Gary Johnson, "What is Aleppo"?

Gary Johnson, on being interviewed by MSNBC's Mike Barnicle when asked his thoughts on Aleppo, looked at Barnicle and asked him "what is Aleppo"??

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/gary-johnson-asks-what-is-aleppo-760358979962

I think Johnson just threw away any chances he had in being considered a viable candidate. It shows his ignorance on foreign policy. This is a huge embarrassment for his campaign.

 

He always was a total idiot who never stood a chance.

Showed his true colors today. Time for him to hit the bong.

 

Yeah, it shows a complete lack of foreign policy...

...kinda like when asked about priorities of our nuclear triad and not having a clue what that means...

 

Agreed; we are talking foreign policy 101 here, you know the basics and this guy had no clue until being prompted by Barnicle. Like you said, he's done.

 

The perennial Libertarian candidate just blew any chance whatsoever of ever being considered as a serious candidate.

The needle just moved a little bit more for Trump.

From the NYT:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some leading Republicans who oppose Mr. Trump have said openly that they are giving the Libertarian ticket a serious look. On Wednesday night, Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, publicly called for Mr. Johnson and Mr. Weld to be included in the presidential debates.

I hope voters get to see former GOP Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld on the debate stages this fall.

—Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) September 7, 2016

The stumble could derail such hopes and it was widely mocked on social media.

On Twitter the question “What is Aleppo?” was trending, with many critics arguing that Mr. Johnson had disqualified himself from the presidency.

Anyone who saw Gary Johnson as an alternative to the nonsense that is 2016 politics just got a very rude awakening. #WhatIsAleppo

—stephen (@Dunfarr) September 8, 2016

Some even attributed the flub to Mr. Johnson’s acknowledged use of marijuana. He is a proponent of legalizing the drug and he was previously the chief executive of a business that marketed and sold recreational marijuana products.

I'm wondering whether it was wise for Gary Johnson to stop using weed while campaigning for president #WhatIsAleppo

—Jim Aloisi (@JimAloisi) September 8, 2016

Mr. Johnson expressed disappointment about the lapse in a brief follow-up interview that was broadcast on MSNBC and canceled some of his other scheduled interviews planned for later in the day.

“I’m incredibly frustrated with myself,” he said. “I have to get smarter and that’s just part of the process.”

 

I looked into him a bit and came across a video where he was getting furious with the interviewer because the interviewer called illegal immigrants.. " illegal immigrants" he was caring on and on about it looking completely unstable and crazy..

 

That's a pretty serious gaffe. It's not like he had a real chance anyways.

 

I agree, the guy is a complete idiot. And, obviously the social media mocking is expected.

But, I don't really think it "moves the needle for Trump".

That seems like a misguided assumption.

 

This is good for Trump and bad for coughing hillary.

 

The article in my post stated that some leading Republicans were looking at Johnson as an alternative to Trump, with Romney in particular being cited.

I would agree that it doesn't move the needle much, but it probably moves it more for Trump than for Clinton.

 

Being fair, I also would've stumbled a little at Aleppo(a city inside of Syria), and I'd note that Johnson was the only one questioned in such a fashion.. I'd use the opportunity to blast the media on hypocrisy if I were Johnson.

"The other candidates are asked directly about Syria, but the media thinks it can play "gotcha" politics by swapping that out for Aleppo. Shows where the media stands not only in this election, but in enabling the American People to get the right information."

 

I think it's the other way around - a lot of Johnson's support is from disaffected Republicans who are repelled by Trump. If they don't end up voting for Johnson, the odds are pretty good they'll hold their nose and vote for Clinton.

 

I understand what you are saying.

There are obviously several schools of thought about who Johnson is pulling votes from.

In RCP's poll average Clinton leads by 2.8 in a 2-person race and 2.1 in a 4-person race.

So, it would seem that Johnson had been pulling slightly more from Clinton.

Personally, I never thought his candidacy had any chance to impact the outcome

 

Nope, Stein tends to get disaffected Hillary supporters.

And Johnson gets never trumpers (the few left).

Overall, it hurts canks more.

 

What hypocrisy? Aleppo has been all over the news for weeks.

It's completely fair to expect a candidate for president to at least have familiarity with the major international events.

Johnson blew it.

 

Their options would be to

still vote for Johnston as it's just a protest vote
write in
not vote
hold their noses and vote Trump
hold their noses and vote Hillary

IN THAT ORDER.

 

And you're telling me a non-political pundit would be able to tell the difference between Syria and Aleppo? That's bullcrap and you know it. Should Johnson have known? Yeah, but I bet if you mentioned some obscure city or district to Hillary Clinton, even she wouldn't know it.

Geography isn't what I'm looking for in a commander in chief, I'm looking for a sense of his or her ability to handle issues. If he doesn't know Aleppo, that's fine, the interviewer informs him and he's then capable of giving an opinion.

What Americans take for "controversy" or a negative event is absolutely appalling. If you wonder why we have bad presidents, just look right in the mirror.
This country has idiots voting on who the next commander in chief should be. #Sad.

 

Well, I guess another way you could look at it is Trump has Johnson to join him at the Foreign Policy Ignorance table.

Kinda shows the only real person who knows foreign policy is Clinton.

 

What a dumb ass.

 

Personally, I think that Stein pulls voters from Clinton and Johnson pulls votes from Trump.

I am a 'never Clinton' type, but Trump is not exactly my cup of tea, either. Being in a solid red state, I could safely vote an alternative and was considering Johnson rather than Stein.

Johnson completely blew it today. Safe to say I'll be voting for Trump.

 

Except, Aleppo isn't an "obscure city".

It is the epicenter of a horrific humanitarian crisis that has been all over the news.

 

Aleppo is the new iPhone with the free app to buy weed.

 

Its also the largest city in Syria IIRC.

 

You're hired!

 

It's called 'foreign policy', not 'geography' and it's kind of a big deal.

BTW, Aleppo is not an obscure city. That you don't know that probably makes you an ideal Johnson supporter.

Birds of a feather ......