By Hiring Barr, ACLU Mixes In a Right With Its Left
Retiring Georgia Congressman has always been one of the ACLU's biggest critics. Well, now that Barr has lost his re-election bid and is in need of a job, guess who he's going to be working for? Yep, that's right....
To many, the American Civil Liberties Union epitomizes liberalism, and Rep. Robert L. Barr Jr. (R- Ga.) personifies conservatism. But in one of the more unlikely pairings in politics, the ACLU announced yesterday that it plans to hire Barr, who lost his reelection bid this year, to help push its privacy concerns in the next Congress.
"Bob Barr and the ACLU disagree on many issues, but we have no doubt that a strange-bedfellows collaboration between us will yield great things," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the group's Washington office.
Barr, a conservative firebrand whose opponent in the GOP primary portrayed him as too right-wing, will work for the ACLU as a consultant, focusing on such issues as individual privacy, government surveillance and national security.
The ACLU is also thinking about hiring retiring Republican Dick Armey. Who says you can't hire good people anymore?? I suppose the good thing about this is that it does demonstrate the reality that the ACLU is not a partisan political organization. It's raison d'etre is to fight for the preservation of our constitutionally-guaranteed rights. If you were convinced that the ACLU is a Liberal organization, you might want to rethink your position.
