Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson: 'What is Aleppo?'

*Sigh*

I really want to like Gary, I do, but:

Source

Asked what he would do about the Syrian city of Aleppo, the region at the center of that nation’s civil war and refugee crisis, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson responded by asking, “what is Aleppo?”

“What would you do if you were elected about Aleppo?” MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” panelist Mike Barnicle asked the former New Mexico governor during an in-studio interview Thursday morning.

“And what is Aleppo?” Johnson responded.

“You’re kidding,” a stunned Barnicle replied, to which Johnson answered that he was not.

There's no defending that. You just can't be running for President and not know about these things, or even what they mean for that matter.

I understand that not everybody will have deep rooted knowledge of what is going on in Syria, and some of that is teachable, but if you don't know what the main conflict zones, towns, areas etc are even called - you can't have been paying too much attention.

And after all, this is a national security election in a lot of ways.

~Tenth

Pretty sure he was just getting some clarity on "what would you do with Aleppo "?


Which is a pretty dumb question that implies there is some magic beans to be bought here. Looking for a 30 second sound bite of how he will fix the middle east.

If you listen to weld in particular they have some specific policies towards intelligence gathering and using task forces similar to infiltrating gangs.

My take from your source is he was clarifying a vague question. The host expecting some magic formula that will end world violence. If you listen to clinton talk it would seem there is such magic to be had. If you listen to trump he just says he will ask the generals and give them 30/days to come up with a plan.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

This really surprised me! If he even watches the news or reads about the ME, he would have seen or read quite a bit about Aleppo... He did know "Syria"... Can he get points for that? IMO, not really.

What is Aleppo?
Yeah he needs clarity for sure.
Light up the bowl Gary. Maybe the answer is in the magic smoke.

originally posted by: Sillyolme
What is Aleppo?
Yeah he needs clarity for sure.
Light up the bowl Gary. Maybe the answer is in the magic smoke.

Its pretty obvious to me when you read the article he was asking for somw clarity on what the interviewer means. Johnson and weld have spoken about the policy for syria.

Asking about a specific city is a pretty dumb question and johnson was pointing that out. He wasnt saying what is aleppo as in where is it, he was asking wha are you asking about Aleppo? Meaning what are you asking that i do about Aleppo.

In other words msnbc wanted a 30 second bs plan that will be outdated and irrevelant by the time he would take office.

a reply to: luthier

Of course, you know what he supposedly meant... I'm sick of hearing defenders just accept this ignorance and proceed to cover for them by telling us all what they mean.

He has already admitted that it's a big problem that he didn't know what it was and said he obviously had more to learn. Let HIM tell us what he means. How about that?

a reply to: luthier

No, he was not trying to get clarification, he has no idea what, where or who Aleppo is, or what it has to do with being President. He is Not the great candidate everyone thinks he is.

a reply to: DAVID64

Really? Because he doesnt have a plan for a specific. city he has no intelligence briefings on?

His vice president is a former justice dept prosecutor with foreign policy expertise. I am totally fine with his answer. Aleppo doesnt effect me very much. The presidents have veen ignoring us policy long enough to pretend they have foriegn policy answers.

Name me the last president who had great foriegn policy regardless of how great their 30 second sound bite was.

How about hillary clinton or trumps plans for foriegn policy?

What answer were they trying to lead him to? That city isn't our concern, and I want a perspective president to talk about what he's going to do to repair our dilapidated infrastructure before talking about Syrian cities.

FWIW, I wasn't very familiar with Aleppo either, but that may be because I quit watching TV where everything is biased or a commercial. Am I a bad voter because I don't watch FOX news?

For the record the only foriegn policy expert I have heard, with historical understanding as a candidate was Rand Paul and he was hammered for it by his party.

A national security election? Don't give them any ideas!

I can see it now: "The election has been deemed a national security issue, we'll be taking over from now on."

Big Gary doesn't bother learning names of places because his open borders will turn everything into Muslim ville within his first 100 days.

Isn't property rights like a fundamental pillar of libertarian philosophy?

Big Gary should get lost and his voters should come out of the closet and vote hilldog.

originally posted by: TheLaughingGod
A national security election? Don't give them any ideas!

I can see it now: "The election has been deemed a national security issue, we'll be taking over from now on."

Whoops!

The Obama administration is weighing new steps to bolster the security of the United States’ voting process against cyberthreats, including whether to designate the electronic ballot-casting system for November’s elections as “critical infrastructure,” Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, said on Wednesday.
In the wake of hacks that infiltrated Democratic campaign computer systems, Mr. Johnson said he was conducting high-level discussions about “election cybersecurity,” a vastly complex effort given that there are 9,000 jurisdictions in the United States that have a hand in carrying out the balloting, many of them with different ways of collecting, tallying and reporting votes.

U.S. Seeks to Protect Voting System From Cyberattacks

Looks like the writing is already on the wall?

This guy is clueless AT BEST. I was in a way rooting for this little guy that's way behind. But seriously, is he that ignorant? I find it extra funny that when ask he genuinely had the most puzzlingly look on his face when he replied "what is Aleppo". Classic.

I liked Gary until the he announced support for the TPP and his border policy.
He seems to be just another globalist shill.

originally posted by: Reigning

Big Gary doesn't bother learning names of places because his open borders will turn everything into Muslim ville within his first 100 days.

Isn't property rights like a fundamental pillar of libertarian philosophy?

Big Gary should get lost and his voters should come out of the closet and vote hilldog.

Thats funny because the Cato institute thinks his plan is the only one tgat adresses illegal immigrants.

But you go ahead and use the msm buzz words.

I guess documenting workers and letting the market decide immigration policy rather than washingron quotos is in fact open boarders.

Ya know making sure the mexican workers are documented and have backround checks, and simplifying and expanding ths process to meet reality is open boarders.

While talking about a 9 foot wall, a home depot ladder can scale is brilliant. Never mind it will never be passed in congress to begin with.

Walls are great at keeping people in, just ask east germans alive in tge 80's.

Just so you know tgis immigration policy is normal for libertarians. Just read Ron Pauls writing.

a reply to: seeker1963

Yeah, I did find that suspect.. don't think it's enough to completely take over the whole thing though.

I guess we'll see..

a reply to: luthier

It was pretty clear when you watch him that he doesn't know what Aleppo is.

a reply to: DAVID64

I never thought he was anywhere near great.