As repellant and odious as Bob Barr has been, surely no one in their right mind considers him more vile than Lindsey Graham. Please. At least when Barr was drop-kicked out of the House, he got an attitude adjustment and adapted his peculiarities to his changed circumstance.

It's impossible to tell from the outside whether all these Republicans who have changed their spots and become (civil)libertarians and/or partisan democrats (a list quite long these days, especially on the intertubes) are sincere. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. It's up to the consumer of what they have to offer to beware. Skepticism is a virtue. Barr is supposedly in Austin, too, at the Other Blogger Convention up the road from NetRoots. It only goes to show.

Meanwhile, our rulers are caving fast to the whims of the Ivory Tower Dems, or so it would seem. At the rate things are going the Obama policies will pretty much be in place by the time he swears his oath in January. Assuming, of course, he is allowed to ascend the Throne. The whiplash on the right is pretty funny. But they have always been great at doing 180° spins in a twinkling. And denying they ever had any other position, ya liar. So Barr's turnabout shouldn't be that surprising when you get down to it.

The problem with Constitutionalism and all that is that it has always had a minute constitutency. Harold Ford referred to it in his discussion with the Orange Satan Himself. The Constitution just doesn't poll well.

Since the Constitution is considered an impediment to the Empire and irrelevant to most people's lives in any case, the efforts Glenn and others are making to get it back to the centerpiece of American governance, if not ordinary American life, are in their own way heroic. They're taking on the struggle in a manner they think is best for their talents and resources. But they are taking on the struggle, directly.

And it means mucking around with people like Bob Barr and who knows, maybe Cindy Sheehan one day. She can make some bloggers' skin crawl too, ya know?

This perfectly illustrates Democratic leadership's position regarding accountability:

Later Ford was quizzed on why he would support granting telecommunication companies immunity for their participation in the FISA program. His response - that it wasn't the companies who should be held to a fault but rather the public officials who ordered their participation - was challenged by several different questioners, who demanded "accountability" for privacy violations.

"I think that accountability was brought in 2006 when [the GOP] lost in the House and the Senate," Ford responded said. "And we have only eight more months of George W. Bush..."

"When is he going to prison!" screamed an audience member to a few claps.

I think this is it, in crystalized form. "Accountability" equals loss of majority for ones party. Majority--power--is all that matters. "Law" comes in a distant second, if it is considered at all.

Ford proudly terms himself a "centrist" in the Democratic Party, but this position is radically un-democratic, and when viewed logically, is every bit as bad as the logic of Rove, Yoo, or Addington. It is anathema to a truly functioning democratic government.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/18/harold-ford-heckled-over_n_113663.html

I am very far from being a libertarian. I am a liberal independent.

But Obama's endorsement of the assaults upon the fourth amendment (you know what I mean) and the first amendment (endorsing the expansion of giving taxpayer money to churches), among other issues, have turned me away from him.

A few months ago I was a supporter. Now - not so much.

I am going to look into Barr. True, his rank hypocrisy during the impeachment scandal 10 years ago, where he was whining about Clinton's escapade with Monica, while Barr himself was having an adulterous affair, is pretty disgusting.

I probably disagree with pretty much all of his positions on domestic issues like Social Security, Medicare, and so on. But increasingly, this election, for me, is becoming one of picking through the people I do not support to see which one of them offends me the least.

Barr needs to be checked out honestly. Let's see what he promises.

Which third party candidate am I going to support? I hate to vote Socialist Labor, but I would hate even more to not vote at all.

Barr will likely pull more votes from McCain than from Obama, but do not assume that all of Barr's votes will come from McCain. Here is one vote that just might move into the Libertarian column.

Distribute some tin-foil wrapped, chocolate kisses? No sneer. Who knows what to speak to a deranged politico? No sneer.

Who will get whacked @ UT next? Me. Where will a nation go to find a few wise seers? Find a sentry guard. Honestly care.

Truth and compassion. Yes.

Guard the Constitution. Yes.

At a funeral service for a lame

No be a poor excuse, half-assed, fake effort, bog-sham.... Well. At a semblance of preserving a Democracy, enjoy a bowl of chicken and rice soup? Good simmering Soup. Work at the proof. Get some facts. Gather some evidence. Have a fair trial. Taste the stew? Do Service. That's a high calling and noble work. SERVICE.

Hire Good Cooks. Get rid of the fraud commander-in-chief.

No get caught with the pants down below the angles with some DoJ's ill-fitting hand cuffs. They pinch. Be honest. HONESTY.

Do good service for humanity sake.

If constipated? Go pick green leafs!

Try eating from a under a Senna Tree.

We People wish for some chocolate kisses.

No gargle ginger ale. Simmer some healing herbs.

Maybe try some iced Echinacea Tea. Later, sip a cold beer.

Hey, you up there in the ivory tower . . .

If all issues exist for you on the same level of abstraction, I can see why Obama's FISA vote might be uppermost in your mind.

On the other hand, if you're the primary caregiver for a sick family member who has lousy insurance, or if you have to walk a gauntlet of assholes screaming, "Don't kill your baby" to get affordable birth control at the Planned Parenthood clinic, other issues may seem of more immediate importance.

Absolutely. As long as the trains run on time, who cares if the Government spies on us and breaks the law -- just like the Italians taught the world.

Few things are more repellent than people like you who think you're in a position to judge the circumstances of other people's lives -- "anyone who cares about Government spying and lawbreaking are rich and privileged and don't have any real-life burdens are a result of what the Government is doing."

And I'm really sorry to have to break this to you, but the election of Barack Obama isn't going to put a magical end to abortion protesters, unless he plans on amending (i.e., abolishing) the First Amendment.

The Democrats are far superior to the Republicans in addressing issues that have a direct, day-to-day impact on people's lives. Consider yourselves lucky not to be troubled with such trivialities.

Why don't you go tell Martin Luther King's family how eavesdropping abuses have no real effect on people's lives.