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Johnson: “I’ve Never Been Involved In Politics Before . . . I Guess I Wasn’t Meant To Be President.”

In an interview on CNN early yesterday afternoon (about 13 hours before the two old-party candidates VP “debate”), Governor Johnson explains why if “crossing “i”s and dotting “t”s on international political leaders and geography is more important than the policy itself and then admitting mistakes, he’s not meant to be president (but if honesty and peace are what voters want, then he is).

Salon Magazine described the governor as looking “jittery” and “in need of sleep.”  The article also notes that: “You also tried to explain away your gaffes by saying that you have “never been in politics before.” Are you forgetting that you were a two-term governor of New Mexico, and that you actually ran for president in 2012?”  The Salon article can be read in full HERE.

35 Comments

  1. langa October 10, 2016

    … they drove both Barr and Root out of the Party…

    You say that like it’s a bad thing.

  2. Andy October 9, 2016

    “Be Rational
    October 9, 2016 at 12:59
    ‘And you 4 are still whining about it, 5 months later.
    Will you at least stop after Election Day?’

    *
    They’re still whining about Barr in 2008; they drove both Barr and Root out of the Party, and they still can’t stop, so I’d guess the answer to your question is, ‘no.'”

    You are right. I am going to be complaining about this, and rubbing it in the faces of those responsible for this debacle, for years to come.

  3. Be Rational October 9, 2016

    “And you 4 are still whining about it, 5 months later.
    Will you at least stop after Election Day?”

    *
    They’re still whining about Barr in 2008; they drove both Barr and Root out of the Party, and they still can’t stop, so I’d guess the answer to your question is, “no.”

  4. George Dance October 8, 2016

    Andy: “Several Libertarian Party members, such as myself, Tom Knapp, George Phillies, langa, and others, tried to WARN people against nominating Johnson again, but not enough people listened.”

    And you 4 are still whining about it, 5 months later.

    Will you at least stop after Election Day?

  5. Andy October 8, 2016

    Yeah, and you can say that the moon is made out of green cheese, but this does not make it so.

  6. Anthony Dlugos October 8, 2016

    Says you,. I say they are.

  7. Andy October 8, 2016

    Johnson and Weld are NOT running a libertarian campaign, so everything they are doing is pointless, and even counterproductive, to advancing the cause of liberty.

  8. Anthony Dlugos October 8, 2016

    “Several Libertarian Party members, such as myself, Tom Knapp, George Phillies, langa, and others, tried to WARN people against nominating Johnson again, but not enough people listened.”

    OH, GAWD!!! WHY WE’RE WE SO OBDURATE!!! WHEN WE HAD THE LIKES OF ANDY AND OTHER LOSERTARIAN CAUCUS MEMBERS WARNING US OF OUR IMPENDING…doom? lol

  9. Joseph Buchman Post author | October 8, 2016

    Bill Clinton admitted that she has fainted “frequently” over the years . . . (then tried to correct himself)

  10. Thomas Knapp October 8, 2016

    “there is nothing wrong with Hillary’s health”

    Even Clinton herself doesn’t pretend that’s the case any more.

  11. Tony From Long Island October 6, 2016

    Jill, you’re right, Paranoid is probably not the right word. However, you can find something if you look hard enough. Except that here there is nothing to find.

  12. Be Rational October 6, 2016

    Gary’s lack of foreign policy knowledge is truly embarrassing. He’s still the best of the four major candidates for POTUS, so he’s still the best one to vote for and he would still be the best President of those four, but it is too bad that there was no one better than Gary Johnson running for the nomination. It’s too bad that Judge Nap or Sheldon Richman or my favorite, David Boaz didn’t run.

    ****

    Small consolation, but no one in the media, nor even the Korean government, can transliterate these names correctly. The names of the three Kims, correctly transliterated into English are:

    Jongeun Kim – current
    Jongil Kim – father
    Ilsong Kim – grandfather

    (The I and l look the same on my computer, but it’s ILSONG.)

    Kim is the family name. Jongeun, Jongil and Ilsong are given names, so they should be written as single names, not two, and they are misspelled, and in English the given name comes first and the family name comes last.

