Ask Matt Welch Anything Tomorrow on Reddit at 11 a.m. ET!

Meanwhile, here are some highlights from last night's AMA from Gary Johnson and Bill Weld

Some drunk friend of Matt's

Yesterday, Libertarian Party candidates Gary Johnson and William Weld participated in an Ask Me Anything session on the famed social media site Reddit. Among the interesting tidbits:

* Johnson, when asked "what inspired you to switch party allegiance from Republican to Libertarian?" replied "Shedding the social conservative dogma of the Republican Party. (On behalf of Gov. Weld, he feels the same way.)"

* Weld reiterated his recent warning that the Commission on Presidential Debates, "as a tax-exempt nonprofit, has to be nonpartisan rather than bipartisan. That's a legal test which could affect their tax-exempt status."

* Johnson said he's "in favor of legalizing online poker. I think sports gambling should be legal, too."

* Johnson also came out firmly against "Net Neutrality": "I abhor legislation that would regulate the Internet. It doesn't appear to me to be broken; I don't want to fix it."

* In response to an audit-the-Pentagon question, Weld stated that "We would advise the Department of Defense that receipt of required financial statements would be a precondition to determining their appropriations for the following fiscal year."

* And asked how climbing Mt. Everest changed his view of humanity, Johnson went all hippie: "I saw happy people with nothing material. We have everything material and we don't seem as happy as we should be."

Tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. ET I will be following in the Libertarians' footsteps by subjecting myself to the slings and arrows of Planet Reddit. You can watch and hopefully participate in the action by going to www.reddit.com/r/politics, which is the Politics subgenre of AMA's; go to www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/ama for the general page.

Unlike when Nick Gillespie and I did an AMA in December 2014, I imagine and even hope the conversation will be less about stumping the libertarian and more about drilling into this horridly interesting presidential election that I've been focusing on since stepping aside as the magazine's EIC in June. But who knows! It's not up to me, after all….

Comments

[The Fusionist]

"Johnson, when asked "what inspired you to switch party allegiance from Republican to Libertarian?" replied "Shedding the social conservative dogma of the Republican Party. (On behalf of Gov. Weld, he feels the same way.)""

That should play well in Utah.

[The Fusionist]

Why doesn't he just shave his head, wear a Goth outfit and a pentagram necklace, and get it over with?

[Mike Laursen]

You do know that Johnson has his highest ratings in Utah, don't you?

[The Fusionist]

"* Weld reiterated his recent warning that the Commission on Presidential Debates, "as a tax-exempt nonprofit, has to be nonpartisan rather than bipartisan. That's a legal test which could affect their tax-exempt status.""

I think I'm turning into SIV.

Vote Libertarian - we'll sic the IRS on our political enemies!

[Robert]

How much $ does the CPD make, or need, anyway?

[Isaac Bartram]

IRS tax-exempt status is not about the organization's taxation (non-profits by definition have no profits on which to pay taxes), It has to do with whether donors can deduct the amount they give from their taxable income.

IRS tax-exempt status is a completely different issue from an organization's non-profit status which has to do with the laws of the state in which it is incorporated.

[Hugh Akston]

Is it true that Matt and Kmele secretly hate each other? Who would win in a fight?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Kmele, because he's black.

Yeah, I said it.

[Mongo]

Welch would get dragged around like Harambe did to that punk kid.

There, I said it.

[Crusty Juggler]

Now I just want to ask Matt questions about Kmele. Thanks, Hugh! I take back everything I've said about you. I also would like to apologize for that rumor I helped spread.

[Hugh Akston]

Actually that rumor was true. But Bryan Singer fired me after I turned 25.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's not a secret. The sound engineers just edit their podcasts to make everything seem civil.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

and more about drilling into

Matt, I'll drill into you any time.

[GILMORE?]

+1 Abel Ferrara

[Playa Manhattan.]

