I know jimkeller is disappointed, but...

[essentialsaltes]

Let's hear it for the 2008 Libertarian ticket:

Bob Barr: Former Republican Congressman and "the idol of the gun-toting, abortion-fighting, IRS-hating hard right wing of American politics".

Reason to like him: His first "law of the Universe" is that "the world is full of idiots"
Reason to hate him: He authored and sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act

Wayne Allyn Root: "longtime staunch Republican ... a big contributor to Republican candidates"

Reason to like him: "I'm not a member of the 'lucky sperm club' or the skull and crossbones society."
Reason to hate him: He named his children Dakota, Hudson, Remington, and Contessa.

Comments

[jimkeller.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm switching my party registration on June 4. The only reason I'm not doing it now is because I don't want to cause any confusion for the June 3 election.

[dogofthefuture.livejournal.com]

I switched my party registration from Libertarian last year. The socially open part of the party ticket has always been more important to me than the rest of it, though I am in general a fan of smaller government.

[swmartin.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised. I've always had great sympathy for the Libertarian platform. There's a lot of good stuff in there. But for such a principled party, I'm always amazed at the parade of kooks and weirdos they get to run for office every year. Not all of them, of course (throwing a token yet honest bone to jimkeller). But enough that it definitely hurts the party's image. Come on, even the Greens manage to field at least half their candidates who are not stereotypical tree-hugging hippies!

[ajax.livejournal.com]

It staggers the imagination that the LP couldn't get a commitment from Ron Paul this year. Leaving aside the unpleasant racist undercurrent to his image that surfaced (hmm, if it surfaces, is it still an undercurrent?) thanks to reporting from James Kirchick of The New Republic early this year, Paul has generated more excitement among the libertarian wing of the GOP than any candidate in recent memory. Not to try to capitalize on that somehow is just plain bad politics.

It's not really enough to say that Paul is unelectable -- can any third-party candidate say with a straight face that they're electable? -- and that's the reason they can't associate with him. If you want to start a movement, especially when you're starting from a behind-the-eight-ball position as a third party candidate, don't you have to strike while the zeitgeist is hot?

--- Ajax.

[jimkeller.livejournal.com]

The party actually tried -- really tried -- to get Ron Paul to come back and run as a Libertarian again, but he feels he's doing more good by trying to shift the Republican party from within. After seeing who got the nomination, I'm beginning to think he's right.