Gary Johnson, on Carl Bernstein's Rumor About Bill Weld Dropping Out: 'That is Bullshit'

Libertarian nominee rejects "spoiler" frame in USA Today interview

Well, that whole Carl Bernstein rumor about Libertarian vice presidential nominee William Weld dropping out of the race to back Hillary Clinton didn't seem to get very far. Now running mate Gary Johnson has taken a nail gun to the thing: In a Facebook Live interview with USA Today Opinion Editor Bill Sternberg, Johnson was asked whether Bernstein's speculation was true. His answer was blunt: "That is bullshit."

While that moment (complete with Sternberg's semi-shocked response of "We are on Facebook Live") will probably get the most attention, it came at the end of a whole semi-testy section of Sternberg trying to buttonhole Johnson about being a "spoiler." The exchange, which I have transcribed below, I think demonstrates the magnetic power of two-party/major-media assumptions about who votes belong to. Check it out:

USA Today: So some of the recent polls show you attracting a lot of Millennial support, and taking away votes from Hillary Clinton. Are you comfortable with, if we get to late October, and you're still in the sing—

Johnson: I'm-I'm com—I'm, yeah—

USA Today: —and it's still in the single digits, are, do you have a preference between Clinton and Trump?

Johnson: No, absolutely not. I'm offering a first choice for a lot of people. And if what you're inferring, Bill, is that I should drop out and allow people to have their second choice? Ah, no, I would not be comfortable with…I would not be comfortable having people to have to go to their second choice.

USA Today: Now some people are comparing you with Ralph Nader, who in 2000, they say, drew enough support from Al Gore to elect George W. Bush—

Johnson: Like I say, like I say, I just, I reject that—

USA Today: —what do you say about the spoiler label?

Johnson: —I reject that, reject it, reject it totally. I am giving people a first choice. I'm believing that everybody that is voting for me is voting for me on the basis of first choice. The fact that I have proven myself to be fiscally conservative over the top, socially inclusive over the top; stop with the bombs, stop with the support of regime change that has resulted in the mess that we have in this world. Support among active military personnel—I am the number-one choice among active military personnel. And then support for free trade, something that neither Clinton or Trump are supporting.

USA Today: There have been reports that your running mate, former governor Weld, is less sanguine about the prospect of a Trump presidency than you are, and would if push came to shove at the end of the campaign possibly endorse Secretary Clinton. Is that true?

Johnson: That is bullshit.

USA Today: (pause) We are on Facebook Live.

Link via the Twitter feed of Eric Sturrock, which is a must-read for people following the Johnson campaign.

Some related materials:

* "'Trump Bad' Is Not a Good Enough Argument to Discourage Third-Party Votes, Democrats," by Scott Shackford

* "No, Ralph Nader Did Not Hand the 2000 Presidential Election to George W. Bush," by Anthony L. Fisher

Comments

[sarcasmic]

Nice.

[OliviaVincent]

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[GILMORE?]

what do you say about the spoiler label?

"What do you say about the "shameless Hack"-label?"

[Hyperion]

I like Gary's 'bullshit' response, but you just one upped him pretty good with that one. That would have almost made me vote for him.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Or ask why he hasn't called Hillary a spoiler for Trump fans and vice-versa.

[Curtisls701]

One of the best campaign comments, this cycle!

[(((Renegade)))]

+1 Howard Beale.

[Microaggressor]

Johnson: That is bullshit.

USA Today: (pause) We are on Facebook Live.

Heh. Gary should have responded with more profanity.

[robc]

I repeat a promise I made 4 years ago or sometime.

If I ever run for office (no!) and I am included in a televised debate (unlikely), I promise to use the phrase "Fuck off, slaver!" during said debate (guaranteed).

[Ayn Random Variation]

It would go over peoples' heads and you'd be called a racist. Like niggardly

[Zeb]

"Oh, sorry. That's some motherfucking, cocksucking bullshit. Is that more up to Facebook standards?"

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Profanity? On the Internet!??

[Crusty Juggler]

That Gasy Jasy is troble.

[Citizen X]

He is a useful especially idiot.

[creech]

"The only ones who've spoiled anything are the primary voters who selected these two unliked and unqualified candidates to carry out the constitutional duties of the president."

[PurityDiluting]

14% of eligible voters made that selection, per NYT

[brokencycle]

The interviewer wasn't inferring anything. They were implying he should drop out.

[MikeP]

USA Today: (pause) We are on Facebook Live.

Okay... that is bullshit, Friend.

[(((Renegade)))]

"Let me read you a short story by SugarFree..."

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

Oh, if only. I would probably give money to a candidate that did just that.

[Zeb]

That may be the only thing that would get me to give money to a candidate. Well that and "fuck off slaver" that robc promises should he ever run.

[robc]

You should hold off on the donation until I deliver. Just to make sure I follow thru. I would be running for office at that point, so would be a lying, untrustworthy scumbag. Who really shouldnt be elected to anything.

