Wayne Allyn Root and Sarah Palin

Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root continues to embarrass himself by fluffing Sarah Palin - supposedly his opponent - most recently in a Pacifica Radio interview. I listened to the 8 minute interview so you don't have to. The highlights:

Root describes Palin as "a female actress portraying me."
He brags about never having held any elective office, and how this qualifies him to be vice president.
He blames the economic crisis on "community activist groups." Please, Wayne, name names.
He claims that Barack Obama has been in government his whole life. I guess he's forgetting about his community organizing years. And his time as a constitutional lawyer. And the constitutional law professor days.
But that experience doesn't count, I guess, because according to Root "The enemy of this country is lawyers."

If that's not enough Root silliness for you, on his blog Root claims that Palin won the vice presidential debate, despite overwhelming voter sentiment to the contrary. Why does Root think that his favorite vice presidential candidate cleaned up?

"Palin lacks the U.S. Senate pedigree, law degree, or the D.C. Beltway credentials of Biden, but she has Reaganesque-like (sic) charm, charisma and middle American values. She also has something that even a brash New Yorker like me appreciates- CHUTZPAH. Sarah, in an “aw shucks” kind of way, is more confident of a speaker and debater than any 5-term United States Senator. Like Reagan, she knows how to connect to her audience- soccer moms and NASCAR dads (or as she calls them “Joe Six Pack”)."

I'll just let that speak for itself.

But since we're on the subject of Palin's popularity, check out this video of hockey fans in Pennsylvania booing her mercilessly.

Wayne Allyn Root's Foreign Policy

The web site Jewish Exponent has an article about Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate - and never-ending embarrassment to the party - Wayne Allyn Root. This is amusing because the site talks about Root's Jewish roots and Jewish upbringing, but never mentions that Root has since converted to evangelical Christianity, and now calls himself a "completed Jew" (I'm sure Jewish people love the implication that their faith is incomplete). But the Jewish Exponent article is still worth reading, since it sheds some light on Root's foreign policy beliefs.

On Iraq, Root says he supported the troop surge. On other occasions, he has said that he doesn't want the Iraq war to end.

On Afghanistan, he wants to "do the same thing," with a troop surge there, too.

On Israel, Root calls himself "as pro-Israel as any human being in the world can possibly be," and says that the U.S. should strengthen its alliance with Israel. "You don't abandon your friends."

On Mexico, Root wants to deploy the U.S. military to the border so that it can shoot at people who want to come and work in menial jobs in this country.

Bonus Root foreign policy position: On France, Root told an interviewer two months ago that "I usually hate France." Why, because the French didn't support this disastrous war?

Tell me again, why did this guy leave the Republican Party?

More Wayne Allyn Root Nuttiness

Here's an interview of everyone's favorite vice presidential candidate opining on Ron Paul ("I think he's a little weak when it comes to the War on Terror") and France ("I usually hate France"). (via Lew Rockwell)



And please check out this great Las Vegas Sun profile, in which Root shares his opinions on kids who are bullied ("You get bullied day and night if you’re weak.” - I am not taking this out of context. Root really does appear to look down on kids who are bullied), takes a seemingly un-libertarian position on campaign contributions (calling them "bribes"), insinuates that Barack Obama did not graduate from college (there are records confirming that he did) and insults New Orleans hurricane victims for good measure (“Their mouths were open and their hands were out and they were praying for Mama Bird to throw something in there.”)

I'm not saying that Root isn't a libertarian. But I am saying that from everything I've seen, heard and read of him, he's a grade-A asshole.

Wayne Allyn Root's Book: Millionaire Republican

I've never heard of Publishers Weekly giving a bad review to a book, so I guess Millionaire Republican, written by Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root, was a real stinker. The review:

"Root, author of The Zen of Gambling, has made millions as a television sports-betting handicapper. This chest-thumping political screed-cum motivational tract systematizes that accomplishment into 'The 18 Republican Secrets of Mega-Wealth and Unlimited Success'-a hodgepodge of self-help nostrums about positive thinking, clean living and the centrality of salesmanship to all human achievement, with a smattering of financial opportunism. (Secret #3 is 'Own Real Estate in International Tax Havens.')

"But Root also aspires to public office, so he devotes most of the book to partisan vitriol. Republicans, he asserts, are 'daring risk-takers' whose 'ambition, drive, vision, courage, confidence and commitment' prompts them to start businesses and enter the 'Investor Class.' Democrats, deluded by 'corrupt, soulless' liberals, prefer a '"safe" (but mediocre) paycheck' to the challenge of entrepreneurship and therefore lead 'lives of despair...working in jobs they hate for bosses they despise...dependent on Big Brother' and are reduced to 'complaining, whining, attending protests' and taxing Republicans.

"Throughout, the author seethes with class resentment against the even wealthier 'spoiled-brat trust-fund crowd,' who supposedly advocate high taxes on the rich to keep others from becoming rich. Root is rarely coherent or engaging; the book feels like an infomercial harangue interspersed with the sort of off-the-wall rant you would expect if you asked your bookie for his political philosophy. In it, one can make out the tenets of contemporary casino capitalism: the risk-taking investor is the hero of the economy, wage labor is a dead-end for suckers and the millionaire is the champion of the little guy against the elitists. Never mind liberal democrats; Republicans themselves may cringe at this ugly, fatuous rendering of their world-view."

Even putting aside Root's comically fanatical devotion to the Republican Party, how many Libertarians would really feel comfortable voting for someone so angry and so obnoxious?

Wayne Allyn Root Doesn't Want the U.S. to Leave Iraq

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root on Iraq: American needs to keep troops there until the Iraqi government is strong enough to maintain order. So given the way things are going in Iraq, it doesn't look like Root wants this war to end any time soon. But then again, a competent Iraqi government is probably more likely than a Root presidency.

Watch it here:


(Via Third Party Watch)