Gary Johnson crushes the hopes of libertarians everywhere by asking, "What is Aleppo?"

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 16:36 UTC

The Libertarian candidate for president has apparently not been keeping close tabs on the Syrian civil war that has decimated the country and created hundreds of thousands of refugees. As TalkingPointsMemo details the entire conversation...

"What would you do if you were elected about Aleppo?" Mike Barnicle asked Gary Johnson on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"About?" Johnson asked.
"Aleppo," Barnicle repeated, referring to Syria's second-largest city, which has been hit in recent weeks by a series of devastating chemical gas attacks and targeted bombing strikes on its few remaining medical facilities.
"And what is Aleppo?" Johnson asked sunnily, to the astonishment of the "Morning Joe" hosts.
"You're kidding," Barnicle said.

"No," Johnson replied.
"Aleppo is in Syria. It's the epicenter of the refugee crisis," Barnicle said.
"Okay got it, got it," Johnson said. "Well with regard to Syria I do think that it's a mess. I think the only way that we deal with Syria is to join hands with Russia to diplomatically bring that to an end."

The former New Mexico governor attributed the turmoil in Syria to "regime change."
"Aleppo is the center of a lot of people's concerns across the planet about the terrible humanitarian crisis that is unfolding not only in Syria, but especially in Aleppo," Joe Scarborough interjected. "You asked 'What is Aleppo?' Do you really think that foreign policy is so insignificant that somebody running for president of the United States shouldn't even know what Aleppo is, where Aleppo is, why Aleppo is so important?"

"I do understand Aleppo and I understand the crisis that is going on," Johnson said. "But when we involve ourselves militarily, when we involve ourselves in these humanitarian issues, issues, we end up with a situation that in most cases is not better."

Watch the clip below...

"I felt a great disturbance in the farce, as if millions of libertarian voices cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

Comment: The 3rd party candidate issues an explanation:

Following his Aleppo flub this morning, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson has issued a statement:

This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I'm human. Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict — I talk about them every day. But hit with "What about Aleppo?", I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict. I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign.Can I name every city in Syria? No. Should I have identified Aleppo? Yes. Do I understand its significance? Yes.

As Governor, there were many things I didn't know off the top of my head. But I succeeded by surrounding myself with the right people, getting to the bottom of important issues, and making principled decisions. It worked. That is what a President must do. That would begin, clearly, with daily security briefings that, to me, will be fundamental to the job of being President.

While some presidential candidates might have claimed it was a sexist question, attempted to distract from the question with ad hominem attacks, or blamed past medical problems, libertarian Gary Johnson offered a refreshingly honest statement basically saying, "sorry, I am human."