by Bob Barr | Nov 11, 2020 | Townhall Article |
Townhall The razor-thin margin between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden was not the result for which Republicans hoped but holding the line against Sen. Chuck Schumer becoming majority leader, and actually weakening Speaker Pelosi’s House majority are not insignificant achievements. Also, Republican gains in state legislatures as we brace for redistricting is further cause for at least muted celebration.The real task Republicans in Washington and in “red states” now face is to resist the understandable urge to focus on the election that just ended. This will take a degree of discipline and leadership not always abundant in the Grand Old Party.But still, first things first.Between now and next January, Republican leaders, donors and voters must do everything in their power to ensure both sitting Georgia GOP senators win the run-off election scheduled for January 5, 2021. Only by doing this will Mitch McConnell remain in control of the Senate as a crucial check on the worst excesses of a Biden-Harris Administration. Once this pair of victories is won, Republicans must immediately pivot and turn their attention to 2022.If the GOP plays its hand not just well but expertly, it very well could wrest the House majority back from the Democrats in two short years.Achieving this blue-ribbon prize will be difficult, but not impossible. In fact, it was Republican messaging that stressed economic recovery and law and order that was key to last week’s closer-than-expected presidential vote and up-ending the Democrats’ hoped-for congressional “blue wave.” Consistent delivery of this message will be especially relevant if, as he has promised, a President Biden listens to the “scientists” and shutters our economy.Republicans...
by Bob Barr | Nov 9, 2020 | Daily Caller Article |
Daily Caller When asked to identify the most powerful force in the universe, Albert Einstein reportedly declared it to be “compound interest.” While I hesitate to disagree with a bona fide genius, the answer to the question thus posed is not compound interest, it is the status quo.The power wielded over political and legal matters by the status quo will become obvious in the days ahead as the country works its way through the pending and anticipated challenges to the November 3 election results.Now that the Biden-Harris ticket has been “officially” declared the winner by the mainstream media, social media and the political establishment, it becomes the “status quo.” This fact alone provides those who support the former vice president’s bid to assume the highest office in the land a significant advantage over those who favor President Trump remaining in the office.Efforts to dislodge the “declared winner” face Herculean challenges.It often has been said that just as insurance companies exist to deny insureds’ claims for coverage, appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court, serve primarily as mechanisms to not decide cases brought by lower courts. This explains why most decisions reached by trial courts that are appealed are either rejected for decision by the appellate courts or, if accepted, affirmed.The situation in the legislative arena is similarly daunting for those attempting to overturn or even simply amend existing law. Changes proposed to existing laws — even minor ones — rarely succeed. More than the partisan nature of the politics surrounding the substantive issues is the fact that a majority of Democrats and Republicans share a deep hesitancy to change any existing...
by Bob Barr | Nov 4, 2020 | Townhall Article |
Townhall As I write this, millions of Americans are still voting. There is no way to predict what the outcome will be election eve, or if Americans will know the outcome of the election days or even weeks from now. It did not have to be this way. The GOP should have won in a blowout, and that they are almost certain not to is a clear sign the Grand Old Party is in desperate need of a Grand Old Rebuild. The lack of leadership and coordination by the Republican Party’s leadership on Capitol Hill and in “red” States across the country has placed the burden of party messaging squarely on Trump’s shoulders; it is both a benefit and a burden he has borne.Trump’s strength as President, and indeed what has made him so effective in his first term, is getting things done. Trump is a businessman and political outsider, not a philosopher or erudite pundit; so, expecting that he, and he alone, should be responsible for the incredibly important task of articulating clear and consistent messaging to voters was at best shortsighted. It also explains why the GOP turned what should have been a blowout victory against a weak and extremist candidate into a down-to-the-wire nail-biter. GOP leaders did a far better job heading into 2020 with messaging about Democrats than about Republicans. Whether voters agreed with Democrats’ radicalism or not, there was no question as to where they stood on the environment, healthcare, gun control, illegal immigration, criminal justice, and more. These positions were repeatedly reinforced not just from the Biden campaign, but with symbolic legislation passed in the House over the last...
by Bob Barr | Nov 2, 2020 | Daily Caller Article |
Daily CallerLike most every teenage boy in the early 1960s — and perhaps more so than most since I had grown up with my family moving from country to country every couple of years (my Dad was a civil engineer) – I had never heard of Scottish actor Sean Connery until Dr. No hit the big screen in 1962, while I was living with my family in Lima, Peru. But my perception of “cool” thereafter always would be linked to the dashing actor who portrayed James Bond, aka “Agent Double-O-Seven,” in that movie (which I paid to see more than once).After watching the movie, I became an avid fan of Ian Fleming’s novels recounting the exciting if not-so-realistic life of a Cold War-era spy (several years later, I found myself employed by the CIA, but as an analyst and lawyer with no “license to kill”).At the time I was enthralled to watch Dr. No, I had never worn a tuxedo, but on Connery, especially with a Walther PPK tucked neatly thereunder in a discrete shoulder holster, the deep black formalwear possessed an unmistakable panache. Whether in swimming trunks, a three-piece suit, or a cardigan leaning against one of the many exotic sports cars he drove in those movies, Sean Connery on film exuded an enduring, timeless style. His allure, however, was far deeper and broader than the James Bond character he portrayed in seven film versions of Ian Fleming’s British special agent.Connery’s acting career was extremely diverse. His on-screen portrayals varied from the sexy and debonaire 007 character to which he always will be linked, to a 19th Century Irish coal miner in...
by Bob Barr | Oct 28, 2020 | Townhall Article |
TownhallApril 19 was the day America lost the fight against COVID-19. It was on that day that two hospital workers in Denver stood in front of a truck with people heading to the Capitol to protest the state’s stay-at-home order. Suddenly there was clarity. You were either with the hospital workers or the protestors in the truck. That was it; no in-between, no confusion. The lines had been drawn. COVID was — like every other issue in this Year of Our Lord 2020 — absolutely partisan.This, of course, was not by accident. Partisan leaders on each side recognized the value in making COVID political, and went all-in hoping their position would better resonate with voters. Consider the Great Shutdown debate. Republicans arguing it was about the economy, and Democrats about health and safety. Subtlety was thrown to the wind, as nuance is not helpful when trying to stoke people’s emotions and further drive them into embittered tribes.Predictably, today’s debate over COVID-19, which should be discussed seriously as a national crisis impacting both our health care and economy, is just another toxic mess full of vile rhetoric and misinformation designed only to better each party’s chances in November. Take, for instance, the ghoulish joy liberals express at infection rates in the South because these states’ leaders dared to defy Leftist orthodoxy on COVID shutdowns; or how many anti-Trumpers openly hoped the president’s COVID infection would remove him from office, and perhaps even from this physical world. To characterize this situation as unhealthy is an extreme understatement. There really are no winners in such an environment. Citizens are held hostage as any meaningful progress...
