As Saddleback preps for presidential forum, big Bob Barr's unhappy he wasn't invited

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr feels left out. Poor Bob.

John McCain and Barack Obama are gearing up for their appearance at Saddleback Church in Orange County on Saturday, and the former Republican representative from Georgia thinks he should be there, too.

Shades of Rep. Ron Paul being dumped from a national Fox News debate of Republicans last winter in New Hampshire.

So Barr's campaign went to court on Friday to ask a federal judge to stop the event, which it says violates campaign finance laws. As of 8 p.m. Friday, the judge was still deliberating, according to Barr spokesman Steve Sinton. (UPDATE: Barr's court challenge was rejected Friday night, and the program with McCain and Obama will proceed as planned Saturday evening.)

Barr wasn't invited to the Saddleback forum. In the injunction filed against the church, Barr's campaign said that because Obama and McCain stand to benefit from the event's media exposure, it should be considered a non-monetary campaign contribution. That, Barr's lawyers said, is an illegal in-kind contribution.

The Ticket will be live-blogging Saturday's event with an analysis of the candidate's conversations with pastor Rick Warren and coverage of the anticipated protests outside.

CNN, Fox News and MSNBC also plan to cover it live. But they don't have our attitude.

--Kate Linthicum

Photo credit: Nicholas Kamm / AFP - Getty Images

Comments

[VJ Machiavelli]

Poor Bob Barr no ones to play with him.

Well get use to it.

VJ Machiavelli
http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com

[Frieda]

Watch this interview and see how anti-American this NBC's interviewer is? It's unbelievable! I am not a basketball fan and I don't much care about kobe, but his response is awesome ..

http://msunderestimated.com/NBCQuestionsKobesPatriotism.wmv

Collinsworth: Where does the patriotism come from inside of you? Historically, what is it?

Kobe: Well, you know it’s just our country, it’s… we believe is the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it’s just a sense of pride that you have; that you say ‘You know what? Our country is the best!’

Collinsworth: Is that a ‘cool’ thing to say, in this day and age? That you love your country, and that you’re fighting for the red, white and blue? It seems sort of like a day gone by.

Kobe: No, it’s a cool thing for me to say. I feel great about it, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I mean, this is a tremendous honor.

[Thogek]

In-kind campaign contributions. A very interesting interpretation... and not without some logic to it...

Wait. Did I say logic? No wonder it was turned down...

It is a little saddening that most of our media seems to think that Coke and Pepsi are a perfectly sufficient set of choices for everyone. :-(

[Alessandro Machi]

Hopefully it will be possible to peacefully protest and get the word out that Hillary Clinton actually won the democratic nomination, not Barack Obama.

http://www.CAUCUSCHEATING.com
http://www.HILLARY-WINS.com
http://www.FAIR-REFLECTION.com
http;//www.PROTEST-POSTCARDS.com

[Rhys]

if you're going to live blog, you should at least have a "bob barr said" part of the live blog, otherwise you're just guilty of calling yourself out for being lame and biased... i mean lame... i mean, sell out... no, just lame... no sell out and devil toe sucking.... yeah, that.

[Anonymous]

The basis for the challenge was McCain-Feingold AKA the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act. It was a clever attempt to reintroduce McCain to his nefarious creation, and to use it to level the playing field. It's really a shame that it didn't work. If nothing else it would've been fitting.

The condescending tone of this blog entry is rather surprising. I understand it's a manifestation of the "attitude" mentioned within it, but damn. This isn't an issue where vanity candidates are being excluded. This isn't even about a single candidate. This is about a handful of candidates that command nationwide ballot access (some backed by established political parties) being excluded from an early candidate forum. This is about the Commission on Presidential Debates requiring a threshold of support in opinion polls that is virtually impossible to reach without even-handed election coverage, inclusion in candidate forums (CPD-included. Oops! Catch-22!), or a candidate possessing vast personal wealth that can be spent on a campaign.

One would think the dearth of truly differing viewpoints within the marketplace of ideas, cycle after cycle, would be considered a problem. One would also think journalists, of all people, would be especially frustrated by the limitations this places on the quality of their coverage. I suppose, instead of filling word counts or news segments with substantive issues, it's far easier to go for scandalous trivial shock value in an age where the jump from Hollywood gossip to the Presidential race is devoid of any visible seams.

[dave]

well, this was to be expected, as it was obvious that bob barr's entry into the presidential race was only initially supported by the establishment 'leaders' to create division, and distract attention and support from RON PAUL's presidential campaign, his message and expanding grassroots movement, the RON PAUL rEVOLution, the 'rally for the republic,' 'campaign for liberty' etc.;
but it seems likely that RON PAUL would be pleased to invite bob barr to participate in the REAL republican convention, to take place in minneapolis parallel to the neocons' and mccain's coronation charade in st. paul.

