No, Bob Barr did not say what the title implies. Nevertheless, rejoice, all ye fellow citizens... for he hath truly seen the light...
Ok, not quite so melodramatic as all that, but... back during da Big Dog’s highly partisan witchhunt impeachment trial in 1998, a select few of the congress critters on the House Impeachment Committee stood out in my mind – as to their blatant partisanship -- and subsequent feigned indignation. North Carolina Representative (now Senator) Lindsey Graham was one of those congressmen; Georgia Representative Bob Barr was another.
As you’ve probably guessed by now, this missive concerns the latter.
That said, during that time, Rep. Barr always seemed to me to be a tenacious but misguided bulldog in lockstep with the rest of the House partisan persecutors prosecutors whose sole purpose was to get Bill Clinton on anything they could, given the lack of any real evidence on the myriad of other trumped-up Clinton scandals at the time.
Since that particularly dark time in our storied history, I’ve come to respect Mr. Barr a bit more. His current quasi-Libertarian stances on the Bush administration’s NSA illegal wiretapping and recently exposed FBI surveillance programs are commendable, and have at their least, proven his loyalty to the U.S. Constitution; if not served to redeem him to a certain extent, at least in my eyes.
In my estimation, citizen Barr has now taken another step towards redemption.
Like the majority of retired or displaced members of the U.S. Congress throughout the history of this country, once outside government and looking in, Mr. Barr turned to lobbying among other ways of making a living, including practicing civil litigation, hosting a weekly program at Radio America Network, and writing a novel about the events surrounding Clinton’s impeachment trial aptly titled: "The Meaning of IS: The Squandered Impeachment and Wasted Legacy Of William Jefferson Clinton."
Ironically, according to the bio on his website, Barr claims that impeaching President Clinton for lying under oath and obstructing justice was actually a diversion from the real violations of his oath of office and the law. Instead, feckless national security policy issues and the reduction of civil liberties for the American people were the most egregious of his impeachable crimes. (hey, I did say: "ironically")
I’m not going to quote him here because, frankly, the road to redemption is a long, humble journey, and well... in my opinion, Mr. Barr still has many miles before he sleeps.
But I digress.
Anyway, in 2002, then-congressman Barr authored a successful amendment that essentially blocked the District of Columbia from carrying out a medical marijuana initiative. As it turns out, in another startling stroke of irony, citizen Barr has switched sides on this particular issue, and is now acting as a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project, clearly a worthy organization, working tirelessly to minimize the harm associated with marijuana — both the consumption of the herb and the laws that are intended to prohibit such consumption.
Now, don’t get the impression that Mr. Barr has, in the words of The Politico (and, we all know how accurate they’ve been recently) "... has become a bong-ripping hippie." In fact, citizen Barr isn’t pro-drug at all but rather – "against government intrusion," which ostensibly, is an honorable position. (and, as it turn out, quite apropos)
This from the article:
"I, over the years, have taken a very strong stand on drug issues, but in light of the tremendous growth of government power since 9/11, it has forced me and other conservatives to go back and take a renewed look at how big and powerful we want the government to be in people’s lives," Barr said.
Aaron Houston, the project’s government relations director, said Barr brings a "great deal of credibility, particularly among people on the Republican side of the aisle."
"He certainly would not have been the first person I would have expected to sign off to us, but I’m very pleased that he has," Houston said. "I’m very pleased that he has come around, and I hope he serves as an example to his former colleagues."
Barr has said that he will aid in the fight to give D.C. residents a voice on whether to allow medical marijuana – a complete 180 degrees from the stated policy of the "Barr Amendment" that denied them that voice in 1998. He now proffers that he will indeed lobby for the rights of all states to set their own laws regarding medical marijuana policy without interference from the federal government.
He’s also lobbying hard to terminate a youth anti-drug campaign, which a recent study actually showed an increase in the likelihood that teens would smoke pot.
"A lot of conservatives have expressed great concern over the taxpayer money that is being wasted on this poorly run advertising campaign," said Barr, who left Congress in 2003.
Houston said the project is a non-profit that seeks protections for medical marijuana patients, caregivers, and advocates no jail time for marijuana use. Barr said there might be "legitimate medical uses of marijuana and we ought not have this knee-jerk reaction against it, and people ought to be allowed to explore."
However, the article does make the point that Mr. Barr has advocated exploring legitimate medical uses of marijuana... not experimenting. (with)
Indeed...