Today, suddenly, the traditional media is beginning to be all a-flutter about Bob Barr announcing his run for the Libertarian Party nomination and barely concealing their anticipation over Ron Paul supporters monkey-wrenching the Republican Convention.
Why a-flutter? Well, here’s Newt:
“Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told The Times today that ‘Bob Barr will make it marginally easier for Barack Obama to become president. That outcome threatens every libertarian value Barr professes to champion.’ ”
And the LA Times political bloggers:
But what’s been largely overlooked is Paul’s candidacy as a reflection of a powerful lingering dissatisfaction with the Arizona senator among the party’s most conservative conservatives.
Barr, at his press conference today, made a comment that every Democratic political junkie will see as a flashback to 2000 — Barr confirmed that he was asked by McCain supporters not to run for fear he would pull votes from the GOP, but he defended his decision by saying that “American voters deserve better than simply the lesser of two evils.” And who does that sound like?
While it is certainly amusing to watch our friends across the aisle struggle watching their weak candidate struggle to manage their traditional coalition, I do wonder what this means in the long term. Rs may publicly flirt with the idea of mutiny, but they are still Republicans, and at the end of the day someone turns on the Borg-tone and they magically return to the hive.
Or is the damage to the brand so catastrophic that electoral distance from that brand (and its most highly visible proponents) enough to encourage more defections?