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While it was not the first time Barr has publicly stated he prefers the Administration of Clinton over that of Bush, doing so this morning on ABC’s This Week was the first time the major media took significant notice. The story is ironic and interesting considering Barr’s past activities in House - particularly with the Impeachment scandal - though one has to admit it would have been much more irresistible to the press had Senator Clinton won the nomination. Stay tuned, for you will probably hear this topic come up repeatedly in the beltway press over the coming months.

From the LA Times

Bob Barr, the former college Democrat turned Republican member of Congress and now the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate, was one of the managers of the impeachment effort against President Clinton. His credentials as a Clinton opponent are well-established. But he’s no friend of George W. Bush, either.

He walked us through his thinking this morning on ABC News’ “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” after appearances by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.):

STEPHANOPOULOS:  And you now believe that George W. Bush has been
a greater threat to liberty than Bill Clinton?

BARR:  Absolutely, because of this systemic assault on the Bill
of Rights.  It’s very different.  I certainly, as you know, had my
differences with President Clinton and was one of the impeachment
managers.

But the problem with the current administration and the mind-set
that has taken hold here in Washington — and there’s really so little
difference between the two major parties, you could see it with your
two guests that were just here — is the fact that the system itself
and what the Bush administration has done to the system of taking
liberty from the people and interposing it up here in Washington.

– James Gerstenzang

Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP-Getty Images