I haven't seen this diaried elsewhere and thought it would be of interest.

According to MSNBC former Georgia Congresman Bob Barr has announced that he will seek the Libertarian Party's nomination for President.

The money quote:

Barr, who has hired Ross Perot's former campaign manager, acknowledged that some Republicans have tried to discourage him from running. But he said he's getting in the race to win, not to play spoiler or to make a point.

All the dithering about what the Democratic Convention may look like is ignoring the grassroots plan by Ron Paul Republicans to stage a demonstration over the "future" of the Republican Party at the St. Paul convention in September.

Yes, if you hadn't noticed, Paul got 16% of the PA vote. Everyone's fixated on Democratic problems, but what about a black eye convention for McCain?

The LA Times reports here:

The last three months Paul's forces, who donated $34.5 million to his White House effort and upwards of one million total votes, have, as The Ticket has noted, been fighting a series of guerrilla battles with party establishment officials at county and state conventions from Washington and Missouri to Maine and Mississippi. Their goal: to take control of local committees, boost their delegate totals and influence platform debates.

Remember Clinton impeachment activist, wingnut and former Republican House member Bob Barr?  Well,  those who have been paying close attention know that Barr has been anything but a Republican hero over the last few years, mostly because his libertarian tendencies have been at odds with the increasingly hyper-authoritarian nature of the Cheney-led Republican Party.  Mr. Barr has been an opponent of renewing the Patriot Act, opponent of Bush's warrantless wiretapping, and a close ally of the ACLU.

Think about all that the Democrats have failed to do. Think about how they "marginalized" their own candidate. Then think about how they operate within the Military Industrial Complex.

So check this out because it's really, really, really funny.

Mike Gravel, the cranky guy who ran for president in the Democratic Primary, was sort of laughed out of contention. So on March 11, he endorsed the Green candidate for president.

National Statesman and International Hero Senator Mike Gravel Supports Jesse Johnson's Bid for President

In what has to be the most unprecedented cross party statement of support Democratic Party Candidate for President Mike Gravel announced that he has decided to support the campaign of Green Party Candidate Jesse Johnson running for the nomination on the Green Party Ticket.

After a meeting between the two in Washington DC Friday, Gravel stated, "My political party long ago walked away from taking the necessary steps that will safe guard our nation's and our children's futures. I worked dedicatedly throughout my career as a U.S. Senator to protect the precious resources our country had within it's boundaries as well as to mitigate the negative impact our businesses and individuals were having on the planet. I have watched the ever important job of stewarding these gifts vanish from the political landscape and I hold the Democratic Party leadership responsible for giving up that fight."

Why did Gravel choose Johnson from among the other candidates vying for the nomination in all the campaigns of all available political parties? Gravel explains, "I'm supporting Jesse because he began his political career with the determination that the environmental plundering must stop. He placed every other interest on hold to run for office, in his home state and now nationally, to challenge the corporations that destroy our national resources and then harvest from this practice a toxic energy source; coal. The mountain top mining practices devastate the landscape by blowing apart mountains and then carbon belching plants burn the coal creating a form of energy that serves as one of the major contributors for global climate change."

Yeay for Jesse Johnson. What a boost! But oh no! Tragedy struck two days ago! Gravel is apparently not a political monogamist, but a total political slut.

Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel joins Libertarian Party ranks

Believes Democrats are out of touch with American citizens

Washington, D.C. - Mike Gravel, a former Alaskan Senator and Democratic candidate for president, has joined the Libertarian Party.

"I'm joining the Libertarian Party because it is a party that combines a commitment to freedom and peace that can't be found in the two major parties that control the government and politics of America," says Gravel. "My libertarian views, as well as my strong stance against war, the military industrial complex and American imperialism, seem not to be tolerated by Democratic Party elites who are out of touch with the average American; elites that reject the empowerment of American citizens I offered to the Democratic Party at the beginning of this presidential campaign with the National Initiative for Democracy."

Next up are the Constitution, Communist, Independence, Natural Law, Reform, and Workers World Parties. They all want a piece of Gravelmentum, and apparently there's plenty to go around!

Despite the fact that Buchanan is a ignorant, bitter, hate-spitting snake most of the time, it would do the two Democrats well to at least consider what, if any, reasonable perspectives he is defending or which grievances he is stating, and I think we (meaning liberal progressives) can at least find a few things worth noting. Missing a real opportunity and masking it with any type of vague, imprecise rhetoric, on either side, would be a big mistake.

Lest we think that opposition to the war and occupation of Iraq is limited to the left in this country, consider the lineup of speakers for a March 16 Iraq Moratorium event in San Francisco:

Several of the usual suspects: Sean Penn; Cindy Sheehan; the Rev. Gregory Stewart, senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church; Matt Gonzalez, ex-president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and rumored vice presidential candidate on the Green Party ticket.

And one Justin Raimondo, libertarian and paleoconservative (look it up; we did) author who also runs the website Antiwar.com, where he writes things like:

Kos has brought this up before, but it really is worth calling out the so-called "libertarians" and their complete and total absence during our FISA fight.  Perhaps more importantly, is looking back and taking a "lessons learned" as to why our two movements could not come together closer on this issue.

