Gary Johnson

[DQ12]

yeah, I think GJ may be pretty dumb. 

[420seriouscat69]

#LetHimDebate  JK, this guy sucks too.

[catastrophe]

GJ is definitely not dumb, but he's on the low end of the contemporaneous speaking scale. I wouldn't expect an amazing debate performance from him, but just being on the stage I think would force the other candidates to focus on the issues.

[catastrophe]

Also, the guy has been very public about his desire to cut down on the interventionalism that has cost us lives and ridiculous amounts of money. Fair to say he's not as interested in foreign policy as Hillary or Trump.

[Mrs. Gooch]

GJ is definitely not dumb, but he's on the low end of the contemporaneous speaking scale. I wouldn't expect an amazing debate performance from him, but just being on the stage I think would force the other candidates to focus on the issues.

Did you see the interview where he talked while biting his tongue and said that if he talked like that the whole debate he will still go up in polls? 

[Rage Against the McKee]

Who would you guys have said? I probably would have gone with Merkel.

[catastrophe]

Weld's answers were as good as you could do. First start with the dead guy because everyone is saying nice things about him, then a generally well known and respected woman leader (Merkel).

[Rage Against the McKee]

I didn't see the part where Weld answered the question. Who was the dead guy he picked?

[Skipper44]

he should have said he shares Hillary's admiration for Chairman Mao

[michigancat]

Who would you guys have said? I probably would have gone with Merkel.

Trudeau

[catastrophe]

I didn't see the part where Weld answered the question. Who was the dead guy he picked?

The former Israeli prime minister. Too lazy to look up his name.

[treysolid]

shimon peres. probably only knew the guys name because he had died the day before. they both failed miserably until weld managed to weakly say merkel.

[Tobias]

i would've gone with nieto, because i just read sys' thread and remember that dude's name now.  merkel would've come second

[Rage Against the McKee]

It's not a question you expect to get asked, so I think it's fair for it to take a little bit longer to answer. Not being able to come up with anyone is pretty bad, though.

['taterblast]

https://twitter.com/GovGaryJohnson/status/781559655839522817

[chum1]

As someone not running for President, I would struggle to come up with a name. If I did pull Merkel or someone out of my ass, I wouldn't be able to answer why.

[chum1]

https://twitter.com/GovGaryJohnson/status/781559655839522817

That's even more pathetic.

[Rage Against the McKee]

As someone not running for President, I would struggle to come up with a name. If I did pull Merkel or someone out of my ass, I wouldn't be able to answer why.

Well, Gary doesn't really believe he has a chance to ever be president, so why bother studying up on foreign policy?

[CNS]

It's a lose/lose, imo. 

I mean, he looks like an idiot right not, but if you throw one out, you are aligning yourself with someone else's body of work that you probably only actually know 20% of.  Then, you can get picked apart forever afterward with everyone of their mistakes and stances.

[sys]

the media coverage of this has been unfair/stupid, imo.  they claim he didn't know the name of a single foreign leader.  however, the question was not name any foreign leader.  it was fairly obvious to me, both in real time and in replays of the clip, that he was thinking of a specific person that he felt was at least adequate in the being admirable category but could not recall his name rather than casting about hopelessly for any name of any leader.

that happens to me about every five minutes, so i'm pretty sympathetic, but even if it didn't i would not conclude anything about his intelligence or ignorance based on forgetting fox's name.

i also think fox is a semi-decent name to pull out.  wasn't terribly effective, but very charismatic and spearheaded the movement that ended the pri's nearly century-long grip on power in mexico.

[michigancat]

definitely a weird question, but Weld showed it wasn't an impossible one to answer.

[sys]

definitely a weird question, but Weld showed it wasn't an impossible one to answer.

is merkel really the leader he most admires, or just a leader whose name he was able to recall?

[chum1]

I think Chris Matthews saw Johnson's Aleppo answer, said, "Hey, I bet this guys doesn't ever read or follow the news much and can't even name a foreign leader," and was 100% correct. That's totally his style.

[star seed 7]

so don't ask for proof but i heard on the radio once that gary approaches the president/vp relationship more like a sharing of duties and defers to weld on certain topics.  i don't know what topics those are, but sounds like foreigners is one of them maybe idk.

[catastrophe]

so don't ask for proof but i heard on the radio once that gary approaches the president/vp relationship more like a sharing of duties and defers to weld on certain topics.  i don't know what topics those are, but sounds like foreigners is one of them maybe idk.

Pretty sure this was from their 60 minutes interview FWIW.