Gary Johnson stuns "Morning Joe" hosts by asking "What is Aleppo?" (VIDEO) https://t.co/kadPLBgizK pic.twitter.com/5mZLCIw7Z2
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) September 8, 2016
You'd think that a libertarian candidate for president would not only know where Aleppo is, but would praise it as a private sector Eden!
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) September 8, 2016
@AlGiordano Someone get Jill Stein info on Aleppo before accidentally flies there for an event actually located in Akron.
— (((Alex Katz))) (@Alex__Katz) September 8, 2016
@AlGiordano Here's a pic of Aleppo on Iraq pic.twitter.com/7LFwUoVIoC
— I, Hoebot. (@eclecticbrotha) September 8, 2016
Splitting Image
If nothing else, this campaign has shown the importance of supporting third parties in U.S. national politics. In the standard duopoly, voters can only choose between one reasonably well-informed competent candidate and a total moron, which is no choice at all. Thanks to the emergence of the Greens and the Libertarians, voters can choose between one reasonably well-informed competent candidate and three total morons.
dmsilev
Aleppo is the fourth Marx Brother, right?
BruceFromOhio
Bourbon. And silence, even for a moment.
Corner Stone
As I commented earlier, so the fuck what?
Trump gave at least 8 answers last night at the CiNC forum that were more DQ.
dmsilev
@Splitting Image: Don’t forget that in at least one poll, Harambe the dead gorilla polled above Jill Stein. Say what you want about Harambe, but even in his deceased state he probably has a more coherent foreign policy outlook than Donald Trump does.
Corner Stone
@dmsilev: Why do people keep saying this?
Iowa Old Lady
@Splitting Image: Four total morons if you count the guy who filled in some random name for his VP because he was up against deadlines to get on state ballots. He meant to change the name later but now some states say he can’t. What’s his name? Mullin or something like that?
amk
@Splitting Image: Nice punchline.
Keith P.
I largely know of Aleppo because I have some Aleppo pepper (that I saw on a restaurant menu and wanted in my pantry)
OT, but in lieu of an NFL thread, Cam Newton’s looking like an MVP again.
redshirt
@Splitting Image: Hoping this is mostly sarcasm.
Because otherwise, fuck 3rd parties.
Helen
I cannot laugh at this and neither should anyone else. Anyone who has the capacity to laugh at this after seeing the video of 5 year old Omran Daqneesh’s panic after he discovers that he is bleeding is a fucking monster.
Peter VE
The house organ of the American Empire has the definitive take on
Governor Johnson
Corner Stone
@Keith P.: I am pretty sure this is the opening night of the NFL regular season. But bqwhtevr.
Brachiator
The word always reminded me of the opening lines to Canto VII of Dante’s Inferno.
The Canto deals with the fourth circle of hell, where souls are punished who have abused their wealth through greed or improvidence. Seems like Trump’s natural home.
debbie
@Iowa Old Lady:
Evan McMullin, recruited by Never Trump to run for the presidency, used the name of a friend, Nathaniel Johnson, as a placeholder for Veep.
Suzanne
@Splitting Image:
Hey, don’t forget about Deez Nuts.
Everybody loves Deez Nuts.
Anne Laurie
@Helen:
Sometimes it’s either bitter laughter or violent despair.
And violence is not the solution.
debbie
@debbie:
Actually, it’s Nathan, not Nathaniel.
amk
deadbeat donnie lives to up his name yet again.
what did these chumps expect?
redshirt
Oh God, it’s not enough every other commercial is Peyton, but now he’s in the booth!
KS in MA
@dmsilev: Indeed! Can we talk about the Sanity Clause? Or, What’s the difference between a duck?
Virginia (fka Abo Gato)
I’m sorry, but that last tweet is making me laugh so that my sides hurt. Wonderful!
22over7
I’d like to apologize, on behalf of the Great State of New Mexico, for Gary. He was governor for a while, former construction guy, climbed Mt. Everest, and re-started the legalization question on a national stage. He likes Ayn Rand. Seems like a nice enough fellow, but no. No no no no no.
MJS
@Splitting Image: @Helen: Nobody is laughing at the horror that is Aleppo any more than they were laughing at 9-11 when Biden described Guiliani as “a noun, a verb, and 9-11.” They’re laughing in derision at a man who believes he should be president but obviously can’t be bothered to pay attention to current events.
Feebog
@dmsilev:
Actually, there were five Marx brothers; Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Gummo, and Zeppo.
jacy
1) I don’t get why suddenly every talking head is saying the fact that Johnson didn’t know what Aleppo was immediately disqualifies him from being president, while Trump’s daily commensurate level of total cluelessness on every single thing he opens his mouth about just means “he has some reading up to do.” Insanity.
