Gary Johnson explained on Thursday that he failed to identify the name of a major Syrian city during an interview because he thought that “Aleppo” was an acronym.
“Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict—I talk about them every day,” the Libertarian presidential candidate said in a statement to CNN hours after his appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “But hit with ‘What about Aleppo?’, I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict. I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign.”
“Can I name every city in Syria? No,” Johnson continued, calling his slip-up a “human” error. “Should I have identified Aleppo? Yes. Do I understand its significance? Yes.”
The former New Mexico governor left the “Morning Joe” hosts aghast on Thursday morning when he asked “What is Aleppo?” in response to a question about how he would help the beleaguered Syrian city as president. Aleppo has been devastated during Syria’s five years of civil war, and its citizens have endured chemical attacks and waves of air strikes in recent weeks.
Johnson’s bungled response to the question and pledge to “get smarter” about foreign policy left some political observers asking if he was fit to be commander-in-chief, given how close we are to Election Day.
Read Johnson’s full statement below courtesy of CNN’s Jason Morrell.
Statement by Gary Johnson to CNN on his #Aleppo gaffe: pic.twitter.com/q95KmLUjRM
— Jason Morrell (@CNNJason) September 8, 2016
Grading him on a curve, I’d say that was an F performance.
What a moron! I have to admit that I respect Sanders a lot more, when I compare him to the other alternative candidates.
Jill Stein is the looniest of them all, of course.
That’s our Gary! He’s a pleasant goofball whow knows not a thing. He was the King of Vetos when he was NM guv…
Um, okay. Arguably, behind Washington, D.C., probably the very next “important” city in the U.S. is probably New York City … even Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, all come to mind. Aleppo is the second-largest city in Syria – and the bloodiest in the current civil war. It’s been in the news for years.
So, using this man’s logic, if I asked a presidential candidate (or the equivalent) in, say, Argentina (or Russia or China), don’t you think they’d at least know where the hell NYC or L.A. is – especially if it’d been in the news for years on end due to bloody carnage, humanitarian crises because of a civil war? Just sayin’.
Of course, he was thinking of ULPO, the United Libertarian Post Office – his proposed private, for profit replacement for the USPS. In most towns you’ll find it next to the United Libertarian Fire Department, and both will be paid for by private, voluntary subscription, payable in bitcoin, gold, silver, or beaver pelts. No one would have to join either membership organization against their will, though non-subscribers are asked to please instruct any fires on their property to stay within their property lines.
Johnson, like Trump, is the dog that managed to catch the station wagon. Never expecting to catch the prize, neither one is prepared. Johnson, why the hell did ya even run?