[John Campbell]

Don't churches risk their tax exempt status by getting involved in politics? This event clearly benefits two parties at the expense of all the others. Separation of church and state works both ways.

[Dodge Landesman]

I don't know why the Commission of the Presidential Debates and Rick Warren want to be so totalitarian. In the past, if you were a significant candidate (who would have some newsworthy role, and Barr does, because he's the true, classic Conservative that will very likely be the big spoiler that will give a wake up call to McCain and the Republican Party in general), you were invited to the debates. And I think it would be better for ratings as well, I think the public is interested in both candidates. But in today's world, I guess some feel that there should only be option A and option B.

[Just Judi]

Alessandro Machi, where have you been? PUMA is dead, exposed for the Republican front that it became. http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/08/15/puma-de-fanged-on-hardball/

[Robert Edward Johnson]

I'm not a lawyer, but Bob Barr is, and last night he told us at his fundraiser that the problem is that the Saddleback Church must clearly stipulate what their criteria were for inviting candidates, and never did, which left them wide open on the lawsuit - except that the judge obviously did the same sort of legislating from the bench that the Supreme Court does all the time. I'm sorry to say I just finished seeing the event on TV, and the audience is a typical white bread GOP bunch that had their 'minds' made up for McCain from the beginning anyway. $200 oil and their own relative coming home in a bodybag wouldn't change their alleged minds about Iraq, Georgia, or anywhere else. McCain said "we're all Georgians now." Well, Bob Barr ACTUALLY IS a Georgian (though not THAT kind!) but he doesn't want us going to bat for a nation which still has a statue of Stalin in Tblisi.

[keith]

"but it seems likely that RON PAUL would be pleased to invite bob barr to participate in the REAL republican convention, to take place in minneapolis parallel to the neocons' and mccain's coronation charade in st. paul."

Yeah, they just haven't figured out which IHOP to host it at yet.

Quick somebody get some jumper cables, the rOVERlution won't start.

[Starchild]

Thank you Rhys, for mirroring my thoughts on this matter so eloquently. The condescending tone of the blog entry is not so surprising to me, given the overall state of things, yet it is dismaying. As you say, "One would think the dearth of truly differing viewpoints within the marketplace of ideas, cycle after cycle, would be considered a problem. One would also think journalists, of all people, would be especially frustrated by the limitations this places on the quality of their coverage."

The presidential debates should include the candidates of at least the top five parties in the country. Besides the Demopublicans in the mushy middle, there is the Green Party on the far left, balanced by the Constitution Party on the far right, and then there is the Libertarian Party in the radical center with elements of both left and right.

The ideological alignment of the five nationally organized parties means that allowing representatives of all five into the debates would not tend to greatly upset the balance of power between the two establishment parties. And it *would* allow for a greater diversity of views to be expressed, and perhaps over time weaken the stifling, monopolistic grip of the two-party cartel and result in something closer to a true multiparty democracy (or republic, if things go well).

[Greg D]

It is embarrassing that in the land of "freedom" that the political process is so closed. This is simply about money. Big business and special interests have heavily "invested" in the two parties. As long as they can maintain their oligopoly power their "investments" will provide that return. Is this democracy?

[JB]

Is 'following an enemy to the gates of hell' a Christian value? Would Jesus make such a horrible, awful claim - consider the man you are 'really' voting for!

Such anger - militaristic thinking - not Christian in any way.

[Anonymous]

You were quoting me, Starchild (not that "Anonymous" does you much good), but I'm glad you appreciated the comments and found them to be eloquent. Severe injustice tends to bring out my flowery patriotic voice.

[Alessandro Machi]

Where have I been, the hardball piece by David Schuster was a hit job and a con job. The alleged majority of americans that voted for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton worked out to 50.00% to 49.99%, yet Schuster stated that an overwhelming majority voted for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton, that was just an out and out lie.

Hillary Clinton actually won more delegates from all the primary states, EVEN WHEN FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN are NOT COUNTED!

If Florida had counted, and it should have since both were on the ballot, Hillary Clinton easily wins the popular vote even if Michigan is not counted.

I think the Chicago Politics Machine has made it pretty evident now just how dirty Barack Obama's side fought in the caucus contests and in their quest to buy off everybody with over 250 million dollars in undocumented funds.

At the end of the day, the whiny, mealy liberals cryed that the super delegates should not decide the outcome of the race, so in the end, it was the ACORN activists who defrauded the caucus voting that was given more importance than what the super delegates really wanted.

http://www.DailyPUMA.com