Bob Barr is an unabashed conservative on most issues, a former congressman who was one of the chief supporters of impeaching then-President Clinton and who, as early as this week, defended embattled former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
Bernie Sanders is a self-avowed Socialist who rails against multinational corporations, outsourced jobs and just about anything for which Republicans stand.
But on Wednesday, the two men stood together in Montpelier in denouncing what they see as a growing erosion of Americans' civil liberties under President Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress.
"What this shows is that when it comes to protecting America, party has nothing to do with it," Sanders said to the gathering of about 60 people in the Unitarian Church here. "This is the first time in 15 years that I have invited a Republican member of Congress up here to Vermont. Bob and I disagree on millions of things, but we believe that this country must remain a free country."Sanders — who has been one of the nation's vocal critics of the Patriot Act and its provisions allowing access to library lending records — paid for Barr's trip and hotel room out of his personal funds, according to his press secretary.
And Barr insisted that his visit here wasn't political. But it was hard to ignore the sight of two men on completely opposite ends of the Washington, D.C., political spectrum — both, incidentally, dressed in blue suits and blue shirts, Barr with a red tie; Sanders in a blue one — sitting side-by-side advocating a change in leadership based on a perceived erosion of civil liberties.
It just goes to show that wrong is wrong and Americans, regardless of their political affiliations, are going to stand up to it. There is so much pressure on the White House right now that I cannot fathom how they are getting anything done except spin control.
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Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.