Falling forward when you stumble

"What is Aleppo?"

The Libertarian Party under the leadership of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld is not the party of Rand Paul.   Libertarians are not a "extreme" version of Republicans, to the right of "regular Republicans.

The Libertarian Party of Johnson/Weld is a centrist party.  Somewhat dovish in foreign policy.  Socially liberal (like Democrats, not anti-abortion nor anti-gay).  They purport to be for small government (unlike Trump-style Republicans, who want a government big enough to tell businesses where to put factories, to defeat ISIS in 30 days, to renegotiate trade deals.)

Thursday morning early I was watching Morning Joe and I saw an event happen in real time, right there as I was making coffee watching TV.   Johnson was on the set.  Mike Barnacle asked him:

"What would you do about Aleppo?"

In real time I watched Johnson's face.   You could see him scanning his mental universe trying to identify Aleppo.  There was no help from the context of the question since it came from out of nowhere.   Aleppo.   Was he a pitcher for the Red Sox?  Is it a treaty alliance, like NATO or ASEAN?  Is he a Congressman in trouble?  A foreign leader?

"What is Aleppo," he asked back?

The actual incident was brief.  Mike Barnacle said he was shocked and Joe and Mika all chimed in about how this was utterly disqualifying for Gary Johnson.

Fox News had a story up within a half hour.   Salon had a story within 15 minutes.  Gary Johnson did damage control.  He immediately said he was confused for a moment, that of course he knew all about Syria and the refugees.

He did not do what Trump would have done.   

Trump would have said this was a confusing question by the totally corrupt MSNBC/NBC crew of losers, that he knew more than he needed to know about ISIS and Syria which is that we are in this mess because of the Obama and Clinton foreign policy.  America is weak in Aleppo, weak in Syria, weak in the Middle East, weak everywhere.   Anger and accusations.  It works for Trump.

Gary Johnson tried the approach of being honest and mild and in this moment of stress we see the three leading candidates reveal their temperaments in a crisis:

Trump:  Anger, deflection, and accusations back against the media, and it would be a story for a day.

Hillary:  She would evade, say she did know it, that she misheard it for a moment, which would start a month of talk about her hearing, her confusion, her health, and her character regarding why she had to evade?    Couldn't she just come out and say she goofed.   Was it a residue of the concussion?  Maybe she is hiding something about her failures as Secretary of State.  Do we need hearings by a House committee?

Johnson:  He immediately said he goofed, he blanked.


This morning--24 hours after the event--there are two media stories out there.  One is that he goofed and did not know something he should have known.    The second is that he handled it by saying he blanked a moment, that he was human, and that his response was to be open and honest about it.    That was what was being said about him: he "owned" the mistake, which is a nice change.

He isn't saying "no, but. . . "   He is saying, "yes, and. . . "   He said it is more important that someone get the general policy right than that he blanked for a moment, and his policy is to get the US out of a tangled quagmire.  He used the error to pivot to policy.  Currently, he said, "we are spending money on both ends of the gun and shooting ourselves" in Aleppo, and we should stop.

This campaign is a debate over character, not policy.    Normally there would be arguments over the direction of the country but this year the debate is over whether Trump is too crazy vs, whether Hillary Clinton is too sick and crooked.   Each side is pushing its narrative.  Crazy vs. Crooked.    

He is finally on TV

Now the story has an added person with a new temperament to discuss: whether straightforward and honest Gary Johnson is a serious alternative and whether honesty is really the best policy.    More important for Johnson, he is finally on TV and being interviewed, talking about policy. 


Gary Johnson has one other secret advantage.  People empathize with him.  They don't particularly like the media people with their know-it-all attitude.  Everyone has blanked, either being confused on a test or been unable to remember a name when under pressure, like when introducing an acquaintance.    It is a common joke among boomers, that we blank on things.  Joke:  "Boomers are always thinking about the hereafter.   That's right.  They go into a room and stop and think:  'What am I here after?'

Most people engaged enough to vote have heard of Aleppo, maybe, and may have seen some video, but "Aleppo" is a harder question than "Paris".  Hardly anyone could securely place either Syria or Aleppo on an unlabeled map.   A quick test for readers, no peeking, no looking at Google, no scrolling down:   Is Aleppo north or south of Lebanon?   Within Syria, is Aleppo relatively close to Iraq, far from it, or near the middle of the country?   Are you sure?

Space down and I will show you a map.


Scroll down.


Scroll down.


The map is labeled.   Could you have placed it if the map were not marked?    If so, good for you.   I would say most people could not.  I could not.

Net-net this is a win for Gary Johnson.  The mistake put him on the campaign map.









[Wait!  There's more!  Look over to the right, if you are on a desktop computer.  There is a link to a podcast that I uploaded.  "Two Left Eyes."   AttorneyThad Guyer and I have a back and forth discussion of the polls and messaging as it relates to Hillary and Trump.   We try to be objective, and our objective assessment is not good for Hillary.  If you listen to podcasts try downloading this to a device then giving us a shot.  Or you can use this link to Two Left Eyes right here:    Click Here]