09-08-2016, 11:45 PM
Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee, has just made a major gaffe during an MSNBC interview. He was asked what he thought of Aleppo. In a variation of Hanson's "Please explain", he asked, "What is Aleppo?" He must have thought he was a contestant on Jeopardy. The guy who asked the question looked like Johnson had vomited on the table as he explained it is the city at the epicentre of the war in Syria.
David Axelrod tweeted that this was probably a good time to use the "Sorry, I was high" card (he favours legalisation of marijuana and says he smokes it but he's promised not to do so in the White House).
Probably, this will help Clinton. Trump does better in debates when he has more than 1 opponent whereas Clinton wants to zero in on Trump. Johnson requires an average of 15% in certain polls to qualify for the debates. He was sitting on only 9% and dropped slightly below that over the last week. The opinion pollsters are shifting from polling registered voters to polling likely voters and the thinking is that this will work against him. This unforced fumble will compound his problems.
The other benefit to Clinton is that Johnson is likely to take votes from her rather than Trump. Republicans who dislike Trump may feel better about voting for a Libertarian than Clinton. If he self-destructs, those voters may go to Clinton. On the other hand, it's not likely that Johnson was ever going to lure voters who like Trump.
David Axelrod tweeted that this was probably a good time to use the "Sorry, I was high" card (he favours legalisation of marijuana and says he smokes it but he's promised not to do so in the White House).
Probably, this will help Clinton. Trump does better in debates when he has more than 1 opponent whereas Clinton wants to zero in on Trump. Johnson requires an average of 15% in certain polls to qualify for the debates. He was sitting on only 9% and dropped slightly below that over the last week. The opinion pollsters are shifting from polling registered voters to polling likely voters and the thinking is that this will work against him. This unforced fumble will compound his problems.
The other benefit to Clinton is that Johnson is likely to take votes from her rather than Trump. Republicans who dislike Trump may feel better about voting for a Libertarian than Clinton. If he self-destructs, those voters may go to Clinton. On the other hand, it's not likely that Johnson was ever going to lure voters who like Trump.