    When TX Governor Rick Perry was running for President, he commented about how curious it was that all these leaders were named Kim, thinking that Kim was the given name for each. But, he was confused because the media gets this wrong.

  13. Jill Pyeatt October 6, 2016

    Tony said: “It’s not a sign of anything but paranoia on part of the viewer.”

    Hmmm, I comment that Hillary’s eyes seem a bit off, and that makes me paranoid? Seems like a huge leap to me. Maybe the word “paranoid” means something different to you than it does to the rest of us.

  14. Tony From Long Island October 6, 2016

    It’s not a sign of anything but paranoia on part of the viewer. I’d blink a lot to under the glare of very hot stage lights . . . in fact, I have . . . many times.

  15. Jill Pyeatt October 6, 2016

    Tony said: “Notice anything wrong during that 90 minute (with no breaks) debate? I didn’t. Why? Because there is nothing wrong with Hillary’s health.”

    I thought her eyes were weird several times during the 90 minute talk. They didn’t seem to be working together, plus she blinked constantly. There have been several videos since then where one eye seems to wander.

    I’ve never known anyone with pneumonia to display this symptom.

  16. robert capozzi October 6, 2016

    dgr, or he could be into kiddie porn or bestiality. He could be a Lizard Person, too. 😉

    Making wild accusations is easy, and beneath you.

  17. Darcy G Richardson October 6, 2016

    “if you look at Gary in 2012 he was goofy but not this. Seriously it seems like something happened or he got dragged into running or something.” — James T

    Who knows? Running for president could be a lucrative gig for the former governor. I understand the Libertarian argument for privacy, but it’s too bad he won’t release his tax returns for the past five years to see if he received any income from Ron Nielson’s political consulting firm in 2012 or from his “Our America Initiative (OAI),” the 501(c)(4) that he helped to found in 2009.

    Transparency obviously isn’t his strong suit.

    It could simply be a case of making easy money from a gullible group willing to believe anything. I’m not saying that’s the case, but his never-ending and stunningly unbelievable gaffes — one after another — do raise some serious questions about his motivations… Is any former governor really that ill-informed? Seriously.

  18. JamesT October 6, 2016

    I totally agree Darcy. Honestly other than the Greens it feels like the LP and CP, or someone else, had a great opportunity and they blew it. Could you imagine what a Judge Nap LP ticket could be doing right now? or heck if Baldwin ran again? That said I think Dr Stein is doing a good job. Her town halls have come off well and she’ll likely do close to Nader’s #s in 2000. At the very least a dramatic improvement over 2012. I think there are a lot of new parties that I wish got more attention. The veterans and ASP seem to have unique perspectives. A good friend of mine is going to vote Trump but said going forward if they go anywhere he’ll support the ASP. Also Jim Hedges is running the best prohibition ticket in what a half century? I’m almost certainly going to vote for Darrell but his campaign seems a total mess. I just don’t get it. Last summer it should have been obvious how much of a calamity this election would be but the minor parties seemed to fail to attract appealing people. Honestly these candidates pale in intellectual weight and public speaking compared to people like Ron, Pat Buchanan, Nader, Michael Badnarik etc. And this year was the best opportunity anyone could have asked for.

  19. Darcy G Richardson October 6, 2016

    In many ways, he might have been the perfect foil for those looking to preserve the stale and corrupt two-party establishment.

  20. Darcy G Richardson October 6, 2016

    Good point, James T. Gary’s heart might be into it, but his mind — whatever is left of it, that is — clearly isn’t.

    Given the tremendous amount of coverage he’s received this year, Johnson’s candidacy — increasingly mocked and ridiculed by the mainstream media — is extremely damaging to all of the parties outside the duopoly, especially in a year when an almost record number of voters were looking for an alternative…

  21. JamesT October 6, 2016

    if you look at Gary in 2012 he was goofy but not this. Seriously it seems like something happened or he got dragged into running or something.

  22. Darcy G Richardson October 6, 2016

    Chris Matthews’ “Hardball” interview with Johnson and Weld on September 28th, incidentally, was a series of softball questions lobbed at the Libertarian ticket, yet Gary couldn’t even master that.