"Did you really step aside, or did you get Lucy'd?"

[Gojira]

Dicks Out for Lucy

[Playa Manhattan.]

That could be why Matt had to step aside. We'll find out tomorrow.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

What are your sweet, sweet moves, Welch?

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

- Why isn't the latest "We The Fifth" on Google Play?

[Hugh Akston]

Maybe you should try searching for it by its actual title?

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

...Well, sure, NOW it's up there! It wasn't up there for the past few days, though. I had to use the goddamn stitcher player!

[Ted S.]

Do they have an RSS feed?

[John Titor]

Better question: When's Welch's going to release his album?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Nothing like the folk guitar with a greenscreen background. And that guy looks remarkably like Matt Welch.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

"I saw happy people with nothing material. We have everything material and we don't seem as happy as we should be."

Was Johnson referring to the climbers who fork over $60,000 per climb?

[The Last American Hero]

I think he was referring to the human pack mules that helped carry his shit up the mountain.

[Crusty Juggler]

"How does Fist of Etiquette do it?"

"What's it like living life as Koch Brothers stooge, you right-wing Nazi fascist cuck?"

"Your thoughts on the Swizzle-Hiddle split?"

"Are libertarians best described as "A small, powerless collection of angry hippies?"

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Shouldn't the first question be 'why' as opposed to 'how'?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

When Nick's not around, do you sneak into his office and try on the Jackets?

[Playa Manhattan.]

Your magazine has the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?

[Pan Zagloba]

*smiles, serves three-eyed Harambe for dinner*

[Playa Manhattan.]

Other than me, who is your favorite commenter?

[John Titor]

That photo above is Welch's "Before Gilmore's fashion reviews" picture. Guess.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Ronald Bailey.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Anonbot.

[Warty]

How much you bench?

[End Child Unemployment]

You win this thread forever

[John Titor]

Have you ever considered regrowing the beard and declaring that you are Matt Welch, fervent Marxist-Leninist from an alternative dimension?

[LarryA]

"It doesn't appear to me to be broken; I don't want to fix it."

Said no politician ever in all the history of the world, until Johnson.

[Pan Zagloba]

I'm not big into US political history, but wasn't that literally Coolidge's presidency?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

We could use a president of few words.

[The Last American Hero]

That's no way to get a statue on the Washington Mall.

[gaoxiaen]

You lose.

[MikeP]

Warren. G. Harding.

[Ted S.]

Regulate!

[Troy muy grande boner]

Is Matt the one that wears that stupid fucking bow tie?

[Rufus The Monocled]

What's your opinion on deep dish?

And. Who watches or listens to anything at 11am?

[GILMORE?]

Do everyone a favor and remind people before the event

like the 5th column, this stuff tends to go live at the most inopportune times.

[Agammamon]

And asked how climbing Mt. Everest changed his view of humanity, Johnson went all hippie: "I saw happy people with nothing material. We have everything material and we don't seem as happy as we should be."

On *Everest*? 'Cause I'm pretty sure anyone who climbs mountains is pretty into material things. Especially one where you need to carry oxygen bottles, expensive tents, and other gear just to stay alive.

In the surrounding country? Probably those people were happy because they were making an enormous amount of money (compared locally) from the climbers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Make sure you don't get flustered when reddit brings on a grieving drug mother to accuse you of sticking syringes full of marijuana into kids' arms.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

I want to see some of these questions on the AMA tomorrow!

[The Bearded Hobbit]

"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood"?

... Hobbit

[Brett L]

The Jacket... Evil alien symbiote or eldritch God?

[SIV]

I imagine and even hope the conversation will be less about stumping the libertarian and more about drilling into this horridly interesting presidential election that I've been focusing on since stepping aside as the magazine's EIC in June.

How does it feel to step in the roll filled by David Weigel in 2008? Do you feel big enough to fill Delaware Dave's journolist shoes?

[SIV]

"step into the role"