I did not know what it was until I looked it up. Or maybe I knew but forgot.
I guess if you want to be in charge of US foreign policy, you should be better informed than the average person.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/gary-johnson-aleppo-227873
Not like anyone’s taking him seriously…
You wouldn’t know by reading this forum.
I’ve always wondered why we expect the presidential candidates to be experts on every topic. If I was hiring the next CEO of say, GM, I’d expect them to have a strong grasp of the automotive industry, but I wouldn’t necessarily care if he knew the difference between a standard piston and a hemi-piston…or some other detail like that. I would care much more about who he plans to surround himself with and how he makes decisions. I’d care more about the process that he intends to use than the outcomes he hopes he can achieve.
I didn’t watch the clip but it sounds like he recovered quickly when he realized the topic was Syria. Can’t fault the guy too much for spacing for 5 seconds.
Good point, but poor analogy. Not knowing what Aleppo is does not equate to not knowing the difference between pistons, it’s not knowing the difference between a combustion engine and battery power.
But he can recite The Fountainhead word for word.
Yah, Gary Johnson is a dope.
As much as I want to point and laugh, the reporter didn’t really frame the question well.
Typical low horsepower gotcha reporting. Recall of the name of a city is no indication of whether or not you have the capacity to understand the nuances of the region. That’s all that matters. He probably can’t name the capital of Canada either. I’ve slept there many nights and it slips my mind. Just not that important when it comes to my understanding of Canadian politics. The understanding takes time. The name of a city can be refreshed with a click of a mouse.
I would have expected him to be familiar with Aleppo and the fact that he wasn’t is disappointing.
I’ve now watched the clip of GJ and then also the panel’s reactions after the interview. No question about it, this was a BIG blunder on his part. I get that he doesn’t need to have automatic recall of the entire global map, but Syria in particular is a country that the next POTUS needs to have a very close understanding, and I was disappointed to see that he doesn’t seem to have as deep of an understanding as I believe he should.
Then again, his policy positions focus on keeping the government out of your bedroom and bathroom (and closet?).
hes a hack. He probably doesnt know what Crimea is either?
He should have used the Trump strategy and immediately made an outlandish comment about something else, so people will forget what he originally said.
The ability to lead and govern is not a game of Jeopardy. I’m not concerned that Obama doesn’t know the difference between intercontinental and transcontinental. I’m sure he’s capable of grasping the concept. The chances of GJ not having read extensively on Syria is nil. It slipped his mind briefly. Why do people care about these types of slips? Seems to be the realm of the weak thinker to me.
^Obviously, we’re all human and make mistakes. Unfortunately for GJ or any other POTUS candidate, the bar is much, MUCH higher than that for an average person. There is no reason to overlook it, but I also don’t feel that this disqualifies him either. It is worth noting in the evaluation of current presidential candidates. And as someone that more closely identified with him, especially as compared to the other candidates, it is disappointing for me to see when an error is made.
It’s not like he randomly said “President Obama knows exactly what he is doing” for no reason.
phrasing was terrible. if i was asked, “what would you do about ciudad juarez?”. i’d be like, what did you say? is ciudad juarez an english word? why would a reporter say aleppo and not syria? or aleppo and not the ten other large cities in syria in disarray? stupid.
I agree that it’s a bit odd the reporter singled out Aleppo instead of just asking about Syria in general, but Aleppo specifically has been in the news quite a bit over the last year or so and as Syria’s largest city I would expect a presidential candidate to at least be familiar with it.
As former governor of NM, I suspect he would have handled a question about Ciudad Juarez without thinking twice.
haha, true.