Althouse: "What went wrong for Gary Johnson?"

October 24, 2016

"What went wrong for Gary Johnson?"

At FiveThirtyEight.

33 comments:

rcocean said...: I'd don't know. Maybe, people got to know him.; 10/24/16, 5:53 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: More likely the kind bud ran out and people realized that things is serious.

(I take it his support suddenly has cratered? Didn't read.; 10/24/16, 5:57 PM
Carol said...: It's strange, but when you look at any candidate really close, they all seem to suck.

I blame Original Sin.; 10/24/16, 5:58 PM
Anonymous said...: You know, a lot was made of his not being able to name a foreign leader he admired. I've been a libertarian since before 1970, and I certainly can't name a present-day foreign leader I admire. What part of "libertarian" do the news media not get? On second thought, "all of it" is probably the right answer. . . .; 10/24/16, 6:02 PM
effinayright said...: Johnson's campaign theme song may have played a part in his political demise:

"No stems, no seeds that you don't need,

Acapulco Gold is badass weed."; 10/24/16, 6:11 PM
Fabi said...: Who?; 10/24/16, 6:11 PM
tcrosse said...: We've had two presidents named Johnson, and both times it ended in tears.; 10/24/16, 6:16 PM
Real American said...: because the libertarian party is a joke; 10/24/16, 6:33 PM
Barry Dauphin said...: Well, if he gets 5%, the Libertarian Party will qualify for Federal funding in 2020. A mark of something, if not an oddly anti-Libertarian goal. They can choose to decline the funding on principle.; 10/24/16, 6:46 PM
sojerofgod said...: The really sad thing is this imbecile was a Governor! I don't remember what state that was, the poor bastards, but they must have done well on autopilot because I can't imagine that moron making a decision more vital that the way to the men's room.

Harsh but fair.; 10/24/16, 6:50 PM
holdfast said...: Um, Gary Johnson.

Also RINO Gov Weld.; 10/24/16, 6:51 PM
cacimbo said...: Easy, media was promoting him to try and hurt Trump. Then polls showed he was taking more votes from HRC than DT. Boom, media turned on him and GJ support dropped.; 10/24/16, 7:04 PM
Fen said...: 4 Reasons

1) The libertarians did not work out during the off season. They came to the Superbowl in the last part 3rd quarter and demanded a starting position.

2) The libertarian foreign policy is not only naive, it's counter-intuitive (right word?) to Libertarianism, short version - they want to retreat from the world and terrorism by hiding behind the static defenses of a Police State. Libertarian Police State? uhm...

3) Johnson does not believe in Religious Liberty (Sisters of the Poor). Not sure who screened this guy, but they should maybe ponder why the words "Libertarian" and "Liberty" sound so close to each other. I dunno, I'm stupid, but there's something there that's not coincidence.

4) The Last Chick at the Bar effect. 2am and you are going home alone. But there is that one girl left at the bar. From across the room she looks enticing, mainly because you can't make her out completely and the human mind fills in the gaps with what you *want* to be there. As you get closer you realize she's a bit of a Meth Whore. As you get into conversation with her you learn that she's a bit of a psycho and snorts like a pig when she laughs. People were projecting their wants and needs on Johnson as their Unicorn. But a few doses of familiarity and they began to see a donkey with a stick tied to his head.; 10/24/16, 7:11 PM
RMc said...: The problem with Johnson is that he has nothing to sell, other than the fact he's not Hillary or Trump. That doesn't work, because:

(1) Millions hate Trump and Hillary, but millions like them, too, and millions more support each of them precisely because they aren't the other one. "I gotta vote for the (jerk/crook) so that the (crook/jerk) doesn't get in!"

(2) The Libertarian Party is a joke. There's a reason none of them ever get close to be elected to anything.

(3) Johnson's basically an idiot.; 10/24/16, 7:13 PM
gadfly said...: Nothing happened to Gary except that he admitted he didn't know about Alleppo (but he wasn't given the intelligence briefing that the duopoly candidates got). But at least he was honest about it, which is far more than can be said for Trump (anytime DJT doesn't know the answer, he makes shit up). In Mormon country, LDS went for their own kind, Evan McMullin - who started too late to get into all state elections.

I am voting for Johnson because he doesn't lie to us and he has and will strive for a balanced budget (and squeeze a bunch of waste from the bureaucracy)- last accomplished by that awful politician, Speaker Newt. As for health issues, 22 real, no-sweat, pushups by a 63-year-old man looks very fine. But the polls are wrong (said Donald) which makes me think that the playful libertarians aren't telling pollsters the truth.; 10/24/16, 7:38 PM
Mountain Maven said...: Completely unserious. The running mate. The personal life. The Ignorance. And you can only be a doper potus if youre, um, like Obama.; 10/24/16, 7:51 PM
Fen said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/24/16, 7:52 PM
Fen said...: "except that he admitted he didn't know about Alleppo"

FWIW, I agree that was a big stupid nothing burger.

We aren't electing someone who can ace a geography quiz, we are electing someone who can sit through an intelligence briefing and make good decisions.

Still don't like Johnson, but that was a bullshit attack on him.; 10/24/16, 7:53 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Fen,

) Johnson does not believe in Religious Liberty (Sisters of the Poor). Not sure who screened this guy, but they should maybe ponder why the words "Libertarian" and "Liberty" sound so close to each other. I dunno, I'm stupid, but there's something there that's not coincidence.

I can forgive Johnson the Alleppo nonsense. What I can't forgive is his statement referring to religious exemptions from laws as a "black hole". If a libertarian doesn't support an expansive view of freedom of association, even tipping into free association based on prejudice, why do they call themselves "Libertarian"?