Every day I use the roads in my city and drive over potholes.  On my way to this debate, I drove over a dozen before I arrived.  On the campaign trail, many people talked to me about their concern for America's pothole problem.

I have been fighting hard in the senate and have put together a bipartisan bill that would fix our countries potholes.  My 12 point plan to fix our nations roads includes over 40 million dollars for pothole repair and includes several new small business tax credits to help improve potholes in parking lots.

My track record is solid on this issue and I have always fought for pothole repair.  Only I have the experience and leadership needed to fix our nations Pot Holes and I promise as president I will enact my plan.

-- Spook The Sunset, DailyKos.

What... not sold on my pothole plan?  Dont you like that I've allocated 40 million dollars to pothole repair?  Can't you see the other guy only allocated 35 million?  Look at his voting record!  He doesn't care about pothole repair!

This really is a question. I do not have any answers, but I do have concerns. We kow that Ron Paul raised some serious money. We know that he confused many well minded anti-war activists into thinking he served their useful purpose.

Those of us who were awake for the past 30 years, or had read some history of the American Right, or read Orcinus, knew better all along.

We know Paul has longtime ties to, is part of, has been backed by, and supports, the traditional racist, pre-paleo-old-right and neo-confederate movements.  Is that where the money is really going, to fund his real movement, oldtime racist anti-government movements and organizations?

Inquiring minds want to know where his money is, what that money is doing AFTER November 4, 2008?

I realize that it's popular sport around here to lambast Libertarians.

I understand the sheer joy there is in poking at Ron Paul and some of his supporters on the fringe.

But let's return to the issue at hand: unseating the Republicans in November.  There are, among Libertarians, many like myself and others I've bumped into here at DailyKos who are inclined to attempt to unseat the Republicans should the alternative not be too unpalatable.

So I want to explore 10 specific ways to exploit the common interests of Libertarians and Democrats in the 2008 campaign to turn more of us Libertarians into political allies instead of enemies.

How do they do it?
Will it stop?
I have been watching C-Span's "Washington Journal" the last couple of days. It seems like every other call is a Ron Paul nutbag.....

More below the fold.....

By Jason Miller

Thomas Paine's Corner

http://www.bestcyrano.org/...

"Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class."

—Al Capone

It has taken Nuremberg-class war crimes, craven ineptitude by Congressional Democrats, foreclosures on every other home in the neighborhood, and a metaphorical gun to our heads when we fill our gas tanks, but growing numbers of us US Americans are shedding our smug insularity.

Greetings all,
 After finding in a previous diary that McCain was the best chance the Republicans had I thought some about what would kill them.  Don't worry.  This won't be a new theory for the GOP freaks in charge of GOTV.  What we need is for the Ron Paul mania to spin out of control and lead him to run as a Liberitarian.  Once again I am looking at ways we could influence the opposition but rather than looking at their best chance and our least painful potential loss, I wanted to think of the nail that would kill them.  Imagine that?  Ron Paul back as a Liberitarian, running as a third pary candidate and becoming the new Green party equivalent to kill the Republican's chances.

20/20 co-host (and "noted" libertarian) John Stossel has an interview with Ron Paul that was originally going to air on ABC, but has been relegated to online "exclusive" status.

Reaction has been swift and vociferous.  "My grandmother is very interested in Ron Paul and doesn't have access to the Internet! This is outrageous that ABC won't air the interview," said one commenter, in a manner that recalls one of my favorite Woody Allen lines, from Zelig:

He backed over my grandmother's wrist!  She's elderly, and uses her wrist a lot!

A dark cloud is passing over America. We've witnessed, in recent years, the death of many of our constitutional rights and liberties. We've also seen increasingly authoritarian trends in daily life and culture.

I've never understood why I've found so many like-minded people online, but had so much trouble converting that into real political power.  This author is proposing a coalition "that can act as a counterforce to this gathering threat to our liberties."

Much has been made of the Ron Paul phenomenon this election cycle, his apparent below the radar (and apparently below the polling) support as noted by internet hype and now by real dollars. There is something to this, as noted by Atrois, Greenwald and our very own Markos.

For those of use who really are also anti-Iraq-war but also Lefty Progressives, how come there is not similar money-where-our-mouth is support for Dennis Kucinich, who holds the similar fringe outsider position that Ron Paul has?

After all, as Rebecca Traister over at Salon says "Stop lying to yourself. You love Dennis Kucinich"... for all his quirks he is (sort of) one of us... so why does he not get more support from us? Why is he not our Ron Paul?

Beyond the not so minor details regarding Kucinich as a standard bearer and candidate there are several reasons worth exploring.

IT’S the COMMIES, stoopid!  

I received this email yesterday (from a Republic) circulating a (typical) straw man smear on Democratic policy.  It reinforces the claim that kos pointed out in his post today, that Republics (and Libertarians) MUST kill the notion that

"...Democrats [are] the generous protector of middle-class [working family] interests."

Follow me down the rabid hole (and yes, they attack Al Gore too)