2) Several times I heard the talking heads say Trump “mischaracterized” his own stance on several questions. Is “lied” too complicated a word to say?
3) All day reporters complained that Hillary keeps talking at length about her emails, when she should just say, “I was wrong,” and move on. What the fucking fuck? Maybe because that didn’t make you stop asking the fucking questions the first eleventy-billion fucking times you asked them?
4) I hear the word “demeanor” in relation to Hillary one more time, I’m going to flip the fuck out. For women, that’s the same level of code as “uppity” is for black people.
I seriously need a 12-step program to stop following anything remotely tied to this election.
ThresherK
@22over7: Is there a Libertarian anywhere whose idea of equal treatment goes beyond “I’m for gay marriage, but only on a states’ rights basis”?
daves09
This campaign has been full of classic boners that will make people laff every time they think of them-Johnson joined today. Thank dog for TV so we can see it and hear it in it’s full glory.
Helen
@MJS: I know that. I can make the distinction intellectually. I just cannot make the leap to thinking ANY of this is funny. Every time I see that little boy I cry. I want to scoop him up and take him home and promise him that I will keep him safe forever. And rest assured if there were anyway I could make that a reality I would.
And here we sit in the richest and safest country in the world giggling about how dumb our purported leaders are.
I cannot make the leap.
redshirt
@jacy: I’d assume it’s because Johnson is more of a threat to Trump/Republicans then to Clinton/Democrats so the MSM needs to take him down.
magurakurin
Jesus, Gary. Time to put down the bong, put down the bag of Chips Ahoys and fill out your ballot for Clinton. And anyone still planning to vote for Gary…yeah, if you do, you’re a fucking moron, too. There are only two choices, Clinton or Shitgibbon, anything else is just a toss away vote that may help or hurt either of the above…but there is no way to tell exactly who or what.
SiubhanDuinne
You want a cheep laff from the peanut gallery?
NO PROBLEM.
Omnes Omnibus
@Helen: Aren’t you Irish? Are you unaware of black humor?
magurakurin
@Helen: It’s not giggling. People express feelings in different ways. Gary Johnson deserves all the ridicule that is humanely possible to heap on him precisely because how horrible the war in Aleppo is. That he is claiming the right to ask for the chance to occupy the highest office in the land and doesn’t know about a life shattering war going on as we speak….yeah fuck him. I’ll laugh at his ass until he crawls home and hides under the rock he can out of.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: Anybody who works for Il Donaldo without being paid in cash in advance is a fucking moron for whom I have zero sympathy.
Omnes Omnibus
@magurakurin: Yes, no one was laughing about Syrian refugees. We were laughing at the idea that someone who had no clue about the Syrian refugee crisis thought he was qualified to run for president.
Keith P.
@SiubhanDuinne: Sounds about right…Trump (and family) has outright said they don’t believe in paying for services if they don’t think they did a good job. After the election, he’s going to be looking at a ton more lawsuits. I’d wager the FEC is going to hit him with a ton of violations as well.
SiubhanDuinne
@Keith P.:
Oh pleaz oh pleaz oh pleaz oh pleaz oh pleaz
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
That was my first thought. Idiots to not get a written contract specifying compensation (but I’ll bet they all cheerfully signed away their rights in non-disparagement agreements). Morans.
Mike J
@Keith P.:
I’ll take that bet. FEC will not go after anyone ever for anything. Republicans have said as much.
Jeffro
@jacy:
Because the media have been trying to find their voice in spelling out just how immensely dumb Trump is, and Johnson offered up an easy alternative target. They sure as heck aren’t going to find any material like that on Clinton, and Stein is just too…too lame-brained to even take a shot at.
As I’ve said for over a year: Trump’s biggest flaw is that he’s a complete moron. These journalists have a hard time pointing it out, because he’s such a self-promoter, talks somewhat of a good game, seems to be some sort of ‘change’ that some % of voters (GOP voters at least) were looking for. But if & when the media finally recognize it, they still won’t want to report it. GOP candidate = moron is not exactly breaking news.
lamh36
A tale of two headlines…same story…now which one is meant to be inflammatory clickbait?
amk
@Keith P.: Or fucking comey could start doing his job by probing pay for play corruption by this punk.
frosty
@22over7:
Fuck him, unless he hauled all his oxygen bottles and gear back down with him.
Omnes Omnibus
@frosty: I don’t count climbs with O2 as climbs.
Jeffro
@Keith P.:
This at a minimum. Every single one of Trump’s financial scandals will get some nice post-election coverage (looking forward to seeing how Trump U-related suits settle out!)…the question is, just how harshly will the Republicans themselves (grassroots on up, Establishment on down) come down on Trump for being such a fraud while still ignoring (yet trying to harness) Trumpism?
