# Breaking News: Bob Barr announces presidential run as Libertarian candidate **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 12, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-bob-barr-announces-presidential-run-as-libertarian-candidate/449032 "2008-05-12T15:27:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-bob-barr-announces-presidential-run-as-libertarian-candidate/449032/81 "2008-05-15T13:07:43Z")
[QUOTE=DanBlather] Is it just me, or does Barr look like someone who is “passing”. [/QUOTE] No, it’s not just you. Hence, my joke earlier in this thread. Barr has been asked about whether he has black ancestry and he’s always denied it. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out that he was indeed black as defined by the one drop rule. Dude looks like family to me. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-bob-barr-announces-presidential-run-as-libertarian-candidate/449032/82 "2008-05-15T13:23:46Z")
In his picture in wikipedia, he looks a lot more like John McCain than Colin Powell. What pictures are you guys looking at? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-bob-barr-announces-presidential-run-as-libertarian-candidate/449032/83 "2008-05-15T13:36:03Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] In his picture in wikipedia, he looks a lot more like John McCain than Colin Powell. What pictures are you guys looking at? [/QUOTE] These pics of him trip my one drop detector: [http://www.bobbarr.com/images/barr002.jpeg](http://www.bobbarr.com/images/barr002.jpeg) [http://images.salon.com/news/feature/2007/04/04/bob\_barr/story.jpg](http://images.salon.com/news/feature/2007/04/04/bob_barr/story.jpg) [![](https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/09/13/congress.reax.02/bob.barr.jpg) ](https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/09/13/congress.reax.02/bob.barr.jpg) It’s a long-standing joke in Georgia’s black community that Barr is black. If you google “Barr is black” you’ll see quite a few hits. Is there any truth in this rumor? I don’t know. But black folks generally speaking are better than non-blacks at spotting other black people. This is one of the reasons that back in the day folks attempting to pass nearly always avoided areas with high black populations. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-bob-barr-announces-presidential-run-as-libertarian-candidate/449032/84 "2008-05-15T14:11:55Z")
[QUOTE=Renob] However, libertarian does not necessarily mean Libertarian. [/QUOTE] True, but under the conditions set forth in **BrainGlutton** ’s post (election reforms whereby voting for one’s ideal choice does not weaken other “good enough” choices), the practical effect of the distinction is seriously reduced. That being the case, the polling data you cite implies about a 10% share of the vote under that scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-bob-barr-announces-presidential-run-as-libertarian-candidate/449032/85 "2008-06-20T06:29:14Z")
[Barr is polling at 6% in Georgia, leaving McCain and Obama in a virtual tie.](http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/06/19/mccain_obama_georgia.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-bob-barr-announces-presidential-run-as-libertarian-candidate/449032.md?page=4)