Thread: Gary Johnson

Why am I just hearing about this guy? And whats his flaw?





From Outside mag.

In addition to high-altitude mountaineering and Ironmans, his CV includes ultramarathons, 100-mile mountain-bike competitions, paragliding, balloon racing, and several other life-threatening pursuits. (Let’s pause for a moment to imagine Mitt Romney skiing Tucks or Michele Bachmann negotiating the Hillary Step.) These days, Johnson tries to schedule training events, like local bike races or road runs, during his campaign stops. He may be the only presidential candidate in a century whose exploits fairly qualify him as a modern-day Teddy Roosevelt.

I'm going to have to find this dude and see if he wants to go for a trail run.


He's us.

At times his adventure narrative gets overplayed, like in 2001 when he was attending a Western Governors’ Association meeting and persuaded the U.S. Ski Team, whose members were doing a freestyle aerial exhibition, to let him perform a backflip off a ski jump in front of the other governors. Or underplayed. At the South Carolina debate in May, a moderator asked sarcastically, “We understand you’ve run 30 marathons. What are you running away from?” Instead of pointing out that he was running away from inactivity, sloth, and poor health, Johnson tried to absorb the hit: “I’ve also had the good fortune to have summited Mount Everest,” he said earnestly.

A. he's too libertarian on the drug issue. B. He doesn't appeal to the hoards because he isn't sufficiently pissed and spouting dumb shit on a consistent basis. To some extent, that's been Huntsman's problem as well. The mob likes the pugnacious douchebags with simpleton themes and a birther track record over any voice of reason.

I agree with many of his positions, which means he is essentially unelectable. At best, he'll pull votes away from Ron Paul (which is fine by me).

Originally Posted by Moeghoul

A. he's too libertarian on the drug issue. B. He doesn't appeal to the hoards because he isn't sufficiently pissed and spouting dumb shit on a consistent basis. To some extent, that's been Huntsman's problem as well. The mob likes the pugnacious douchebags with simpleton themes and a birther track record over any voice of reason.

This.......

Yep, too reasonable to ever get elected POTUS.

Shame really.

Originally Posted by Bunion

Yep, too reasonable to ever get elected POTUS.

Shame really.

My buddy and I were just talking about how this guy needs more press. I feel like I'm always saying that with candidates I like though.

Why is he "too libertarian" on his drug stance?

Because the hardcore religious arm of the R party will not vote for him. Seems like there is a group whos main concern is regulating morality.

His views on the death sentence probably can't help?

Originally Posted by Tuckerman

Seems like there is a group whos main concern is regulating morality.

Welcome to the repugnican base.

Originally Posted by SkiNebraski

Why is he "too libertarian" on his drug stance?

He is in favor of legalized weed, which is a Libertarian view.

Republicans hate legalized weed because their corporate donors from the private prison industry will lose half their customers...

Overall I like the guy. I saw him in one of the early debates, he did well on the few questions they let him answer. They kept him way off to the side, and did not let him talk much.

If it was Obama vs. Johnson or Huntsman, I could see myself voting for a Republican this time. Both of those guys are very common sense conservatives. But if it is Obama vs. Bachman/Perry/Cain/Newt/Mittens, then I will stick with Barry for a second term.

Edit to add: I see DDT has not posted in this thread yet. He must be waiting for a response from his corporate overlords about what to say about an intelligent conservative who makes sense.

Originally Posted by Tuckerman

Because the hardcore religious arm of the R party will not vote for him. Seems like there is a group whos main concern is regulating morality.

The ENTIRE PLATFORM of the democratic party is a regulation of morality. THINK for two seconds.

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

The ENTIRE PLATFORM of the democratic party is a regulation of morality. THINK for two seconds.

I just spit tea everywhere. Coming from you that is quite the statement!

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

The ENTIRE PLATFORM of the democratic party is a regulation of morality. THINK for two seconds.

Thing is this thread is not about dems. You could be right.

What Moeghoul said. Since I live in UT and my vote is meaningless I will probably write him in.

Bumping this thread. Good stuff from this guy.

Originally Posted by hitek79

Bumping this thread. Good stuff from this guy.

