Gary Earl Johnson: 2016 Libertarian Presidential Nominee

[atomationage]

From Wikipedia:

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Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, politician, and the Libertarian Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election. He served as the 29th Governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was also the Libertarian Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 election... In July 2014, Johnson was named president and CEO of Cannabis Sativa Inc., a Nevada-based company that aims primarily to sell medical cannabis products in states where medicinal and/or recreational cannabis is legal.

There are Weed Referendums in several states this year, Forbes:

Quote

There are nine state ballot measures regarding the legalization of marijuana that will be voted on this November. Five states will vote to legalize recreational marijuana, while the other four states are voting on legalizing medicinal marijuana.

Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada are all looking to legalize recreational marijuana. Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota are proposing medical marijuana legislation.

Arizona and Nevada are states in which Johnson's candidacy may affect the outcome of the election. 

Many people who support Johnson as a protest candidate, are actually unaware of most of his views, other than on marijuana.  He is opposed to the Federal income tax and would replace it with a regressive flat tax, and is opposed to the government addressing climate change.  He supports Citizens United and supports "slashing government spending", including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

[b2H]

I will jump in and amplify atomationage above.

Many of those who supported Bernie have decided that Gary is now their man.  I don't think they've looked at any of Gary's stands, as noted above.  So i will provide a link I found earlier this link that anyone can use to ask former Bernie-bots to use in reviewing their standing with Gary, as follows:

http://presidential-candidates.insidegov.com/compare/35-39/Bernie-Sanders-vs-Gary-Johnson

It's an eyeopener.

[madmaverick]

"What is Aleppo?"

As a non American, I don't know much about Johnson but that was enough for me to disqualify him.

Seriously, how hard can it be to read the news?  And give a damn.

[mythoughtis]

me, madmaverick.  I wanted to vote for him, but I just don't feel he's qualified.    Seems like a nice enough guy, heavy into physical fitness.... but doesn't seem to know any more than Sarah Palin did.

[Padma]

"What is Aleppo?" Can't think of any world leader. Seems pretty much "out of it" every time he's interviewed.

Bill Weld, on the other hand, always makes a good impression on me. Today, he was interviewed on MSNBC and said he's concentrating on campaigning hard against Trump in Utah. Smart guy, as I know he is very anti-Trump, but finds himself committed to a third party run.  I like him, and find him moderate and knowledgable. I'm very glad he's only second place on the ticket though, as he might take votes from both of them if he were at the top.

[biakbiak]

My boyfriend who would love to have marijuana legalized on principle, we live in California and has a card so it isn't an issue, always responds that he is doing a disservice to potheads!

[atomationage]

Some people are actually voting for Johnson because they like Weld.  I don't get it.   Do they think that if Johnson was elected, that Weld would be the puppetmaster?  I suppose it doesn't matter because they have no chance, but I think with Weld on the ticket they do have more of a chance of causing a change in the electoral college vote for some states. 

[Macbeth]

11 hours ago, Padma said:

"What is Aleppo?" Can't think of any world leader. Seems pretty much "out of it" every time he's interviewed.

Bill Weld, on the other hand, always makes a good impression on me. Today, he was interviewed on MSNBC and said he's concentrating on campaigning hard against Trump in Utah. Smart guy, as I know he is very anti-Trump, but finds himself committed to a third party run.  I like him, and find him moderate and knowledgable. I'm very glad he's only second place on the ticket though, as he might take votes from both of them if he were at the top.

I am from Massachusetts and he is the only Republican I ever voted for.  As he was listing a number of Mexican Presidents that Gary couldn't name - I wondered how did he end up teamed with Johnson.  But then he likes to drink so.... 

If Weld was the top of that ticket - that party might have had a chance to make a major dent.

Edited October 13, 2016 by Macbeth

[Guest]

I was on the Gary Johnson train until I heard him ask what Aleppo was. I didn't even know it, but a simple google search told me all about it. 

[briochetwist]

2 hours ago, heatherrrrz said:

I was on the Gary Johnson train until I heard him ask what Aleppo was. I didn't even know it, but a simple google search told me all about it. 

