Heads Up

Check CSPAN's lineup. I know they're showing some of the convention activities, but, not sure about the debate.

I could vote for Barr, but Gravel's a space cadet.

I just found it, C-Span will have it for the whole two hours Saturday night, 9 PM EDT.
Watch it!
It will probably be 100% better than the circuses that have masqueraded as presidential debates this year.

For me, I have decided that I just cannot vote for either Obama or McCain. I have concluded that we now have a one-party system and the only way to undermine it is to vote against it. No need for involved analysis about any 3rd party candidate because they are not going to win anyway so it doesn't matter. The point is to vote for a candidate that is actually on the ballot (no write-ins, they almost never get counted) so that your vote gets counted in the denominator. I will vote for Barr.

The goal is to deny the winner a mandate by diluting the winner's percentage which is how mandate's are established. I don't think either Obama or McCain can get 50% but if we can get it below Clinton's 43% in 1994, that would render the winner a "lame duck" right out of the gate.

The key in November is to elect conservatives to Congress, Dem or Repub. The Dems are already worried about the growing conservative influence as they regain their majority by running conservative candidates, many being former Republicans. That will pay off for us in 2010 if McCain loses.

We need to take out the GOP because they forced us to by choosing to run interference for the liberal Dems. If they lose ugly enough, this should unnerve the Dems because we would, after all, have gone after them directly were it not for the RINOs standing in the way.

Conservatives won in November 2006 and if we can persuade enough of us to vote and vote 3rd party, 2008 will be a year to remember.

Good to hear from you. Thank to you, BrianR and Countryman, I know where to go to see the Libertarians do their thing.

From what I've been reading, though, they're just about as fractious as the GOP these days. I was sorry to learn that. I had the impression that Barr had the nomination pretty much sewn up, but it appears that that is not at all the case.

Who knows, though? I'll take a good, hard look at whomever the Libertarians end up running.

Cheers!

You have made excellent points. I agree with every one.

As long as the GOP maintained even the thinnest veneer of conservatism, I think that most conservatives preferred to embrace the evil they knew, rather than fly to another they knew not of (with apologies to the Bard).

The "new, improved" RI-NO-P has finally dropped the mask, and essentially dared us to bolt. If we conservatives do not call their bluff this year, they will own us--just as the Dems have turned their party into a Plessy v. Ferguson abomination of "separate but equal" (hah!) treatment of blacks, whom they keep on the plantation of fear and dependence. It is shameful how the Dems have abused the trust of blacks, whom they have repeatedly betrayed over the years.

The GOP has done much the same to us. The situation in re the GOP and conservatives is analogous. I agree completely that we live in an effectively one-party system.

Time to call THEIR bluff, and return real choice to the ballot box.

Cheers, friend! Glad you're here.

After posting my reply, I realized that I had left your main point unaddressed, viz. that the candidate is really not the main issue.

I agree with you. Even so, we need to find a candidate that conservatives will actually vote for, rather than just stay home, in November. That's the only way we can really shake things up. I'm quite serious when I say that a third-party candidate can WIN in November, if conservatives rally. Even if we don't, you rightly point out that whoever is elected will be weakened by the absence of a mandate.

I have also reluctantly come around to the position that the GOP is actually the greatest obstacle to the conservative movement. The Whigs collapsed because of their arrogant elitism, and contempt for their rank and file members. Sound familiar?

The republicans replaced the Whigs. It's time for the RINO-saurs to follow their ancestors to the tar pits.

I don't have cable and thus no C-Span on tv, so, is there any chance that the Libertarian convention will be carried on the Internet as well? That's the only way I could watch it. Does anyone know?

Thanks for you comment!

I did some checking and here's what I found out.

First, you can check out http://www.c-span.org/

I just visited the site, and there is a 37-minute clip about Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party's nominee.

They also have a lot of other clips that you can find by using their search engine.

The following URL should take you to a search query that yielded some good results for me when I tried it:
http://www.c-span.org/Search/basic.asp?BasicQueryText=liber tarian%20convention


http://www.lp.org is the Libertarian Party's website, which is of course a good resource for relevant information.

I hope this helps.

Please keep stopping by the Blogatorium for ongoing Third Party updates!