CNN's Libertarian Town Hall in 3 Minutes
Gary Johnson and Bill Weld present their policies to a national audience.
Libertarian Party presidential and vice presidential candidates Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, who are polling around 10 percent in the national polls that include them, participated in a CNN-hosted town hall Wednesday that introduced them to a national audience that's barely heard of them.
In a year in which the electorate dislikes the major candidates more than ever in history, Johnson and Weld had what might have been an historic opportunity. The discussion touched on the full complement of issues, from ISIS to healthcare to heroin. So how'd they do?
In the video above, Reason TV distills the discourse down to the three minutes you won't want to miss.
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Johnson's making me reconsider my belief that smoking weed doesn't make you dumb and slow. I don't care though; I'm still enthusiastically voting for him and will continue bring him up whenever my friends decide to bring up politics (which luckily is rare).
He quit a few weeks ago.
I can only assume that quitting weed makes you dumb and slow.
THC hangs around in your system a long time.
Not buying that smoking it makes you dumb or slow once the high recedes -- unless you think that creativity and out-of-the-box thinking and intuitiveness and chill / less violent are those things.
I was kidding about the weed making you dumb part, although being high definitely makes all my friends even more retarded than they normally are.
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Oh my god this picture:
Boys in the green room
Please add your own caption.
Why is Alice Cooper meeting with the Taliban in that picture?
Cans of Canada Dry? CNN really knows how to treat the talent!
Fruit and carbonated drinks dont seem like the best choice before going on TV.
It's perfect, if you want to make the interviewee appear occasionally uncomfortable...
I guess I'm the only one - the positions of Johnson and Cuomo made me see something and now I can't unsee it. CNN really does no how to treat the talent!
BREAKING NEWS (crosspost): SCOTUS Upholds Affirmative Action in University of Texas Case
Another great "Libertarian Moment" for our wonderful Supreme Court and America.
4-3?
Who recused themselves?
Kagan - she filed an amicus brief in this case when she was Solicitor General.
I figured it was her, but the article was less than worthless.
So it matters now, but not with Obamacare.
It is unclear what impact Scalia's death in February ultimately had on the opinion.
Simple guess: It would have been 4-4.
Which means nothing changes, as the appeals court ruled for UT.
Freddie Gray Verdict: Officer Not Guilty on All Charges
The legal system is 0-2 today, and I haven't even had my morning coffee.
Make that 0-3. They also ruled warrantless breathalyzer tests are constitutional because they only impact your privacy a teeny tiny little bit.
That notion - that it is only a minor violation of your rights - seems to be very popular. I've seen it quoted in several EU cases as well.
As we all have a tendency to say around here... what part of "shall not be abridged" is unclear?
The three minutes should consist solely of that professional amateur drug warrior - who doesn't realize her son got into his predicament without the need to have heroin legalized - flustering the candidate.
They should have been fucking ready for the heroin question. Put it on a fucking cue card and read it, fer chrissakes, if that's what it takes to not step on your dick:
"I sympathize, ma'am, with your son's plight. That being said, when someone takes heroin, they shouldn't expect that will likely result in a long and healthy life. Further, what happened to him, happened under the current regime of illegality that you defend. That illegality makes it possible to sell heroin adulterated with even worse poisons than the heroin itself -- the same way Prohibition caused alcohol to be laced with poisons that killed thousands of people. Why would you defend a system of prohibition that did what it did to your son?"
It would have been interesting to see McAfee's response to that question. I suspect the odds would have been at least 70/30 in favor of something like this:
"While I sympathize with what you went through with the death of your son and offer you my condolences, your son made his choices. What part of freedom and liberty do you not understand, you stupid git?"
Probably true. A lot of people who are strong libertarians like NAP and the like, but that would fall flatter than flat with everyone else. Utilitarianism blended with respect to an extent for individual rights is what people will respond to. Or people respond to just kind of liking someone for no real, particular reason.
From the Twitters:
You really think he'd start with expressing sympathy?
That's more or less the message I would have delivered, except for the last sentence. Don't turn it back on the mom of the guy he OD'd. Instead, stress that in a system of legalization, it would be easier to get help. Contrast with AA and the myriad number of OTC products that help people quit smoking. We don't have the same things for drugs because 1) research into products that could help people quit is almost impossible and 2) addicts are afraid to come forward and get help due to the social stigma and legal penalties.
Yeah, Libertarian Debate 101. Ron Paul handled it better. Do you think everyone's gonna start doin' heroin just because it's legal? And heroin is illegal now -- how'd that work out for you?
"what happened to him, happened under the current regime of illegality that you defend"
That really needs to be at the core of how they deal with the question. We're not condoning drugs, we're condemning prohibition because it creates more problems than it solves.
But really we are condoning them, and condemning prohibition because it makes it worse.
Calling for legalization isn't the same as condoning. You can do both but they are not mutually exclusive. Might be just semantics.