But you're not running for president! I was even more horrified that he couldn't name another world leader - past or present. Canada is the biggest trading partner of the US and he couldn't even name Justin Trudeau. No one should vote for this fool.

[Guest]

Just now, briochetwist said:

But you're not running for president! I was even more horrified that he couldn't name another world leader - past or present. Canada is the biggest trading partner of the US and he couldn't even name Justin Trudeau. No one should vote for this fool.

I know, that pissed me off too! I mean obviously there's no /great/ world leader but at least give a diplomatic answer.

[briochetwist]

Just now, heatherrrrz said:

I know, that pissed me off too! I mean obviously there's no /great/ world leader but at least give a diplomatic answer.

I don't think it was because he couldn't find anyone that he admired, I truly believe that dumbass didn't actually know the name of ANY world leader. So sad.

[atomationage]

I think Gary just seems like he's dining on the edibles from the medical marijuana company he heads or was heading.   The original title for this thread was The Weed Party Candidate.  I think that's where most of his support lies.  The stoners don't care about his views on any other subject.  It's kind of odd that he couldn't think of Vicente Fox's name.  If Weld drinks a lot, then I guess they're a matched pair.

[Padma]

It was also weird he couldn't think of Trudeau (even without the first name) or Pena-Nieto since Trump had been to Mexico two weeks earlier and it was all over the news. Plus, of course, Fox with all his anti-Trump remarks recently might have been in his mind.

It absolutely seemed that he doesn't read the newspaper and doesn't watch tv news. Even Trump MIGHT have known Aleppo because of the little boy who was photographed and talked about for a week. Even if you don't know anything about current events, it would have been hard to miss that.

I don't even like the way he looks when he's asked a question--clueless, completely baffled, at sea for an answer of any kind. It's embarrassing (though I'm glad there's such a weak Libertarian party candidate. Otherwise, they might have done very well this year, particularly if people were choosing more on personalities than policies).

[Darian]

John Oliver's takedown of Gary Johnson, which was pretty much just Gary Johnson speaking, is brutal. Johnson would be a disaster as a president and rewarding such ignorance with one's vote is, imo, self-defeating. The clip is a must-view, because the summary doesn't show Johnson's impatience at being asked for any sort of particulars. I hadn't found him unlikable before (not how I choose my candidates anyway), but I found his sneering distasteful. 

Quote

 Instead, Oliver focused on less widely reported displays of naiveté about government, including a CNN interview in which Johnson said he would eliminate income and corporation taxes and replace them with a federal consumption tax—a plan experts found would unfairly burden the middle class and cut the government’s revenue.

He also played a clip of Johnson being asked on MSNBC to name three federal departments or agencies he would eliminate, in which Johnson named the Department of Education, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development—while displaying only a vague understanding of what those agencies do.

[Ohwell]

At least he's not insane, or a crook.  

I'm with him.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 10/13/2016 at 9:37 AM, atomationage said:

I think Gary just seems like he's dining on the edibles from the medical marijuana company he heads or was heading.   The original title for this thread was The Weed Party Candidate.  I think that's where most of his support lies.  The stoners don't care about his views on any other subject. 

But marijuana is getting legalized even without Johnson in charge, so you don't have to possibly blow up the whole country by denying Clinton a vote in order to get that done.

What I found interesting was that he said that if he were elected, he wouldn't use marijuana while in office.  That's a terrible advertisement for legalization. 

[Darian]

Johnson gets so ridiculously pissy when asked about anything specific. He disqualifies himself every time he opens his mouth. He does that same thing in John Oliver's piece. 

[Hanahope]

I'm not crazy about Johnson, but his VP pick, Weld is a real stand up guy with integrity.

[Ohwell]

Hmmm....I don't know about Weld now.  I saw him interviewed yesterday or the day before, and he basically said that he and Johnson were running to get 5% of the vote so that the Libertarian Party could qualify for Federal funds--or something like that.  He all but endorsed Hillary Clinton.  I know it was a loooooong shot of them winning, but the "I don't care about winning, I just want the 5%" vibe he set off was off-putting to me.  I was actually going to vote for them before the Weld interview.  Now, I won't.