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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Late Night Open Thread: Among the Wild Libertarians

Late Night Open Thread: Among the Wild Libertarians

by Anne Laurie|  May 30, 20162:11 am| 44 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Glibertarianism, Open Threads, I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own

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Everything seems to be going well at the Libertarian conference pic.twitter.com/nQJclPGqEZ

— Christopher Woody (@chrstphr_woody) May 29, 2016

Difference between conventions: Libertarians acknowledging guy on their stage had no clothes, GOP won’t admit guy on theirs has no clothes

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) May 29, 2016

Yes, it’s almost too easy a target. But then again, they’re Libertarians, so they should be used to it by now. The NYTimes:

… In a year when the two major parties are consumed by tensions, defections and chaos, the Libertarian Party, which sees itself as their alternative, displayed some of the same traits as it wrestled with nominating two former Republican governors for its presidential ticket at its annual convention over the weekend. But there was also a palpable sense of excitement at the event, held at a hotel here less than 10 miles from Disney World.

For an antiwar party that promotes legalizing marijuana and tearing up the tax code, 2016 has brought hope that acceptance in the political mainstream is imminent amid broad discontent with the probable nominees from the major parties.

The Libertarian Party is the country’s third largest by voter registration, excluding people who consider themselves independent, but it is often overlooked as a political sideshow with a hodgepodge of positions that many consider to be either overly liberal on social issues or too conservative fiscally…

Covering my first Libertarian Convention since 2008, I realize that the 9/11 Truth folks are totally gone. Neat!

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 27, 2016

they're at the trump rallies now https://t.co/V8KNvUR2SV

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) May 27, 2016

Dave Weigel, at the Washington Post, is far more sympathetic:

ORLANDO — Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson won the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination on Sunday, fending off five rivals from different factions on two closely fought ballots and securing more than 55.8 percent of the total vote.

But Johnson’s near-miss on the first ballot kicked off an afternoon of protests and delegate glad-handing, with the vice presidential race to be decided later. Johnson had run a careful campaign with an eye on the general election, picking former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld — like him, a Republican who switched parties — as his running mate. In Saturday night’s debate, Johnson, alone among the top-five contenders, said that he would have signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and that he thought people should be licensed to drive cars. He was loudly booed for both positions…

Johnson’s rivals, especially Libertarian activist Austin Petersen and software engineer John McAfee, saw an opportunity to drag out the process. They briefly huddled on the convention floor and worked delegates, as Johnson had unfruitful conversations with critics and then walked outside for an interview with MSNBC…

Johnson boasts about media interest in Libertarian convention. "Press passes in 2012? Twenty. Press passes this year? 250."

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 28, 2016

(Earlier WaPo reports here and here.)

'Mentum pic.twitter.com/updnIb5ZUw

— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) May 28, 2016


Austin Petersen says you shouldn’t be allowed to sell heroin to children. Boos from crowd.

— Eliot Nelson (@eliotnelson) May 29, 2016

Shorter Libertarian debate:

Crowd: BURN THE GOVERNMENT

Gary Johnson: Congress will make that really hard

Crowd: SHUT UP, SO’S YOUR FACE

— Eliot Nelson (@eliotnelson) May 29, 2016

Definitely some Johnson-feeling going on here. pic.twitter.com/d5ZCjI6XHz

— Matt Welch (@MattWelch) May 28, 2016

libertarian con m scott mahaskey politico chargers stolen
Politico has a slideshow — frontloaded for the cosplayers & geeks, of course.

Libertarian Party Chair Nicholas Sarwark says there are backchannel conversations with the Koch organization re: fundraising.

— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) May 29, 2016

Libertarian chairman says party trying to make "back channel" overtures to Koch brothers. Koch brothers have denied.

— Eliot Nelson (@eliotnelson) May 29, 2016

@MattWelch debating your own veep would be the most libertarian thing ever!

— Diftil (@diftil) May 29, 2016

A classic Bill Weld moment: Libertarian asks about the threat of the CIA, Weld admits that his great-uncle plotted the 1953 Iran coup.

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 28, 2016

@mlevenson Worst Disney vacation ever

— D. C. Lockheed (@isletsoflngrhns) May 27, 2016

Couldn’t see Weld at the lectern as Vermin Supreme and some other guy were holding up a “COME AND TAKE IT” flag with an automatic gun on it

— Eliot Nelson (@eliotnelson) May 29, 2016

Libertarian Convention speaker Jim Rogers informing audience that the government will respond to the coming collapse by confiscating 401ks.

