Gary Johnson: "I'm the only candidate that doesn't want to bomb Iran." And who wants to balance the budget. And let gays marry.

Sean Higgins of Investors Business Daily talks with the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.

A snippet:

"I promise to veto any expenditures that exceed revenue," he said, citing his background as governor. He vetoed some 200 bills in his first six months of office….

Johnson said he would challenge both parties by drawing away core ideological voters disappointed with the party's compromises: fiscally conservative Republicans on the right and anti-war, civil libertarian Democrats on the left.

He'll focus his campaign on the western and mountain states: His home state of New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Nevada and others. He thinks he'll make inroads in Alaska too.

"I'm the only candidate that doesn't want to bomb Iran. I'm the only candidate that wants to get out of Afghanistan tomorrow," he said. "I'm the only candidate that wants to repeal the Patriot Act. I'm the only candidate talking about marriage equality as a constitutionally guaranteed right."

Whole thing here.

Yesterday during "Ask a Libertarian 2012," Matt Welch and I responded to a question asking whether a vote for Gary Johnson was a vote for Barack Obama:

Comments

[Suthenboy]

*looking around at my fellow Americans*

Hmmm. From his positions I would guess Johnson isnt in favor of wealth redistribution, favoring one group over another, buying votes with tax money, sending our children to die in some shitbag war overseas, and is overall in favor of maximizing individual liberty. Yep, he has a snowball's chance in hell.
Still, I am gonna vote for the guy.

[Rich]

I heard Jesse Ventura on the radio today. Paraphrasing him, voting for Gary Johnson is the only way to save the country.

[Mo' $parky]

"Everybody says they want a viable alternative to America's two-party chokehold."

For a very loose definition of "Everybody."

Gary Johnson - Meet Everybody.

[The Hammer]

Most people say that. Now, what many of them mean is "I want ________(whichever the other TEAM is, doesn't matter) to go away," but they still say the two-party system sucks.

[SIV]

anti-war, civil libertarian Democrats
Don't leave out the all-important mermaid and unicorn demographic!

[Joe R.]

Actually, they're easy to find--when a Republican is in office. Next time Team Red holds the presidency, we should tag all unicorns with radioactive tracers or something so they're easier to find later.

[db]

I fully intend to vote for Johnson.

[Warty]

If I bother to vote, it'll be for him. But that's a big if.

[The Hammer]

But your vote could be the difference between him getting .4% or rounding up to an even 1!

[nero]

Nick, there's a big difference between "letting gays marry" and believing it is a Constitutional right. The right to marry simply isn't the government's to give and I'm praying Gary Johnson knows the difference. I don't have the right to free speech cause it was bequeathed on me but rather, it's a natural right. I'm sure you know the difference but the headline scared me a bit 🙂

[Randian]

It's a little bit different, because you don't need a license for speech.

[shelleyjr]

Nero, I think Gary does know the difference. He said that by making it a constitutional right was much easier than repealing all of the marriage laws that are on the books. Also, no one needs a marriage license you only need a marriage certificate for the marriage to be a legal agreement between the 2 getting married. When you apply for a state marriage license you are making a contract with you, your partner and that state! Isn't that polygamy?
New Mexican's for GJJG!

[NotSure]

The guy has zero chance of winning, but to get anywhere one needs to start somewhere, the whole "wasted vote" argument should be rejected unless you fully support the idea of an eternal two party state (possibly even becoming a one party state).

[Randian]

Shh, you're going to awaken the Tulpabeast.

[BakedPenguin]

The "wasted vote" bullshit is ridiculous. Voting for someone who you agree with 25% of the time so you can "win" is moronic. I'll "waste" my vote on someone I agree with 90%.

[NAL]

Especially if you're in a non-swing state. Most of the states are already locked up for Team Red or Team Blue anyway. Unless you live in a really tight swing state like OH or FL, that argument has little merit anyway.

NM shows a 14-point lead for Obama at this point. That will probably tighten up a bit before Nov, but there's little chance that a third-party vote would make any difference in Obama being the winner of our 5 electoral votes.

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

I see the day coming when I'll be voting for someone who won't interfere with my food choices. (OK, so I thought of that because I'm preparing spare ribs for the grill.)

BTW, I was in Norfolk yesterday, so I took three cheeseburger Happy Meals to PETA's headquarters.

[xenia onatopp]

I'll be voting for Johnson, but more importantly I've made a convert.

My 20-year-old pothead daughter will be going to the polls in November, mainly because of the medical-marijuana question that will most likely be on the ballot in MA. She's been unable to work up any interest at all in the presidential election; while not an Obama fan, she's even less of a Romney fan, especially because Team Red may well end up with both the house and the senate. So she was like, I've listened to you and read all the Gary Johnson literature plus I like most libertarian stuff, but I feel like it could be a vote for Romney. So I asked her if she thought there was any chance at all of MA going for Romney, and if not doesn't that render her vote for Obama completely meaningless? Put in that perspective, she decided that a vote for Johnson really would matter, since although he won't win, the higher his total of the popular vote is, the more impact his ideas are likely to have.

This makes me very happy.

[Scarecrow Repair]

I perversely thank my lucky stars for living in California, since it will reliably go Obama, thus meaning any vote is wasted, so I can always choose how to waste my vote without any credible backtalk from Those Who Frown. (They tsk tsk anyway, but it's easy to get them to admit my logic.) This year there will be doubt about who to waste my vote on, and the tsktskers will get an earful when they roll their eyes. *They* will be wasting their vote for Tweedledum or Tweedledee, not me.

[xenia onatopp]

Yeah, I've never bought that "wasted vote" bullshit.

I remember when I was a 10 year old kid, back in 1968, my father (a liberal Democrat, btw) told me that he couldn't in good conscience vote for either Nixon or Humphrey, because if he ended up voting for the eventual winner, he'd feel personally responsible. He then explained to me that leaving the presidential section of the ballot blank-- or voting for any third party candidate whose name you like-- was never a wasted vote because it clearly conveyed displeasure with your lack of options, so until they put None of The Above on every ballot that would be his strategy. He also told me that in the obscure state and local contests on the ballot that you could never go wrong by voting against the incumbent.

My dad's a hot shit, and also not Barack Obama, is what I'm saying.

[T]

Your dad sounds like a good guy. I'll add another rule: never vote for a guy running unopposed, even if you agree with him.

[T]

The advantage of living in a reliably red precinct in a red county in a red state. Texas is going GOP no matter what I do, so I'll gladly bump up the LP total.

Besides, the more I get to know our local politicians, the more I want to punch most of them in the crotch. I met too many of them when the wife was a GOP precinct chair.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

Northern NM is hard-core Democrat country but I've seen almost as many Johnson bumper stickers as Obama (and zero Romney). Among family and friends I can quickly count up a couple of dozen votes for him. I don't think that Gary needs to do much campaigning here!

... Hobbit

[shelleyjr]

Hobbit, so true! I am in ABQ, and we see Obama bumper stickers all the time. Not one Romney bumper sticker, LOL. Of course I have Gary Johnson bumper sticker. I have spoke to many of my friends and we are voting for Gary since Obama is way ahead and will take the whopping 5 electoral votes. Besides no one is passionate about Romney among the people that I know.

I agree Gary needs to do some campaigning here and remind people that it was he, who got us medical marijuana. Plus left the state with a billion dollar surplus.