My guess is that, just like W, everyone disavows him (except the truly hard-right fringe) while the rest try their best to get back to W’s “compassionate conservatism”, i.e., the same old shaft, just with a happy face.
Mike J
@lamh36:
frosty
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s pretty much what a construction quote and contract is, and he doesn’t pay those. I’m with the previous commenter. Cash in advance or you’re working for free.
ETA Previous commenter was @Gin & Tonic
(Still working on multiple linky things)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Gods, these guys are making GW Bush look like a Rhodes Scholar now.
Jeffro
@lamh36: I saw this and my guess is they’re going to do something that covers multiple bases w/ the military, police, AND the Kap/BLM protest. Not sure how they’ll incorporate it all but it’s not hard to see different versions that could come of this…salute the flag, salute the officers at the game, and still take a knee, etc.
Villago Delenda Est
@lamh36: My Seahawks are doing the right fucking thing. And “The Wrap” can go DIAF.
dexwood
I wrote the following this morning in the OMG post. I’ll bring it up to this one. And, I’ll extend my apology along with 22over7’s @26. Going to bed, g’night, all.
@The Ancient Randonnuer (wrote that Johnson seemed like a pretty smart guy)
Well, as someone who lived under two Johnson terms as governor (Governor No), I’ve seen little proof of that. While he was governor, part of my job was to track his policies and statements for a research outfit I worked for at the time. I thought he was always an ill-informed idiot. Yet, people liked him because he took a “bold” stand against government. Hell, he even vetoed a bill his wife championed. Of course, to be honest, I thought that about him long before he became a successful, millionaire building contractor and Republican governor. When he was in college at UNM, he worked for my neighbor’s construction company sometimes, as did I. My impression of him was not favorable. My neighbor, on more than one occasion, called Johnson the dumbest employee he ever had.
As for Johnson’s successful company, Big J, I can tell you he was fortunate to have a wife who was smart, skilled, and very business savvy. She really ran the company. Without her, Big J would have been just another small construction company. This was the same wife he later divorced after taking up with a younger woman and who died from cancer not too long after the divorce. Gary is, and always has been, a self-centered jerk.
ETA: His wife, Dee, played a huge a role in the life of a guy who lived for getting stoned and skiing. Nothing inherently wrong with that if you can swing it, Big J grew fast and big because of state and federal construction contracts. The same governments Johnson complained about in his politics.
amk
Didn’t plagiarism used to end political ambitions?
magurakurin
@frosty: Indeed, self contained parties are needed for an ascent of Everest to truly “count,” and in the highest circles of the climbing world using oxygen is bad form as well. Paying 100,000 dollars fro the privilege of jumaring up fixed lines while your sherpas carry all your gear…bullshit peak bagging. Better to set your sights on a doable peak in a place such as the North Cascades and prepare, plan and carry out the climb on your own with your mates.
fuck. gary. johnson.
piece a shit scumbag.
frosty
@Omnes Omnibus: Well then fuck him for climbing Everest like all the other rich poseurs who put it on their bucket list. Sail solo around the world without a GPS or radio if you want a challenge, asshole.
frosty
@dexwood: Was BigJ a Women Owned Business? WBE? Not to denigrate his wife, or her business smarts, but it certainly helps in winning public contracts.
We’ve got a running joke/notjoke at my company to try to get the women to start their own businesses and we’ll jump ship and work for them.
Omnes Omnibus
@frosty: I have no idea if he used O2 of not. I do not know what he brought up or down. I just discount 8k m climbs that use O2.
SiubhanDuinne
@frosty:
No disagreement, frosty. I was thinking of this passage from the Hill article:
frosty
@magurakurin:
Or my speed, drive up to Mt Davis in PA. OK, OK, 3,000 odd feet isn’t that impressive. Then take the ski lift up to Mt Baldy in the San Gabriels. Nice view, no wheezing.
DesertFriar
One would think Gary would know all about Aleppo as it is a Libertarian Paradise.
And not the first time he said something stupid. Back in January, he said he would sign a would sign a bill banning the wearing of burqas in America. “Sharia law” was not an expression of religion but of “politics”. Therefor many of its practices could be banned or limited without running afoul of the Constitution.
frosty
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oh lord. All election season I keep hearing Bob Dylan:
“You’re an idiot,babe. It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe”
Villago Delenda Est
@DesertFriar: Then he doesn’t believe in liberty after all. Surprise, surprise, surprise!
Adam L Silverman
@amk: Just when Joe Biden cribbed from Neil Kinnock.
Villago Delenda Est
@SiubhanDuinne: No sympathy for the rat bastards. They fucked up, they trusted a known deadbeat.
Villago Delenda Est
@Adam L Silverman: The thing is, he had previously credited Kinnock. One time he forgot. He was roasted alive for that one time.