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 27, 2016

Ron Paul appears via video to #LPC16, describing how he joined the Libertarian Party: "I paid my dues in gold."

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 28, 2016

Libertarians now arguing over how to condemn the man who came onstage and stripped down to a thong.

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 29, 2016

"I believe in a world where gay married couples can protect their marijuana fields with fully automated machine guns. Oh yeah baby!"

— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) May 29, 2016

New Hampshire delegate chair posits that his state is best positioned to survive the zombie apocalypse. #LPC16

— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) May 29, 2016

Ohio delegate chair: "O-H!"
Ohio delegates: "I-O"
Random Michigan delegate: "Sucks!"

— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) May 29, 2016

the republican party is a pretty ridiculous institution.
libertarian party: "challenge accepted"

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) May 29, 2016

Whatever else happens this year, there will be more elected Republican politicians on the Libertarian ticket than on the GOP ticket.

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 29, 2016

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Reader Interactions

44Comments

  1. 1.

    Major Major Major Major

    May 30, 2016 at 2:26 am

    Now I kind of wish I’d followed this.

  2. 2.

    peej01

    May 30, 2016 at 2:45 am

    I’ll take “Guys who should never strip in public” for 200, Alex.

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    May 30, 2016 at 2:51 am

    I heard the “naked” guy actually wore a thong. I am disappoint.

  4. 4.

    Juju

    May 30, 2016 at 3:04 am

    Wow. And people have had the nerve to criticize my thighs, and I keep mine covered. On the other hand I guess it really does take balls to do something like that.

  5. 5.

    MikeBoyScout

    May 30, 2016 at 3:09 am

    Call me a fascist statist Communist, but there ought to be a law against ugly fat naked white guys in public

  6. 6.

    hellslittlestangel

    May 30, 2016 at 3:31 am

    It’s great that suspected murderer John McAfee has found a political party in which he feels accepted.

  7. 7.

    amk

    May 30, 2016 at 3:31 am

    Go libtards?

  8. 8.

    Origuy

    May 30, 2016 at 3:47 am

    They went to Orlando and they didn’t hold it in Fantasyland?

  9. 9.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    May 30, 2016 at 4:07 am

    Wait a minute — glibertarians nominated 2 old white guys — what a shocker.

  10. 10.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 30, 2016 at 4:07 am

    @Origuy: Disney may appear to be a Mickey Mouse organization, but they’re much more serious that libertarians.

    (That’s why they’re a GEC.)

  11. 11.

    Matt McIrvin

    May 30, 2016 at 4:10 am

    Gay married? Like married by the government? I thought your proper hardcore Libertarians wanted to eliminate gay marriage and straight marriage too.

  12. 12.

    Jeff Spender

    May 30, 2016 at 4:13 am

    Oh, libertarians.

    Never change, you brave sons of liberty.

  13. 13.

    Damien

    May 30, 2016 at 4:46 am

    I feel like we’re either going to look back at this period in American politics as the high-water mark of the general insanity caucus, or the first step on a short road to Mad Max.

    Either way, I hope it’s the high-water mark for bethonged and bearded men on C-Span.

  14. 14.

    Cat48

    May 30, 2016 at 4:47 am

    I am not an “unhappy voter” so I will take a pass.

  15. 15.

    Central Planning

    May 30, 2016 at 6:54 am

    @MikeBoyScout: That’s not already a law?

  16. 16.

    Loviatar

    May 30, 2016 at 8:38 am

    I like this term, I think I’ll use it from now on.

    Second American Revolution: April 12, 1861 – May 9, 1865

  17. 17.

    Jack the Second

    May 30, 2016 at 8:40 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Gary Johnson is actually the youngest candidate in the race at this point.

  18. 18.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    May 30, 2016 at 9:23 am

    @Jack the Second: he’s 63 making him eligible for early social security.

  19. 19.

    El Caganer

    May 30, 2016 at 9:40 am

    No taped message from Ammon Bundy?

  20. 20.

    Ken

    May 30, 2016 at 10:06 am

    Another way the Libertarians aren’t like the Republicans: The people who show up at their rallies, vote in their elections, and become their nominees don’t really represent the party.

  21. 21.

    sdhays

    May 30, 2016 at 10:13 am

    @hellslittlestangel: Not really. Using Trump’s “logic”, they were mean to him by not acknowledging his manifest awesomeness and giving him the nomination. Poor guy. I hope he’s not so upset that he needs to go murder his neighbors. Again.

