Gary Johnson has ‘Aleppo moment’ when asked to name favorite foreign leader

[TomCADem]

Source: MSN/The Washington Post

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee for president, had been raring for Wednesday night's "town hall" on MSNBC. He had been cut from the first televised debate after missing the polling threshold, and he had not been invited when the network hosted a "commander-in-chief forum" with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

"This was their consolation prize," Johnson told The Washington Post this week when asked about the MSNBC special. "It was put to us that, look, you weren’t in this initial program. Here’s what we’d like to offer in lieu of being with the two major-party candidates. And I said, 'An hour of prime time Chris Matthews? I'll take it.' "

But the hour didn't go as planned. Johnson, who had been pilloried for blanking on the relevance of the Syrian city of Aleppo in another MSNBC interview, whiffed his way through an even easier foreign policy question.

"Who's your favorite foreign leader?" Matthews asked. "Who's my favorite?" Johnson replied. "Anywhere in the continents," Matthews said. "Any country. Name one foreign leader that you look up to." William Weld, Johnson's running mate, chimed in with an assist: "I'm with Shimon Peres."


Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gary-johnson-has-%e2%80%98aleppo-moment%e2%80%99-when-asked-to-name-favorite-foreign-leader/ar-BBwLjbF?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp

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While saying Angela Merkel would have freaked out the Alt-Right, he could have easily picked anyone who was pro-Brexit. Theresa May would have been a safe choice or if he wanted to reach out to Trump supporters, there was always Boris Johnson. Also, you could always say Netenyahu to pander to the Israel crowd. Still, what is up with right wingers and failure to do some basic foreign policy prep?

[MADem]

1. He's an idiot. You answer those questions with a negative response...

"I know who I DON'T like, Chris--maybe we should start there! I can't abide Kim Jong Un, he's a loose cannon!" Then yammer on about how you'd like to develop closer relationships with say, our neighbors to the north and south, and continue to foster good relationships in Europe and Asia, etc.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. While he's not as psycho as Trump

he's no more qualified to be President. He's kind of a dumbass.

[roamer65]

3. Bill Weld is a smart cookie.

If he were at the top of the Libertarian ticket, it would be a completely different race.

I think Gary has smoked one doob too many.

[JI7]

4. the CNN libertarian ticket town hall from a while back had both Johnson and Weld

Weld was the one that answered most of the questions and talked more and was clearly informed .

Johnson was just kind of there.

[BlueMTexpat]

12. Did Weld realize

that Shimon Peres had died?

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Funny you should say that, about smoking.

Mr. Dixie told me this am that Johnson is on medical marijuana. Mr. Dixie usually is correct when he speaks about other people.

I must say, I watched the YouTube clip of that and it appears likely...he did seem out of it and had great trouble collecting his thoughts.

Then again, if I were high and had Mathews yammering away at me in that irritating voice, I probably would not remember my name.

[Iliyah]

5. I think Weld is going with HRC

[roamer65]

6. Weld would make a great AG.

He and Hillary worked together on the Nixon impeachment. They like each other.

[Bradical79]

7. If I didn't think Clinton would be a good President, I'd still vote for her as a protest vote :-P

Trump's a racist, Johnson's a moron, and Stein can't tell the difference between a socialist and fascist as long as they speak Russian.

[No Vested Interest]

8. Johnson was governor of a state that borders another nation - Mexico.

One would think he's at least remember the name of the President of Mexico while he was in office.
After hemming and hawing for a few minutes, he said his favorite was a past president of Mexico, but couldn't come up with a name.

Johnson does not have a good television presence.
Some of his facial expressions are ludicrous - for example, bulging eyes at one point.

Without Bill Weld by his side to save face, Johnson would be laughed off the podium.

[Missn-Hitch]

9. Nice guy but certainly not qualified.

[Hekate]

10. Looks like a deer in the headlights. Also acts as stoned as "Dr" Bornstein.

He was asked if it was a bad thing to be considered a spoiler in this race and he said something like "Goody goody!!!" -- that it would be a terrific thing because there's no difference at all between Trump and Hillary. Said Hill would definitely set off the nukes because she's such a hawk. Ran down Hillary to such an extreme that Weld finally murmured that she is adequately qualified.

I swear that every time I see him he acts more addled. How much dope is he smoking every day?!

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. A sign that he's never even contemplated winning the presidency

Though you'd hope that anyone running would have enough general knowledge of foreign current affairs to name someone acceptable, you'd think a hopeful candidate would have looked for someone who'd be a future ally - or who might give some unofficial advice on putting forward a similar point of view. As you say, Theresa May would probably be acceptable to his target voters; the Australian or New Zealand PMs would probably go down well with them too. Or go with Portugal - I'm not sure who brought in the decriminalization of drugs policy, but it's a centre-right government in charge there now, who are sticking with it. That'd chime with his followers. (Looking it up, it was the Socialists who introduced it.(

[3catwoman3]

13. Talk about a Palin moment!

If he was having a moment of memory failure, you'd think he could have at least come up with Queen Elizabeth, who's been around forever, just to say something.

[dembotoz]

17. but he knows all of them

[Coyotl]

14. His Putin moment! .... Lots of people are saying he's going to vote for Clinton.

Because he can remember her name ....

[Coventina]

15. I'm seriously wondering if he has early stage dementia.

Not saying that in jest or to belittle, but I seriously wonder.

And if true, I would feel bad for him.

I wouldn't wish dementia on my worst enemy. Or even Trump.

[Old Vet]

16. Why this poser Johnson is still relevent blows me away...........

[HenryJ]

19. Just as an aside

Is it OK not to have a favorite foreign leader?

[athena]

20. A President is expected to work with other foreign leaders.

It's OK for an ordinary citizen to be clueless about these things, or to think s/he is so superior to everyone else that no foreign leader is good enough for him/her. It is not OK for someone running for president of the United States to forget the names of foreign leaders, or to be dismissive of other foreign leaders and their accomplishments.

Moreover, with Justin Trudeau and Angela Merkel out there, not to mention former leaders like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, it's pretty condescending and US-centric to argue that there are no good leaders outside the United States.