I thought his explanation was OK. I'd certainly take it over Trump's statements and Hillary's constant lies.
God forbid a politician make a mistake and then honestly admit to it . I don't particularly subscribe to everything the libertarian platform has to offer and for that matter the Green Party either . However , there is little doubt in my mind that the candidates for those parties are just better people than trump and Clinton . I respect Clinton I really do , I think she has worked hard for what she has achieved even if that meant compromising morals etc . Trump I do not respect . Johnson and stein can at least act like real people and have some modicum of common sense . I'm assuming that Johnson knows plenty about the Syrian conflict and Isis etc , but even if he doesn't it's not always the worst thing to look at an issue with fresh eyes .
I'm sorry, if you don't know what Aleppo is, you know NOTHING about the Syrian conflict beyond "it's an ugly civil war and ISIS is there." It's nothing to be ashamed of as a regular citizen - heck, even the New York Times embarrassed themselves today by calling it the ISIS capital while trying to mock Johnson (the Times has really imploded and lost about 80% of its credibility over the last couple of weeks, but that's another story). But it is utterly inexcusable for someone who is running to be commander in chief to be ignorant of this less than two months out to the election. Utterly. Inexcusable. Anybody who has even made a cursory attempt to keep up with international news headlines over the last few years has seen story after story about the devastation in that city. This isn't monopoly we're playing here. Literally millions of lives could be at stake depending on the decisions of the American president. Good grief.
Do you buy his explanation of blanking on the word Aleppo ? Common sense dictates that he would respond differently if the question was framed "What would you do about the Syrian crisis especially in the city of Aleppo." Frankly even the most well educated private citizen on the matter will likely revive new critical information if they were elected president or to a position of importance on the matter . I agree that it is nothing to be ashamed of for the run of the mill citizen . I disagree that because he didn't instantly recognize the word Aleppo means that he is unfit to be president . After the question was explained better he provided an answer that contained background knowledge of the Syrian crisis . On an unrelated note , we often demand answers from our politicians when what we should really be asking for is for them to ask the right questions . johnson seems more willing to admit he doesn't know everything than any candidate I can remember in recent history . He recently did an ama on Reddit and his response to the Aleppo question is right in character . Either the guy is a fantastic actor or he is being real . That alone is refreshing . I agree that in a perfect world Johnson would know Aleppo , he would be well educated on it , he would be able to explain facts and the situation much better ; but, I'm also not going to kill him this time . If it happens again and again then I will question his intelligence and memory recall .
It was an unscripted question that caught him off guard, honestly I don't see how it's a big deal to anyone that knows how things actually happen. The president gets briefings on things all the time because they are not expected to know everything about everything off the top of their head. Hell even the fact that he's willing to field unscripted questions shows that he's at least an authentic person trying to give people honest answers to questions rather than getting them all in writing days before and having other people prepare answers for them to recite.
Johnson simply isn't remotely qualified to be president. It's not even debatable. Why not just put a potted plant as a candidate? A potted plant can still have advisors, cabinet members, etc. and still be a figure head. What's the difference between a potted plant being president vs Johnson or Stein?
People have a tendency to want to be led by "people like themselves" as to appease them emotionally. There's a reason average citizens don't run Fortune 500 companies or are captains of industries. I have listened to quite a few a Johnsons interviews and he simply has a very different way of looking at the world but I don't see him as a person to be the President.
I'd expect you to vote for a potted plant if it was running against a democrat. Lil Bobby you are merely a Republcian partisan. Now run along and go play with your toys, we both know you offer ZERO substance.
everyone has some thing that they are out of the loop on that they should know I had heard of Aleppo but forgot specifically what it was.
He wasn't asked about some ISIS lieutenant or something lesser known. This isn't about "knowing everything off the top of his head". The question was the equivalent of asking candidate LBJ, "What do we do about Saigon?" and LBJ responding, "And what is Saigon?"
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Ah yes, my support of a Libertarian makes me a Republican partisan....you are really in rare form today kiddo. It was a non scripted question so it could have been about literally anything and it's not like Aleppo is the capital of Syria. Sure it's the most populous city, but do you really think that so many people know that as to where it should be considered common knowledge? How many people knew about Benghazi before the incident there? It's the 2nd most populous city in Lybia, should be common knowledge right? What about Zarqa? Common knowledge right? 2nd most populous city in Jordan, everyone should be able to recognize that in a random conversation. Clearly they'd know about Mashhad, 2nd largest city in Iran, and be able to comment about the goings on if asked a question about it in a non scripted interview right?
I've never heard of it either. I hear Syria all the time, and I frequently here about Demascus. You want to know what makes Gary Johnson great? He didn't pretend that he knew what is was, which a lot of politicians do. Sorry he isn't part of a major party with so much money being spent on guys coaching him up to know every detail.
Look champ, I am not the only calling you out for touting the Republcian line. So you support a potted plant? Interesting... I guess you can say you are anti-establishment at the most. I guess the Mayor of Sugar Land wasn't available to be the libertarian candidate.
This isn't about common knowledge--a president's bar is much, much higher than that. Of course just about everyone didn't know about Benghazi before the incident, just as they wouldn't have known about Aleppo prior to the last four years.
