Is This The Sanest Man Running For President?

A few things you need to know up front about Gary Johnson. There is nothing he will not answer, nothing he will not share. For six straight days, we spent virtually every waking hour together, which might have had something to do with the fact that there wasn’t another reporter within ten miles of the guy. Or that when you’re polling in the low digits and your campaign fund is less than Mitt Romney’s breakfast tab and your entourage is Brinck and Matt, you tend to be more forthcoming. But in fact, Johnson is fundamentally incapable of bull(*)(*)(*)(*)ting, which is one of the many, many things that make him so unusual for a presidential candidate. (When a reporter asks him, after he gushes about how great New Hampshire voters are, if he says the same thing in Michigan, he replies, “No, Michigan’s the worst.”) He finds presidential politicking of the sort we’ve grown accustomed to—slick, scripted, focus-grouped, how-does-the-hair-look—to be “absolutely phony.”

Another thing you need to know: He was never supposed to be the fringe candidate, and his campaign is no lark. Before he officially declared, he visited thirty-eight states—on his own nickel—to get a sense of whether he’d be a viable candidate. He was the first GOP candidate to announce, in early April, and for about twenty seconds seemed like a contender. The wildly popular (still) two-term Republican governor from a state that is two-to-one Democrat. A guy who’s confident that he knows how to manage the purse strings and balance a budget because he did it—eight years in a row—in New Mexico. His fiscal conservatism is unmatched by anyone in the race. And his socially liberal cred—the only pro-gay and pro-choice Republican candidate—is unmatched even by some Democrats. (Of course, while this could be an asset in the general election, it’s a (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) of a liability in the GOP primary.) Even the backstory had a self-made charm: Born fifty-eight years ago in Minot, North Dakota, the son of a tire salesman turned teacher and a mom who worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Johnson started a one-man handyman operation when he was 21, grew it into a construction company with a thousand employees, and sold it in 1999 for about $5 million. Oh, and he named it Big J (for Big Johnson). “It didn’t have the same connotation at the time,” he swears.

But still. Do not confuse his Zen-like quality for a lack of cojones. The guy has brass ones. He’s a five-time Ironman triathlete. He paraglides and hot-gas balloons. (Not hot air, hot gas.) He biked across the Alps. And from the right angle, he looks like Harrison Ford.

So what on earth is so radioactive about Gary Johnson? And how did he become Nowhere Man in a field as chaotic and uninspired as this one?

Read the rest of the four page article here.

 

"Sanest" is certainly an appropriate choice of words. No sane man would run for president.

 

I keep waiting for some report or story about this guy that makes me question his ability or dislike him...it hasn't happened yet. And he has an excellent immigration policy that I'd like to learn more of. If he ever got any airtime in the debates, I think folks would find his record/views attractive.

 

Perhaps this Republic isn't ready for a Johnson or Paul....yet. Once everyone, even those who still hang onto our all controlling Government and are too afraid to think or do for themselves, realize that we are drowning, and after we have elected more of the same interchangeable version of D and R, we will wake up to the fact that we cannot survive with a form Government that sucks the very life out of everything it touches, including the will to survive.

 

The more I read about Johnson the more I like. I think I may pencil him in instead of Paul.

 

I suspect that if Gary Johnson really is sane, he won't see the light of day with all the Tea Party yammering going on.

 

I wouldn't. I like Johnson and all but he came in way too late. I also remember reading somewhere that Rick Perry wanted Johnson to come in because he thought it would detract support away from Ron Paul. I can't find the link to that though.

 

I would not do that - in a straw poll, in phone polling, yes, anything to keep his name out there; but not an actual primary vote: Paul gets that. That's pragmatic. Johnson has less chance of winning the Rep nomination than does Paul. Paul, despite the Rep establishment angst, has a large and devoted following...not the least of which includes many TEA partiers. And then there's this

Johnson did not come in late; you may only just becoming aware of him, but he's been in.

And the story you heard is incorrect. I've repeated this several times now, I need to go find the article again so I can source this...but here is the story:

Johnson has been quoted as saying that he was invited into the race by Ron Paul.

Now I just had to ask meself why?

If one found an ideological mate, an obscure governor, to run as your VP, what would be the most efficient way to introduce your unknown buddy to the party base than via the primary process?
And why would this be necessary? To avoid the Palin-effect.

Go to CSPAN, and watch the last 5 mins of the FNC-Google debate. The question: if you had to choose a running mate from one of the people on the stage who would it be:

Johnson said Paul.
Paul refused to answer at this point.
Forget the words...were you looking at Paul's face during these exchanges?

*blows on knuckles, and rubs them against chest* I'm telling ya, there's sumfin goin' on.

So do everything you can to keep his name out there, help keep him in the debates where he is visible and attracts more voters to the Paul-Johnson ticket.
But stand with Paul, and I believe, you will get Johnson.