Sorry, guys, this happens over & over. There's the Libertarians over at Reason magazine & the Cato Institute. Then there's your average "Libertarian-man-in-the-street". And then there's your Libertarian Presidential candidate who always turns out to be a liberal Democrat who's honest about being fond of hookers & weed.; 10/24/16, 8:14 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Wrong? He may quadruple his 2012 vote total.; 10/24/16, 8:46 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Fen, it's not about "acing a geography quiz." Aleppo is, dare I say it, really big in the news just now. Someone who would be POTUS ought to have a clue whether it's a rock band or a new brand of weed or, you know, a place where thousands are dying under our eyes.

[From a Saki story: Stella van der Loopen -- is she a chrysanthemum, or a heroine of the American Revolution, or something by Romney in the Louvre?]

Johnson, IIRC, said later that he thought it was an acronym. Jeez. It's the largest f'in' city in Syria. (Though the NYT didn't exactly cover itself in glory by calling it the capital of Syria. "Oh, that Johnson, he's so dumb! Everyone knows Aleppo's the capital of Syria!" Er, no.); 10/24/16, 9:18 PM
Achilles said...: "What went wrong for Gary Johnson?"

As soon as they figured out he pulled more from Hillary than from trump the media started crushing him.; 10/24/16, 10:04 PM
Fen said...: "Aleppo is, dare I say it, really big in the news just now. Someone who would be POTUS ought to have a clue whether it's... a place where thousands are dying under our eyes."

But that wasn't the question. The question was name the capitol of Syria

To extend your example - of all papers, the NYTs should know what Aleppo is because its really big in the news (to borrow your words). They fact-checked Johnson, but then had to issue a correction because they got the answer wrong too. This, from an international paper with 24 hours to research Google, over a city that had been prominently mentioned in their own paper for the last 3 months.

So I stand by my earlier assessment. Big nothing burger.; 10/24/16, 10:09 PM
richardsson said...: It wasn't that Johnson didn't know where Aleppo is; it was that when he didn't know where Aleppo was, he gave that stupid "on weed" look all too familiar to those of us who lived thorough the late 1960's. When I looked into the Libertarian Party, aside from the CATO Institute, Ron Paul, and some of their national candidates, all most on-the-ground Libertarians cared about was legalizing weed. One of their local office candidates in California got busted for drug dealing. Anyway, Johnson is no doubt harmless. Whatever effect he has on the race, if any, there isn't much likelihood he'll need to know much about Aleppo.; 10/25/16, 12:00 AM
Kirk Parker said...: For starters, how about Not Being Gary Johnson? That would have improved things for him quite a bit.

Yeah, that's kind of Clausewitzian advice, innit? ("War is very simple, but in war the simplest things become very difficult."); 10/25/16, 12:20 AM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Carol @5:58PM: It's strange, but when you look at any candidate really close, they all seem to suck.

Not really the kind of folk you would want making decisions in your life for you?

Perhaps you would rather make for yourself many of the decisions that are now determined for you by hired help of elected officials.

Lao Tzu said: "The more laws and orders are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be."

Henry David Thoreau said: "The best government is that which governs least."

There is a Party which places primacy on individual liberty and responsibility. (Name of the Party begins with same letter as "Lau Tzu."); 10/25/16, 2:59 AM
Brando said...: Nothing really "went wrong" for Gary Johnson--he's about where he should be, and about normal for an underfunded third party candidate. No matter how much most voters can't stand Hillary or Trump, they're more afraid that a vote for Johnson (or any third party) will be a vote to help elect the candidate they loathe most. If we did presidential elections with runoffs (where if no one passes 50% they have a runoff with the two top vote getters) people might be willing to take that chance. But if you live in say Florida, you don't want to support 2016's version of Ralph Nader.

Add to that the fact that the media only covers the Dem and GOP conventions, and only lets those parties participate in the general election debates, and there's no real news network that backs the third parties (say, a libertarian Fox News) and you can understand why they never get their numbers up.; 10/25/16, 6:11 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: He stared to eat away at Hillary's support so he had to be destroyed.. (over the name of some town - but any excuse will do)

Hillary is allowed to use a private server to stuff family foundation coffers. Hillary is allowed to be a liar and money grubbing crook who would sell this nation down the river for a buck.

But if you get the name of a town wrong - it's all over.; 10/25/16, 6:38 AM
WarrenPeese said...: "What is Aleppo?"
It's a double standard. Trump can say ignorant false things all day long and it never seemed to hurt him. Hillary can maneuver from crooked to criminal to conniving all day and it never seemed to hurt her. Johnson asks a question and he's toast. It's not fair, but it is what it is. I'm still voting for him, in protest of what the major parties gave us as choices.; 10/25/16, 7:39 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: 4) The Last Chick at the Bar effect.

Oh Fen. We have missed you.; 10/25/16, 7:41 AM
David said...: He's not a Libertarian. He's a dazed and confused stoner who thinks he's hot shit because he can use other people's money to run around the country pretending that he might be an appropriate president.; 10/25/16, 8:29 AM
Shawn Levasseur said...: holdfast: "RINO Gov Weld"

Actually, no. Not Republican in name any more. Now he has accusations of "LINO" tossed at him. (And occasionally, actual libertarians are the ones calling him that.); 10/25/16, 8:34 AM
Known Unknown said...: The LP should've ran McAfee -- he would've made Trump look like Low-Energy Jeb.; 10/25/16, 2:20 PM