    William Weld must be embarrassed as hell…can’t really blame him for trying to save his reputation by not-so-subtly distancing himself from his shallow running mate.

    One wonders how well these two guys really knew each other back in the nineties.

  23. Darcy G Richardson October 6, 2016

    Gary Johnson is the biggest joke in American politics — possibly ever. It’s hard to imagine a presidential candidate in American history, particularly one who was polling in the high single-digits, who knows less than the little-scrutinized stoner from New Mexico.

    Then again, the biggest joke might be those who still believe he’s presidential material.

    What a wasted opportunity.

  24. langa October 6, 2016

    I thought that maybe enough Libertarians would have learned this lesson after the Bob Barr debacle of 2008, but apparently not.

    Unfortunately, some people never learn. And I doubt they will learn from this, either. They’ll just double down, and blame the failure of the ticket on the “purists” in the party. Then, they’ll say that we just need to be more like the two major parties. Hell, they’ll probably try to get Mitt Romney for the LP ticket in 2020.

  25. Tony From Long Island October 6, 2016

    Root: ” . . . .Tony From Long Island: there is nothing wrong with Hillary’s health. . . . You lose all credibility right there. . . . ”

    Umm no I don’t because . . . there’s nothing wrong with Hillary’s LONG TERM health. She had pneumonia – she recovered. Notice anything wrong during that 90 minute (with no breaks) debate? I didn’t. Why? Because there is nothing wrong with Hillary’s health. Take Breitbart off of your favorite’s list and skip Fox News.

  26. Andy October 6, 2016

    Johnson talked about how he held people he later found out were “empty suits” on pedestals. This describes Bill Weld. Heck, it describes Gary Johnson too for that matter.

  27. T Rex October 6, 2016

    Johnson’s gaffes keep getting worse and worse…now he can’t name the leader of North Korea….oh good god….when will the nightmare end?

  28. Massimo October 5, 2016

    After watching the footage, I think he did fairly well. I myself cannot name a foreign leader I admire. Take even that paragon of virtue, Mandela, what about his legacy in the form of a totally illiberal, suffocating party that is still strangling South African people? What about of his support of Mbeki and that guy’s weird theories about aids that sent tens of thousands of people to death denying the usefulness of anti-retrovirals? And Marcus Aurelius is likely a bit too ancient to qualify.

    Regarding the look, he looked as weird as he usually does. I agree it doesn’t look very professional, but I guess you guys knew he was like that when you voted him (the ones that did it, of course).

    About Tony’s statement, pneumonia is a common cause of death for people of the age of Hillary, even assuming that pneumonia is all that she has.

  29. Root's Teeth Are Awesome October 5, 2016

    Tony From Long Island: there is nothing wrong with Hillary’s health.

    You lose all credibility right there.

  30. Tony From Long Island October 5, 2016

    First off, JamesT, there is nothing wrong with Hillary’s health. Stop reading Breitbart.

    Second, this statement is nothing. He’s saying “If people want to elect someone who knows all of the places to start wars, I guess then I’m not meant to be president . . . ”

    What’s the problem?

    Andy, you didn’t “tell us so.” All you tell us is a bunch of alarmist conspiracy crap and utter nonsense.

    Gary Johnson is NOT Bob Barr. There is no comparison. Zero

  31. Andy October 5, 2016

    There was a mountain of evidence that said that Gary Johnson should not be nominated in 2016. Several Libertarian Party members, such as myself, Tom Knapp, George Phillies, langa, and others, tried to WARN people against nominating Johnson again, but not enough people listened.

    I almost hate to say I told you so, but I TOLD YOU SO!

    Now are the people responsible for this debacle of a campaign going to listen in the future, or is it going to be more jackassery like this at the 2020 national convention?

    I thought that maybe enough Libertarians would have learned this lesson after the Bob Barr debacle of 2008, but apparently not.

  32. JamesT October 5, 2016

    I know Hilary’s health is dubious but maybe he’s on medical weed for something bad we don’t know about? Seriously. He did okay in 2012 but seems to be falling apart at the seams right now.

Comments are closed.