 

"The STONEzone formally endorses Governor Gary Johnson for the Republican nomination for president in this very posting."

A veteran Republican strategist, Roger Stone was a founding partner of the well-known consulting firm, Black, Manafort, and Stone, which was instrumental in Ronald Reagan’s 1984 victory.

Read More

 

I can't stand the guy. He's just another RINO who has broken Reagan's 11th commandment too many times...."A Republican shall never speak ill will of another Republican". The guy's a loser...deal with it, and perhaps let him run as an independent.

 

The frame is that his main issue is legalizing drugs.
While you, me, and most people under sixty agree with legalizing or decriminalizing at least some drugs, there's still a substantial portion of the heavily-Republican, high turn-out older generation that views this as a toxic position.
And that's before we get to abortion.

Personally I like Johnson. He's more of a real libertarian than Paul (who's really an archaic paleo-conservative), and seems to have a fairly moderate (as libertarians go) policy agenda that's not as toxic to liberals (he admits the need for the poor to have government help sometimes). I'd never elect him president... but he's certainly better than the rest of the GOP field and at least I think ideology-wise he's closer to me (our disagreements-- often the case in liberal vs. libertarian disputes-- is over what policies work best).

I think he'd actually do better running as a Democrat than as a Republican (not that that's an option now)... but in either case, his campaign isn't going to work for something as big as the presidency until the Baby Boomers start dying off.

 

I see you agree with me in depicting Johnson as a feckless RINO. Good to see you're starting to come around in using basic common sense.

 

I agree he's not a conservative.
The term RINO is ridiculous. Rockefeller Republicans represent the old "Party of Lincoln" side of the GOP. The party is not meant to be a narrow ideological group.
Johnson is a libertarian, and not a particularly right-leaning one, so I don't see how he really fits into the GOP other than that it probably helped him to win the governorship.

Really the term RINO should be CINO... but then CINO-hunting doesn't sound as much fun.

 

Thanks for posting this, gypzy...I like what I read about him. I can't say I disagree with a thing he said in that article, which is something in itself.

 

If you're referring the 'C' in CINO as being 'Centrist' or 'Cynical' then we both have to agree that johnson is anything but a Republican/Conservative.

 

I loved the comment about Johnson's campaign fund not being able to cover Romney's breakfast tab?

1. What does that say about Johnson ?
2. Romney is pretty skinny/fit..he probably doesn't eat like Christie..
3. How would he know? lose a bet ? Golf maybe ?
4. New Mexico..? enough said.
5. Pot and Paul..
7. He would be better than Obama..as MOST People would. Conservative or Democrat.
Progressives and Socialist need not apply.

 

JB, where ya been? It seemed like you disappeared from the forum, suddenly I'm seeing your posts again. Nice to see ya back.

That certainly is not his frame. Apparently you did not watch the last debate. If so, what was the first line in all 4 of his responses (yes, that's all the air time he got)?
Name his issue?

He believes in legalizing, regulating and taxing pot, and decriminalizing hard durgs.

His logic for why pot should be legalized ranges from taxes, our own penal system, crime (both national and international), etc. Most can see the efficacy of his position, in spite of their personal fear of change. (Whether logic overcomes fear of course depends on the individual).

btw - Who said I was under-sixty?

 

I can't imagine a more inappropriate descriptor. Shall I count the ways?

 

He is a highly attractive candidate. I don't think he has an iceberg's chance in hell of winning the Rep nomination. But a very interesting candidate nonetheless.

 

He has too much common sense, or "horse sense" as my dad would say. People can't handle all that honesty...which is a shame. I think he would be a very refreshing option.

 

Don't bother. Unless you can count the many ways a RINO is feckless, then counting becomes a waste of time.

 

What you call a RHINO (I assume) is what I call the fascist wing of the current Rep-Dem dynamic duo.

In this regard, you are correct: RHINOs are a part of the problem, not the solution.

Johnson may technically be a RHINO (as in he is more Lib than Rep) but he does not fit the collectivist (Dem/Soc) model, and is in not part of the Corp majority. Paul is even less so.

 

Thanks. I was trying and failing to be more productive.

That may be so. But the media frame him as being for the legalization of drugs and that's all they talk about.

Just guessed.
But really I'm just talking in general. It tends to be older people who are for maintaining the drug war, while younger people tend to be for easing or ending it.

 

You are right, its the older crowd that aren't saddled with fried brain cells from smoking dope that gives them the clarity in which to fight the drug culture of the younger set.

 

Yeah, it takes "wisdom and enlightenment" to back a policy that results in turning ordinary people and the mentally ill into lifelong criminals.
Good luck with finishing your drug war in the next couple decades.
Your time's almost up.