David Edwards and Nick Langewis – “Bob Barr: Obama better on civil liberties”

http://rawstory.com/news08/2008/06/29/bob-barr-obama-better-on-civil-liberties/

Bob Barr: Obama better on civil liberties

David Edwards and Nick Langewis | June 29, 2008

Fled Republican and former Congressman Bob Barr prefers presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) stance on civil liberties over that of GOP opponent Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), but ultimately the two, as candidates, he sees as a “mixed bag.”

“What’s wrong with John McCain is symptomatic of what’s wrong with the Republican Party in these first years of the 21st century,” Barr told Fox News’ Chris Wallace this morning. “They talk one thing, but do something different, and that’s become very obvious to the American people.” Barr cites a general lack of “newness” in leadership and vision among the Republicans since losing their Congressional majorities in 2006.

Barr, running for President as a Libertarian, prefers Senator Obama on matters of civil liberties and privacy. He disagrees with both Obama and McCain on government spending, but sees Obama’s spending plans as “more expansive,” citing his desire to see spending cuts with the intent of “returning power to the people.”

Barr also took issue with Congress’ handling of H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which would revise the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to effectively grant immunity against civil lawsuits to telecommunications companies who participated in the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program. “Nobody is really asking…Why does the government–our own government–need to be spying on its own citizens–that is, U.S. citizens, in this country–without some good reason?”

“This is a fundamental issue,” he went on, “that goes to the very nature and power of our government, but nobody’s really talking about it.”

“The fact of the matter,” Barr said of his candidacy, “is that the American people are hungry–particularly young people–for a new vision; a new choice to open up the political system once again, and not feel bound by the artificial constraints of the two-party system. That’s why it’s important that I’m in this race, not as a spoiler for anybody any more than Sen. McCain or Sen. Obama would be a spoiler for Bob Barr.”

“You would have no qualms,” Wallace asked, “if, because of your involvement, you ended up helping elect President Obama?”

“If Senator Obama wins on November 4th, and Senator McCain and I lose,” Barr said, “it will be because he presented a vision and a platform and a candidacy to the American people that resonated with a plurality of the voters.

That’s what each of those candidates needs to do, that’s what I intend to do; and that’s, I think, what the American people want; they’re not so concerned anymore about partisanship over principle.”