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
You would think that at least for the duration of the campaign he would suck it and pay his bills, just because of the all important ‘optics’. Since yesterday the cable blabbers have been showing clips of those little girls who performed those creepy songs at a few of his rallies during the primary, saying that they were cheated out of their fees and travel expenses. Headlines like this are not good.
magurakurin
@Villago Delenda Est: okay, time for this clip, I reckon. Deathstar contractors according to Clerks
Villago Delenda Est
@hovercraft: “Optics” only apply to Democrats. Drumpf wasn’t wrong about shooting some guy on 5th Avenue. Not only would his supporters not care, the MSM would not care. Hillary gets a hangnail, she’s about to leave this mortal coil. Drumpf has a coronary at the podium during the middle of a rally, and the MSM would only be upset that they couldn’t cut to commercial and charge a hell of a lot more at that moment.
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
I realize I am simultaneously singing to the choir and pissing in the wind, but is it too much to hope that one of the intrepid members of our Fourth Estate could ask the candidate, or some of his surrogates, about these stories?
nutella
@Villago Delenda Est:
For men, yes. For women, no. He’s in favor of the government regulating what they wear and what the do with their reproductive organs.
hovercraft
@Villago Delenda Est:
While I agree with you that to his base nothing is disqualifying. There is a reason that he has a ceiling of around 40 %, to everyone else the optics do actually matter. The fluctuations in the polls have pretty much all been because of Hillary gaining and losing support, and that support goes to either undecided or 3rd party not to him. The media are able to drive her numbers down, not to bring him up by saying he is “more presidential”.
Miss Bianca
@hovercraft:
Well, ain’t that America…
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
One can but hope, but I doubt it.
On a positive note though, Hillary was on fire today so maybe she can inject it into the conversation. It’s on cable, but the people who don’t already know about it don’t watch cable.
Villago Delenda Est
@hovercraft: Yes, but the Village will only talk about the “optics” of Democrats. They’ve forgotten all about the Khans, they can’t recall what happened in Detroit, they haven’t noticed that Melania has fallen off the face of the Earth.
Davebo
My girl got us tickets to A night with Janis Joplin tonight and I must say it’s probably the best thing I’ve seen in the Houston Theatre District.
Incredible how well Kacee Clanton covered Janice and the band was easily 10 times better than Big Brother ATHC ever was (which isn’t saying much).
That along with covers of icons like Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Odetta, Nina Simone and Bessie Smith made it a night to remember.
sukabi
@hovercraft: not just scamming kids, stiffing his staff, and using people for ads that have no idea that what they are being used for…
cain
@jacy:
This.. I mean jeezus. Considering the alternative is Trump who probably doesn’t know shit about Aleppo other than it might be a brand of dog food. I don’t really have a problem with Johnson running if anything him getting support will help split the Republican vote and make it that much easier for Hillary to win. But still, I can’t help but feel irritated that the MSM thinks this is something that disqualifies him when they give Trump so much more leeway. They should apply the same goddam metric to everyone equally.
TriassicSands
Libertarianism is and always has been a laughable political ideology. It’s relevance to the real world is tangential at best. In reality, it’s just one more invitation for the strong to devour the weak or peaceful. In an interconnected world the needs and desires of the individual must be balanced against the needs of the collective.
Gary Johnson doesn’t need to know where Aleppo is because he’s never going to get near the presidency, but the fact that he doesn’t know at least that it is in Syria demonstrates that he’s been much to busy worrying about how evil the American government is and too little concerned with how to deal with real world problems outside of Fortress USA.
@cain:
The polls are a mess, but concerning Johnson’s impact it appears to be a mixed bag. In some places his presence helps Clinton, while in others it appears to hurt her. For example, in Ohio with Johnson and Stein in the race Trump leads by 4, but in a head to head Trump only leads by 1. The people who are candidates to vote for either Trump or Stein are the kind of fickle voters who are largely irrational. Trying to make sense of what they do is difficult because what they think and believe is a mess. In short, this election is a mess.
Ella in New Mexico
@22over7: @dexwood
Gary Johnson was not unlike Susana Martinez: clueless, giant ego and ambitions, no substance. Both are two of the most callous and embarrassing people to ever serve as Governor.
J R in WV
@Brachiator:
yes it does
Ian D Osmond
Look, Gary Johnson’s position on Aleppo is “I’m non-interventionist to the point of being isolationist. I think we shouldn’t do anything related to Syria at all — not support, not foreign aid, not nothing.”
In other words, his actual position pretty much IS “what’s Aleppo?” Or at least, “What’s Aleppo? Not our problem, man.”
It’s a position consistent with his ideology, even if I find it personally repugnant. And when your philosophy is “complete isolationist non-intervention”, you don’t actually have any REASON to know the names of foreign cities.