Agreed...not a complete lunatic on climate change too...and is on board with evolution. Not sure why most of the RP supporters around here don't get behind this guy. I guess it's like the problem he's having nationally though. The concept that RP has a better chance is getting in the way...if everyone who said that supported GJ I think things would change markedly. The again, convincing a RP supporter that RP is wrong on anything is impossible.

I met the guy a few times, and have even been on a group ride with him.

He's likeable, low-key, intelligent (if maybe a little too impressed about his free solo of the Hillary Step). That's why he gets no love. Ours is a media driven culture now, and it's the wing-nuts, crackheads and narcissistic sociopaths that make for good teevee.

Making for good teevee makes you electable. Notions of what makes for good governance are not part of the equation.

Apparently his is now gunning for the Libertarian nomination, which means he could potentially be on the ballot in every state.

Before NH, he was asked why he didn't run as either a Libertarian or Independent and he said he was in it to win. But a lot has changed since then.

Originally Posted by SkiNebraski

My buddy and I were just talking about how this guy needs more press.

How much press you get is directly proportional to how much money your campaign has, because that determines how much campaign advertising you will buy. Media companies won't back candidates who won't spend money on commercials with them.

That is why every candidate without tens of millions of dollars is automatically "dark horse" and "unelectable".

When Gary Johnson hammers Newt for "hypocrisy" on introducing legislation to execute pot smokers I wonder if he realizes that Newt really only meant that the law would apply to “urban youth” not the pigmentally challenged?

Shame on you Gary Johnson.

http://ivn.us/2012/05/10/gary-johnso...em-fears-them/

So does no one comment on this thread because GJ is reasonable, and therefore no one gets to call anyone an idiot for agreeing with him?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Johnson

Originally Posted by Political Positions (Wikipedia)

"Johnson holds fiscally conservative, socially libertarian views,[77] and a philosophy of limited government[78] and military noninterventionism.[79][80] Johnson is in favor of simplifying and reducing taxes.[81] During his governorship, Johnson cut taxes fourteen times and never increased them.[82] Due to his stance on taxes, political pundit David Weigel described him as "the original Tea Party candidate".[83] Johnson supports balancing the federal budget immediately.[84] He supports "slashing government spending", including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security entitlements.[81] His plans include cutting Medicare and Medicaid by 43 percent and turning them into block grant programs, with control of spending in the hands of the states to create "fifty laboratories of innovation".[84] He advocates passing a law allowing for state bankruptcy and expressly ruling out a federal bailout of any states.[78] In his campaign for the Libertarian Party nomination, he stated he opposed foreign wars and pledged to cut the military budget by 43 percent in his first budget as president.[80] He would cut the military's overseas bases, uniformed and civilian personnel, research and development, intelligence, and nuclear weapons programs.[85] [86] He is opposed to the United States' involvement in the War in Afghanistan and the Libyan Civil War.[87] He has stated that he does not believe Iran is a military threat, would use his presidential power to prevent Israel from attacking Iran, and would not follow Israel, or any other ally, into a war that it had initiated.[88] Johnson is a strong supporter of civil liberties and received the highest score of any candidate from the American Civil Liberties Union for supporting drug decriminalization and online freedom while opposing USA PATRIOT, enhanced airport screenings, and the indefinite detention of prisoners.[89] Johnson endorsed same-sex marriage in 2011;[90] he has since called for a constitutional amendment protecting marriage rights.[90]"

While I'm not on board with all of his views, such as wanting to cut the military budget by 43%, I do like many of his views. Seems that his record as governor of NM is pretty consistent. Lots of tax cuts. No tax increases. Any New Mexicans wanna chime in on this? Also cool that he lives in Taos, so you know he'd be good for mag rights everywhere! Even if he can't get any traction, I wish his some of his views would.

Every politician, including President Obama and President Bush, claims that they want to "reach across the aisle" working with both parties, but seems like Johnson has views that actually WOULD please both sides...low taxes/fiscally conservative/slashing entitlement budgets to please those of us on the right; pro-same sex marriage/anti-war for those on the left. Plus, he's a strong supporter of drug decriminalization. Despite some of his views we may disagree with here and there, it's a win-win for a lot of people! Seems like this dude isn't easily swayed by lobbyists, and that's something we can all appreciate.

At this point he has my vote.

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