Why so many of us have no respect for politicians

[RainDog]

Bob Barr was the Georgia Republican who castigated Bill Clinton for getting blow jobs (b/c, let's face it, the perjury issue was simply the way to keep Clinton's penis front and center for Republican talking heads) while, oops, yes, that was Barr licking the cream off a stripper's nipple - but it was okay - he's (oops, was) a republican.


This is a photo-sort-of-represenation and should not be considered a likeness of Bob Barr

Classic Barr-barism:

Barr in 2010: "I can see a situation where the federal government is going to bring an entire suitcase of San Francisco values to the American family, and while I would love to explain all the things that are wrong with that, the fact is that this is a corrupting, left-leaning, influence on a section of society that so many liberal elites want to see taken out of the 'red state' column. The only solution to this kind of behavior is dour and austere social conservatism, like my own"

Dour and austere social conservatism also includes side trips to strip joints, three marriages, abortion and other "It's Okay If You're a Republican" moments of hypocrisy - as noted here -

Congressman Bob Barr (R), Georgia...Author of the "Defense of Marriage" Act (DOMA) and champion of the NRA and the "family values" crowd, he has been married three times and been in court twice for failing to pay child support. In 1992, Barr showed his support for "family values" by licking whipped cream off two stripper's breasts during a fundraiser. A fighter against abortion, Barr encouraged his second wife to have an abortion and paid for it. Having the federal government deny basic human rights to gay and lesbian Americans is part of Barr's "fight for individual rights against encroachment by the Federal government" (NRA). In 1998, Barr spoke at a convention of the white supremacist "Council of Conservative Citizens", but later denied that he was a white supremacist himself. Barr is known to become very angry when asked whether he is black. In 1998, Barr showed his respect for the will of the people by amending the Washington D.C. budget in such a way that the votes in the medical marijuana referendum could simply not be counted. Barr served as House manager in the 1998 impeachment circus, again demonstrating his manifest contempt for the will of the majority of the American people who twice elected Bill Clinton to be their president.

In 2001, Barr asked the GAO to investigate the alleged trashing of the White House and Air Force One by the Clinton administration (that we now know was just another slanderous lie created by the pathological Clinton haters in the Republican party). When the GAO found nothing, Barr responded in a letter that "This is very disappointing" and that it was "a disservice to the American taxpayers who deserve a full accounting of taxpayer property". Barr's reaction betrays that same postmodern concept of truth that the Republican party in general seems to subscribe: facts are not objective, but mere products of political propaganda, to be arbitrarily twisted or made up entirely to advance one's political agenda.

http://www.webpan.com/dsinclair/barr.html

Also back then - http://motherjones.com/politics/1999/03/your-vote-doesnt-count-dc

Washington, D.C., residents fought to have an initiative placed on their November ballot to legalize the medical use of marijuana. But two weeks before the November vote, Rep. Bob Barr's (R-Ga.) amendment to the District's budget forbade the use of funds for any ballot initiative that would "legalize or otherwise reduce penalties [for]...any Schedule I substance."

What happened next was an example of American politics at its most bizarre...The initiative stayed on the ballot, and more than 100,000 D.C. residents voted on it. But D.C.'s Board of Elections couldn't count, certify, or release the results of the vote. To do so would have violated Barr's amendment, even though the estimated cost of tabulating the results (which amounts to pushing a button on a computer) works out to $1.64. Four months and a lawsuit later, we still don't know the outcome of the vote.

Initiative 59 -- the Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1998 -- made it on the ballot in November, following an intense grassroots campaign led by D.C. resident Wayne Turner. To get the measure on the ballot, Turner's coalition -- including the D.C. Green Party and ACT-UP -- had to collect signatures from five percent of all registered D.C. voters within six months. The coalition collected far more than that. Turner, understandably, expected success after similar measures passed in California and Arizona in 1996. Enter Bob Barr.

The Georgia Republican sponsored an amendment to the fiscal 1999 D.C. budget which, in effect, made it illegal to count or certify the results of the votes. Exit polls indicated the measure passed by a large margin, but the Board of Elections was bound by the Barr amendment. Barr's rationale: The District -- which is not a state and is administered directly by Congress -- is supported by taxpayers all over the country, a large number of whom, he publicly assumes, do not want their money used to legalize drugs. However, it seems the American people are expressing their approval of medical marijuana: legalization measures passed in all four states in which they were proposed in November. Furthermore, a 1995 American Civil Liberties Union poll indicated that 64 percent of Americans would "strongly favor" legalizing marijuana for medicinal use.

