On its initial attempt to mock, scorn, and abuse Johnson, The Gray Lady reported that Aleppo is the “de facto capital of the Islamic State”.
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Johnson, visibly caught off-guard by the question, appeared to not be immediately familiar with the northwestern Syrian city entangled in the country’s violent civil war.
“And what is Aleppo?”.
The following morning, Johnson made his biggest blunder in this election cycle: “What is Aleppo?” he asked on MSNBC’s morning programme.
Since Mrs. Clinton has now admitted to having had a blood clot and blamed her amnesia on it, one internet wag asked: “Johnson forgot something just one time; Hillary forgets things 20 times in a single Federal Bureau of Investigation interview”.
Johnson said later that he thought the word was an acronym, releasing a statement saying he “blanked”, but understands the city’s significance. But when we align ourselves with – when we’ve supported the opposition of the free Syrian army, the free Syrian army is also coupled with the Islamists and then the fact that we’re also supporting the Kurds and this is, it’s just a mess.
Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein are both still working to get to the 15 percent polling threshold in national surveys they need to qualify for the opening September 26 presidential debate.
Weld had once been a significant Republican fundraiser and had a connection to a man who had followed in his footsteps, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
Following the interviews, Johnson admitted he dropped the ball on the question.
Deadspin pointed out that Google searches for the city’s name didn’t spike after a chlorine gas attack there on Tuesday.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton briefly addressed the flub Thursday morning in response to a question from a reporter. Genuinely – believe me, no one is taking this more seriously than me.
Okay, so the man didn’t know what Aleppo was, but did you know what Aleppo was before yesterday? “Not remembering or identifying that that’s Aleppo – guilty”, he said.
“This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I’m human”. That’s also wrong; the main rebel faction in Aleppo is Jabhat al-Nusra, better known as the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria-a bitter rival of ISIS. So, maybe Johnson’s embarrassing mistake was not as bad as the current administration who does know about the carnage in Aleppo and who is doing nothing about it?
“I blanked”, he said. The journalist asked Johnson if this should be reported as “significant”, probably expecting to report on Johnson’s excuse.
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“I don’t think it has any impact on the debates except perhaps to increase our name recognition”, Weld said. And we don’t just mean the unseemly parts of Lolita.
