Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate and former two-term Gov. William Weld addressed Emerson College students Thursday at an engagement open to the media, and predictably spent the bulk of his time addressing questions about his running mate’s Syria gaffe.
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When Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson committed his jaw-dropping gaffe Thursday on MSNBC, The New York Times was there to point it out – but the Old Gray Lady made the same mistake, not once but twice.
“Aleppo is in Syria”, Barnicle said.
Johnson’s media day was not over.
Johnson reportedly said after the interview that he was “incredibly frustrated” with himself. “People can be their own judges of that”.
“We’ll just see how it plays out”, Weld said. He recalled how then-Gov.
Deadspin pointed out that Google searches for the city’s name didn’t spike after a chlorine gas attack there on Tuesday.
The embarrassing exchange followed a forum on Wednesday night in which Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump sought to showcase their national security and defense credentials. The private Commission on Presidential Debates has said it will make a final decision within the next several weeks. Other polls have shown Johnson receiving less support.
Speaking after the interview, Johnson said told reporters he “blanked” and later suggested he thought Aleppo may have been an acronym.
Weld also compared Trump’s rise to that of the Know-Nothings, a party popular during the mid-1850s known for its its anti-immigration stance.
While his party generally plays on the fringes of American politics – as the Libertarian candidate in 2012, Johnson took only one per cent of the popular vote – he is expected to be the choice of at least some Americans disillusioned by the historically unpopular major party candidates. “I do understand Aleppo, and I understand the crisis that is going on”, Johnson replied.
“I feel like in a way we’re holding the Republican banner and the Republican platform, without the mean-spiritedness on the social side”.
With the major party candidates’ negative ratings at historic highs, millions of Americans are looking to third-party candidates, with libertarian Gary Johnson polling highest among third-party candidates now. Again, we get the humble, soft-spoken Johnson as opposed to a lofty New York Times out to correct us all, only to get the facts wrong.
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“You hear that? That’s the sound of Gary Johnson’s campaign coming to a crashing halt”, one user posted as another speculated that Aleppo “was one of the Marx Brothers, right?” “I have to get smarter, and that’s just part of the process”.