Bob Barr lost his seat in Georgia after the Democrats there reconfigured districts (yeah, both parties do this - which is why you want the one you favor to be in power.) One reason he lost is because his opponent painted him as an extremist drug warrior.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barr

Now, tho - after losing his seat Barr reinvented himself as a libertarian. Now, HE'S A LOBBYIST for the Marijuana Policy Project - the SAME GROUP he tried to block when the people of Washington, D.C. wanted their 69% MAJORITY vote to implement medical marijuana put into law - Barr, after blocking this law for a dozen years, is now working to overcome the same SHITTY LEGISLATION history that HE CREATED.

Yeah - that's how politics works. Barr is now lobbying to overturn the horrible legislation for which HE IS RESPONSIBLE - along with his fellow drug warrior, Newt, another serial hyporcrite. But Barr's services, beyond greasing the monkey spankers' palms in the legislature, may not be needed for this issue in D.C. - but, considering the corruption of legislators - maybe he does still need to jerk off some conservatives to get them to see the world his way.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1170242

And, as I noted before, he's not the only republican who is making money off marijuana. Andrea Barthwell is also on the gravy train with Bayer pharmaceuticals, along with another former Drug Czar bullshitter, John Pastuovic, another Bush-Cheney liar.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1170&pid=123

All of this would be fodder for eye rolling cynicism - except these people, as well as all other politicians who have made political calculations to refuse to honor medical marijuana laws and scientific evidence, have KILLED people for their political fortunes. People who have been denied medical marijuana have died because of politicians' games.

Peter McWilliams is one.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117065

Jonathan Magbie is another.

Magbie, was a quadriplegic medical marijuana user was arrested and died in a DC jail for lack of adequate medical care.

"Had the District been able to implement its medical marijuana law when it passed in 1998, Mr. Magbie may well be alive today -- and free to treat his pain as he and his doctor saw fit," Houston said. "Perhaps now nobody in the District will ever have to suffer as he and his family did simply for using the medicine that works best for them."

So, this is a giant "FUCK YOU" to all politicians who calculate that it's okay for people to die if your conservative base gets to make snide comments about stoners. Honestly, this history is so corrupt and so repulsive I don't understand how it's possible to have any respect for govt. It's a haven for the unprincipled.

And this is a giant "Fuck you" to those who claim this issue isn't important or that it has no bearing on big issues, when for-profit prisons and bad marijuana laws have created a new "slavery by another name" in this nation.

Oh yeah, and happy valentines day, still.

[sabrina 1]

1. Excellent post, the hypocrisy of people like Bob Barr imo, goes beyond just

plain character flaw. I am truly beginning to think that there is something very wrong, mentally, with many of these people. Their behavior is so bizarre that if they were not politicians, but members of your family, you would either avoid them altogether for the sake of your own mental health, or if you cared at all, would have long ago found some way to help them with their obvious problems, although sometimes it is not possible to help such people. My feeling is that those who buy our elections, seek out such seriously flawed characters because mentally healthy people would never be willing to go along with what they are asked to do.

[RainDog]

2. Congress doesn't give DC the law they vote on

It gives them the law that makes constituents in home states happy - or at least a few of them. When making it impossible to initially count the votes for DC's medical mj law -

Barr's rationale: The District -- which is not a state and is administered directly by Congress -- is supported by taxpayers all over the country, a large number of whom, he publicly assumes, do not want their money used to legalize drugs

Well, looks like Barr's rationale has no basis in reality when an overwhelming majority, even back then, wanted legal mmj.

I guess 70% plus is a pretty good indicator of which way the wind is blowing and the "smart" republicans are making money now.

I think Barr's political life indicates that the "problem" these people have is that they will do anything to make some money - no matter the cost to the rest of us.

Reminds me of the Catholic Bishops and their current insistence that anyone gives a shit about their opinion on birth control when, obviously, their own parishioners think they're full of shit and not worth paying attention to in this matter...

and yet, Santorum continues to spew right wing hatred against another "liberal" group - 98% of the women in the Catholic Church.

[RainDog]

3. evening kick n/t