Looks like Barr is going to run for the WH as most expected.
Be interesting to see if after the smoke clears and the LP picks a candidate and if Barr and Gravel or visa versa finish 1/2 if they will tagteam together for the general election?
D,
I take it you've been listening or have been hearing of Rush's promotion (Operation --------, sorry I forgot the name) he's been playing with on the radio. Rush is no dumbie in respect to playing around in this type of arena and if in fact is was a true, concerted effort of a serious nature, he could find himself run amuck of the law. He's smart enough and thus why he laughs because I'll willing to bet that not only has he consulted lawyers but has maintained a good file of pre-broadcast meetings where program content is discussed and the real intent of this whole thing is a play off of the myth that he dells out marching orders to the minions for the GOP. I'm sure there are a few dittoheads who might follow his supposed advice but in most primaries you also have important downstream elections such as Congress or State/Local that are to hard to give up. Now I can see the McCain camp doing this as I've seen this done before myself but I personally think Rush is using a bit of satire and play on myth for it's pure entertainment value. JMO however.
As for Hillary supporters crossing to McCain in the general? I disagree as I can see that. From the standpoint of voting record, she and McCain are really a lot more alike and Obama is more across the isle from them. Remember, Hillary in 05' had serious meetings with Gingrich on Healthcare and some other issues and he plan today does include many of the ideas that the 2 of them along with Patrick Kennedy came up with. Hillary also supported the Iraq war until May of 07' when she began to need more of the party base to win the nomination. Just remember, a lot of the intel used by Bush was also used by Clinton and Gore who also claimed in the late 90's that Saddam had WMD. Saddam in affect played a game of chicken in selling the idea of WMD potential to hold the Shia' and Iranians at bay but Clinton never had the real meat to go in full bore after Saddam. 9/11 as we know now proved a useful catalyst for this to happen and the rest is history as they say.
The grim truth is that the DLC and AEI are not as far apart as one might think. IMO they differ as much as Bud and Bud Lite at best and at times you really are drinking the same thing but sold the idea by a different label on the bottle that it is something else. Obama with so little record in Washington is yet unproven as to whether once in power he will play ball with the Washington powerbrokers or be the maverick many think McCain to be. There are even libertarians, Justin Raimondo of AntiWar.com
http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12475 who has come out partly tongue-n-cheek/partly serious backing Obama (this must be one of the 3 times AV was right when he said not all libertarians are alike!
) and it's a percieved disconnect from the normal channels of Washington power that has folks like Justin hopeful that Obama really is a "wrench in the gears" to the cause of American empire.
As Justin also pointed out in his piece linked above Hillary and Joe Liberman have nearly identical voting records and had I before that statement said that McCain and Joe Liberman vote alike, I'm certain there would have been a big amen here. Now if Joe votes like McCain and Hillary votes like Joe does that make Hillary a McCain Jr.? Or considering the reactions earlier when it was becoming clear that McCain was the GOP guy that prompted "Honeybabe" Coulter to exclaim she would vote for Hillary and "Rushie" to extoll on his radio show that he was a conservative not a republican suggesting in context that he may vote elsewhere come Nov. Funny how now he seems to be back toting the GOP water which makes one question just how principled this guy really is IMO.
Radio, it's called entertainment and entertainment is made up of actors which are people in character pretending to be something that they really are not.
McCain and Hillary are longtime inside the beltway people and they know how the game works and who butters the bread. It's outside the beltway that the myth must be advanced to the masses and Babygirl Coulter almost blew the whole thing wide open with her McCain tirade. She seems to me to have been quite on that subject since and of course Rushie and the "Baby Jesus" have heeled to the GOP show walkers also.
Obama however is a whole other question and who BTW was it that dug up the whole Rev. Wright stuff to begin with? The Clinton camp! They're the one's dishing out the dirt and IMO it has been Hillbaby and friends not the repubs trying to paint Obama as extreme left as they can. Now some of the hardcore liberal types in the democrat party behind Obama are fighting back by pointing out all the lies of Hillbaby. But where is the DLC and even the DNC leadership in this "dishing out dirt" contest? I honestly believe that the party power brokers want Hillary to win and thus are standing on the sidelines hoping these Obama attackes stick and the total popular vote numbers for Hillary exceed Obama's at the end of the day so the Superdelegates can have excuse for coronating Hillary after all as it was planned. Maybe Rush and Baby Jesus, if guilty of anything, knows the longer this continues, it's fantastic material for their shows so maybe on that front they stand guilty.
So in the end I can see some of Hillbaby's supporters going over to McCain since politically, socially and economically, his policy is nearly identical to theirs when compared to Obama. The republicans for the most part as a whole have accepted the myth of lesser evils so that part is secure for McCain. I appreciate your idealism of party loyality based on belief of cause but I think you also have bought to some extent the "lesser of 2 evils" line when in reality the clear difference is McCain/Hillary on one side and as for now it would appear Obama on the other. When it comes to "wrench in the gears" of empire, I'm not as open minded as Justin because I think all that campaign money coupled with Obama's real record suggests he's learning to play the game fast.
That one party over the other idealism based on real principle is IMO dead and has been as these power cats are way, way beyond that and hoping you and I never awake from our slumber. I often have a hardtime wondering if the sci-fi movie "They Live" was a bad portrayal of the American 2 party system or that America has become a portrayal of a bad sci-fi movie!
Speaking of Sci-fi RIP Charlton Heston (Solent Green, Planet of the Apes) Thanks Taylor!