Barr took issue with McCain’s Iran policy. “I’m not going to go around making up songs about such a serious matter as going to war with a sovereign nation, as Senator McCain did,” the former congressman said, tut-tutting McCain’s “Barbara Ann/Bomb Iran” episode.
He quarreled with McCain’s Iraq policy. “These troops need to be brought home,” he offered.
He ridiculed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, which, he said, means McCain “cannot ever lay legitimate claim, at least with a straight face, to…being labeled as a conservative.”
He put down McCain’s plan to do away with pet-project earmarks, claiming it “would make barely a drop in the bucket with regard to the national debt, the deficit.”
And he disparaged McCain’s fiscal policy, saying “there are some legitimate questions that have been raised over whether Senator McCain is simply a Johnny-come-lately to the modest tax cuts.”
Steve Benen suggests that Barr might attract the support of Ron Paul and “be able to put a few percentage points together in some competitive states.”
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