As part of a media blitz in NY to try to raise his polling numbers enough to qualify for the upcoming presidential debate, Johnson fielded a range of questions on Thursday with the aim of demonstrating he can take on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
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Weld, speaking at Emerson College in Boston Thursday, brushed aside criticism, saying the two have been talking about Syria on the campaign trail.
The aforementioned New York Times made an embarrassing mistake in its coverage of what happened with Johnson.
While on MSNBC show Morning Joe, the former New Mexico governor was asked what he would do to address the Syrian refugee crisis in the war-torn city, but instead of coming back with a plan of action, Johnson, 63, instead appeared to be clueless.
If you’re running for president of the United States it’s good to be caught up on current events, otherwise you run the risk of getting embarrassed like Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson recently was during an interview. No”, Johnson said. “Should I have identified Aleppo? Yes.
Johnson seemed to recognize the peril of the Aleppo error. Barnicle then began to explain. “Can I name every city in Syria? No”.
Maybe the Times will find it in its heart to go a little easier on the next candidate who “stumbles”.
Johnson is in the midst of a media blitz in New York City as he tries to reach 15 percent in national polls.
Johnson answered: “Well, no, I do understand Aleppo, and I understand the crisis that is going on”.
Later, Johnson was asked by Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin how he felt about the interview.
“Some of the bloggers like to fly off the handle”.
That group’s president, Michael Thompson, says the event will give “students a chance to hear a policy message that they might not have otherwise heard”. “I have to get smarter, and that’s just part of the process”, he added.
Weld described the Libertarian Party’s foreign policy as a focus on soft power and cultural diplomacy, rather than military intervention.
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Asked by a reporter afterwards, Weld said his and Johnson’s intent is still to win the election. Weld said he is hopeful the commission that governs the debates will allow him and Johnson to participate despite that because of how close they are. “I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign”. On Wednesday night, Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, publicly called for Johnson and Weld to be included in the presidential debates. Plus, 9% is still significantly far below the 15% support minimum he needs to reach sometime between Labor Day and September 26 (the day of the first presidential debate) to make it onto the presidential debate stage.