Yeah, there were a lot of great ways to answer her question and they did not do a great job of it
Next appearance: Have an audience member hold up a dead puppy. Mr. Johnson, this puppy died because there isn't enough funding for the local shelters. As a libertarian that wants to reduce taxes, why do you support the killing of puppies?
Didn't the Reason commentariat call this? I'm going to vote for Johnson, and he was likely the best choice to run, but Johnson and Weld are awful at trying to explain libertarianism because they're not actually ideologues.
But somebody who properly espoused the core tenets of libertarianism would get .5% of the vote because everybody's been brainwashed to think the government is good when their guys are in charge. Baby steps.
but Johnson and Weld are awful at trying to explain libertarianism because they're not actually ideologues.
I disagree that ideologues are necessarily good debaters. It's preparation and practice that make people effective in debates. It's also certainly beneficial to feel comfortable speaking in front of a crowd or millions of people.
This. Yeah, of course I agree taxation is theft. But 99% of Americans are going to roll their eyes at that.
I think prolefeed above, though, did a far better job at answering the heroin question in a way, that I don't believe would be too offputting.
You don't have to be an idealogue. I'm not an idealogue and I could have come up with better answers.
Now, could I have done it in a high stress situation like that? Probably not, but then, that's not my job.
I also still think Johnson was a better choice than McAfee or Petersen, but he really does need more prep and coaching if he wants to get up on the main debate stages.
And the question is pointless because Congress wouldn't even bring it to a vote.
I already wasn't a fan of Weld's, but that "Hillary is a close, close freinds" bullshit makes me positive loathe the SoB.
McAfee would have been MUCH better. I don't know why everyone seems to think "he was likely the best choice" because he held elected office once. He is neither a good speaker nor libertarian. McAfee would poll much higher at this point in time if given a chance.
Ideological consistency is our strength, not a weakness. We should try to convince them that the NAP is right in principle, rather than pandering to their preexisting statist views.
He would have been better at feeding red meat to us. He would likely also have been better at coming off as a kook to the middle-of-the-road independent housewife in Tulsa.
CNN must figure Johnson will pull more votes from Trump than Clinton.
Hopefully Johnson gets a lot more air time from other networks too, for whatever reason. And then people will realize they don't really need to vote for Trump or Clinton.
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I actually though Chris Cuomo did a pretty good job as moderator.
I only watched the gun question live. Again, bush league move by CNN, but Johnson really screwed up the response. He looked totally caught off guard. He didn't even do the obvious and commend the woman for saving her friends life and console her on experiencing that trauma, which in addition to being a decent thing to do, would have given him more time to compose himself and give a good answer.
I feel like I need to be volunteering for Johnson's debate prep team.
Yeah, he needs serious coaching. It's like watching a puppy with ADD. His head and eyes constently flitter about, his voice fluctuates up and down which gives the appearence he doesn't seem confident in anything he says. He also seems reluctant to go libertarian past the point that he feels the people asking the questions would feel comfortable with. I had it recorded so it cut off during the free trade question so didn't see it all.
Nice to get some mainstream media attention, but it barely registered in Google News headlines. The House sit-in to deprive thousands of American citizens of some of their rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is getting way more coverage.
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Obama, whose namesake healthcare policy is among the most unlibertarian thing to happen in our lifetime, is apparently a "good guy". And his VP was pals with Clinton.
If Gary Johnson sucks up leftist votes by appearing as a democrat lite, that would actually help Trump. Which accomplishes..... nothing.
I saw Mcafee take down the ACA websites with his tech savvy, and he looked like a smart, energetic guy. Gary Johnson is white bread personified. Mcafee makes SECURITY products for computers. He would have been a nice contrast to Clinton.
I think the LP blew it.
Recorded it, but haven't yet had the time to watch it. However, this morning I read a Newsweek article about the Ls. It was your classic hit piece about how cute the Ls are but they have NO CHANCE of any success, so save your vote for someone who counts. However, as I read through the comments, it became apparent that the author and the readers do not align on this. Most commenters were positive, hopeful, impressed, and a few even were swayed to vote L.
The voice of reason is being heard! BTW I thought we were the purple party.
It was a crap show. I desperately want them to do well - but they need some coaching. We could use an aggressive libertarian alternative but this was complete amateur hour.
I'm a gun owner and active shooting competitor. Since I don't want to one day spend time in jail because of "commonsense gun control" (lie) I'll probably end of choking down my vomit and voting for Trump. It doesn't have to be this way but the town hall performance was not confidence inspiring.
Bill Weld a Libertarian? Johnson is definitely more of an libertarian but should know better than go on the Communist News Network. How could he sit next to Weld is beyond me. If you wanted a libertarian than Ron Paul was the man to elect. This is really a joke and is going no where.
Weld was aggressively anti-Ron Paul, a rare man of principle.
Weld as the face of LP is vomitatious.
Raimondo correct that Johnson's the perfect beta male.
We need Ron Paul's grit.
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