[Chips&Salsa]

I'd like to move us right along to a Gary Johnson. Now we had a chance to meet this young man, and boy that's just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.

[PurityDiluting]

every single day of my life has been less free than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the least free day of my life

[Brett L]

That's fucked up.

[Fist of Etiquette]

My Facebook innocence is in tatters.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Johnson: That is bullshit.

USA Today: (pause) We are on Facebook Live.

If I hadn't already been planning to vote for him, that exchange alone would've been enough to get me to vote for him.

[GILMORE?]

What's it called? "Stairway Staircase Wit"?

My own life is a chain of "moments where i could have had a better snappy-comeback" interspersed with "moments where i had exactly the best snappy-comeback possible, but which i should never have actually used because it ended up causing me enormous amounts of grief"

[The Last American Hero]

Well, the jerk store called...

[GILMORE?]

I wholesale for them

[The Fusionist]

I can't help liking Gary as he goes up against the lamestream media.

(can I call him Gary?)

[Hyperion]

The media are just going to keep up with their bullshit until they're more hated than used car salesmen, lawyers, and congress combined.

I'm giving Gayjay kudos on this one.

[The Fusionist]

"used car salesmen"

That's automobile dealers offering previously owned vehicles!

[Hyperion]

Fully commissioned to lie like a Clinton.

[Brett L]

Johnson: That is bullshit.

USA Today: (pause) We are on Facebook Live.

"Fuck your shitty little rules against swearing!"

[The Fusionist]

Even better if he'd done this:

INTERVIEWER: "So some of the recent polls show you attracting a lot of Millennial support, and taking away votes from Hillary Clinton. Are you comfortable with"

JOHNSON (turning to camera): "Can you believe this guy? He talks as if young people's votes *belong* to some incompetent crook of a politician and I'm quote, 'taking away' votes from her."

INTERVIEWER (sputtering): "I didn't say..."

JOHNSON: That was your clear implication. Now (continuing to look at camera), young people, your votes belong to you, not to me, not to Trump and not to Hillary. Your vote belongs to you - please vote your conscience and vote for someone who doesn't take your vote for granted, someone who will tackle our budget problems and reduce our foreign military adventures..."

INTERVIEWER: "I didn't..."

JOHNSON: "The Democrats have a sad history of thinking they own people. Libertarians think you own yourself. So please vote as your conscience dictates."

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I wish Johnson were that guy.

[PurityDiluting]

opera clap

[Hyperion]

I will vote for him if he bitch slaps the media like that. Unfortunately, quitting weed did not make Gary sharp as a knife. I think it had the opposite effect.

[Cynical Asshole]

I could see McAfee saying something like that. Maybe in 2020...

[Tony]

Isn't that guy a multiple murderer?

[Brett L]

Every president is by the end.

[Nativist, Racist & Xenophobe]

Johnson: That is bullshit.

He may have earned my vote, right there.

[Hyperion]

It should be his campaign slogan.

[The Fusionist]

"That is bullshit."

And...get ready for the "That is bullshit" jpegs, bumper stickers, pins, mugs, etc.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Until Weld announces his resignation from the campaign.

[The Fusionist]

Which would be embarrassing but to some of us, more of a "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out" moment.

[robc]

There is a Johnson/Weld yard sign just across from my neighborhood.

So my area of town:

Trump 1
Johnson 1
Clinton 0

[NoVaNick]

I like what he said, but have no doubt that it will be used against him to make him seem like he's unstable. Somebody will probably bring up that a 6th grade social studies class could have been watching the interview, and now there's proof that libertarians hate "The Children".

[Dog Star]

"... We are on Facebook Live." What a gutless media apparatchik whore.

"Gentlemen! You can't fight in here--this is the War Room!" Now that's how irony is done.

[perlchpr]

The moment Gary Johnson paved the way for the 2020 Penn/Teller ticket.

[Krabappel]

Johnson: That is bullshit.

USA Today: (pause) We are on Facebook Live.

Well it's a good thing they weren't on network television!

[Tony]

Everything about Bill Weld is pretty much sensible except the weirdness of his being on a third-party ticket. I wouldn't be surprised. They are polling too high not to be concerned about being a spoiler, the only function a third party can have.

[Tony]

The point being, of course, that running as a third-party candidate for POTUS is by itself evidence of being insane. That's if Jill Stein, Ralph Nader, and Ross Perot didn't clue you in to that fact.

[Pneumonial]

But concern trolling a website of people ideologically opposed to you, who have absolutely eviscerated you in every argument you've ever started, is purely the sign of rational thought at play.

[Krabappel]

What is that horrible stench coming from downthread here?

[Ayn Random Variation]

I like angry, contemptuous Johnson. It's what the moment calls for. I've seen this only one other time before.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Johnson: That is bullshit.

USA Today: (pause) We are on Facebook Live.

Johnson: Oh, my mistake. Fuck you, bitch.

[Holger da Dane]

"No really? I thought we were in Aleppo." *Eyeroll*