libertarian quackery!

for those of you keeping track, there are now two libertarian candidates in the presidential field, each vying for their own share of third place, and a solid chunk of the republican field.

bob barr, republican-turned-libertarian, is the answer to the existential question "what if we held a campaign and nobody voted?" if i had to guess, it's because of ridiculous ideas like this:

After more than 50 years of American support, “South Korea is well able to defend itself,” notes Barr. The South has an economy that is estimated to be 40 times as large as that of North Korea; South Korea has twice the North’s population and a vast technological edge. “It is time for real leadership on this important national security matter,” Barr said, adding that “maintaining a large and costly American military presence in Korea largely because that’s the way it’s been done for more than half a century makes little sense, especially if we, as we should, maintain the capability to respond quickly to actual threats against us when necessary and where necessary.”

um yeah...why the fuck are we still in south korea?
they're so crazy about starcraft over there that i'm sure you could just round up the nearest kid from an internet cafe to lead a successful ground campaign against the north koreans. kim jong il's military strategy consists entirely of "zerg rush". nothing a south korean teenager couldn't handle.

meanwhile, the libertarian-turned-republican, ron paul, is planning an all-out gop coup. after his supporters have been marginalized at state convention after state convention (despite paul's continued high primary returns), he's finally deciding to throw his own gop anti-convention to run parallel to the actual convention in minneapolis:

A Paul campaign aide said the Texas congressman hopes to pack about 11,000 supporters into the Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 2, which coincides with the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in neighboring St. Paul.

just like the marginalized nerd he truly is, paul has decided to throw his own party. expect paul supporters to show up with their dungeons and dragons boards, and make several proposals to order a bunch of pizzas for the other convention.