  22. 22.

    sdhays

    May 30, 2016 at 10:19 am

    @MikeBoyScout: Would this be considered “in public” or a private event? If being a Libertarian means having male strippers at your private convention, then that’s their right, although I do wonder what the folks at CSPAN’s reaction was when the guy started taking off his pants. Did someone going running down the hall shouting “FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY!!! GET READY TO PIXELATE!!!!!”

  23. 23.

    Hal

    May 30, 2016 at 10:22 am

    If we lived in the Star Trek universe where every home had it’s own independent power system and food replicater along with a personal shuttle to get around, then I could see libertarianism working.

  24. 24.

    StringOnASick

    May 30, 2016 at 10:28 am

    I thought the Republicans were the party of raging Id this year; then I’m reminded that libertoonians exist.

  25. 25.

    El Caganer

    May 30, 2016 at 11:01 am

    @shomi: #FeelTheJohnson!

  26. 26.

    max

    May 30, 2016 at 11:01 am

    Oliver Willis:

    the republican party is a pretty ridiculous institution.
    libertarian party: “challenge accepted”

    The GOP is still winning.

    max
    [‘The Libertarians had a naked fat guy – the Republicans had Clint Eastwood talking to a chair.’]

  27. 27.

    Tripod

    May 30, 2016 at 11:18 am

    I feel that the identity of that portrait thigh tat would explain so much.

  28. 28.

    Ten Bears

    May 30, 2016 at 11:18 am

    Republicans smoking pot.

  29. 29.

    Tripod

    May 30, 2016 at 11:19 am

    Wasn’t one of the Kochs their VP candidate in ’80?

  30. 30.

    Jack the Second

    May 30, 2016 at 11:23 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Yep, running against Hillary Clinton (68), Donald Trump (69), and Jill Stein (66).

    When I was looking up nominee ages to confirm that Hillary Clinton was the oldest Democratic nominee ever, it seemed that 55 was about the standard age for Presidential nominees. There have been some older (Bob Dole was 73 in ’96), but I don’t think we’ve ever had such a *uniformly* older crowd like this.

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 30, 2016 at 11:23 am

    @shomi: The NYT continues its hopeless descent into irrelevancy.

  32. 32.

    BubbaDave

    May 30, 2016 at 11:24 am

    @sdhays:

    FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY!!! GET READY TO PIXELATE!!!!!

    In 2020 they’ll broadcast the convention on a seven-second delay.

  33. 33.

    EconWatcher

    May 30, 2016 at 11:53 am

    I’m not sure this is all levity. This is actually pretty interesting.

    I don’t believe the LP has ever had a ticket with anything like the credibility that Johnson and Weld bring. While their conventioneers may be clowns, their apparent nominees are not. If they actually did manage to line up Koch money, they could make an interesting year even more watchable.

    They won’t win, of course, but they could shake that electoral college map up a bit, while drawing Republican votes. Plus, they would add to the pressure for the Republican Party to jettison its neocon wing.

    It’s all good.

  34. 34.

    Ken

    May 30, 2016 at 12:23 pm

    @Tripod: Ayn Rand’s head, on Nichelle Nichols’ body from the fan dance scene in Star Trek V.

  35. 35.

    Shell

    May 30, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    As Homer Simpson would say “Watch that flubber fly!”

  36. 36.

    Robin G.

    May 30, 2016 at 1:31 pm

    Hey, Ron Paul, isn’t this supposed to be where you brag you paid the Iron Price *instead* of the gold? You’re doing the Kingsmoot wrong.

  37. 37.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 30, 2016 at 1:31 pm

    Anyone else notice the Iron Cross tattoo on his right shoulder? Common motif in white supremacist imagery.

  38. 38.

    Tom

    May 30, 2016 at 2:26 pm

    @MikeBoyScout: I concur and I am an ugly, fat white guy.

  39. 39.

    Miss Bianca

    May 30, 2016 at 2:28 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: photo not showing up, but I’ve seen that motif before. I wish I could say I was shocked, SHOCKED to learn that there were white supremacists in this movement, but I can’t.

  40. 40.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 30, 2016 at 4:05 pm

    @Miss Bianca: I’m shocked, SHOCKED in the same sense that Claude Rains was in Rick’s.

  41. 41.

    Miss Bianca

    May 30, 2016 at 5:17 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Well, yeah…that was the general effect I was going for…

  42. 42.

    Paul in KY

    May 31, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I’m sure he had a sound reason for wearing one.

  43. 43.

    Paul in KY

    May 31, 2016 at 1:26 pm

    @Ken: They end up voting Repub, like the lying weenies they are.

  44. 44.

    Paul in KY

    May 31, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    @Hal: Hadn’t thought of that.

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