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2016-09-09 Home Front: Politix
Gary Johnson asks: 'What is Aleppo?'
[THEHILL] Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson on Thursday shocked the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" by seeming to not know what the Syrian city of Aleppo is.

"What would you do if you were elected about Aleppo?" MSNBC political commentator Mike Barnicle asked Johnson minutes into an interview with the former New Mexico governor.

"And what is Aleppo?" Johnson asked.

"You're kidding," Barnicle responded.

"No," Johnson said.

"Aleppo is in Syria," Barnicle said. "It's the epicenter of the refugee crisis."

"OK, got it, got it," Johnson said.

He then attempted to flex his foreign policy knowledge.

"With regard to Syria, I do think that it's a mess. I think that the only way we deal with Syria is to join hands with Russia to diplomatically bring that at an end," Johnson said.

"But when we've aligned ourselves, when we've supported the opposition of the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
, the Free Syrian Army is also coupled with the Islamists, and then the fact that we're also supporting the Kurds, and it's just a mess," he added.

"Aleppo is the center of a lot of people's concerns across the planet about the terrible humanitarian crisis that is unfolding," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough told Johnson.

"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?" he asked.

"No, I do understand Aleppo and I understand the crisis that is going on," Johnson responded.

The "Morning Joe" hosts were disturbed about Johnson's confusion about Aleppo.

"My god, can you believe it?" Scarborough asked co-host Mika Brzezinski after a commercial break. "It would be like asking, 'What is Sarajevo?' in 1991. It is stunning."

He called Johnson "so ignorant on foreign policy to ask, 'What is Aleppo?' on national television."

Bloomberg's Mark Halperin interviewed Johnson minutes after the interview, and MSNBC broadcast smartphone footage of Johnson saying, "I'm incredibly frustrated with myself."
Posted by Fred 2016-09-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ]  Top

#1 When Mike Barnicle runs through you like crap through a goose, you should know you're a loser.
Posted by Raj 2016-09-09 00:08||   2016-09-09 00:08|| Front Page Top

#2 His job is to split anti-Hillary vote --- not to know where Aleppo is at.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2016-09-09 04:33||   2016-09-09 04:33|| Front Page Top

#3 Actually, Gary had heard some time back that a leppo is a leopard skin wrapped bong. But he got baked and forgot...
Posted by M. Murcek 2016-09-09 07:33||   2016-09-09 07:33|| Front Page Top

#4 So, he's as aware as most Americans. Also a situation prompted by the current White House and State Dept interference.
Posted by Procopius2k 2016-09-09 08:24||   2016-09-09 08:24|| Front Page Top

#5 Aleppo? I'll take two scoops with pistachio please.
Posted by JohnQC 2016-09-09 09:03||   2016-09-09 09:03|| Front Page Top

#6 Aleppo is something you arm both sides.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2016-09-09 11:20||   2016-09-09 11:20|| Front Page Top

#7 #1 - Wonder who Barnicle plagiarized for the question...
Posted by Frank G 2016-09-09 11:44||   2016-09-09 11:44|| Front Page Top

#8 Foreign policy has always been the Libertarian Party's soft underbelly.
Posted by Iblis 2016-09-09 11:47||   2016-09-09 11:47|| Front Page Top

#9 Hardly, it's let the forriners do what they want, long as they don't Bogart the joint.
Posted by Shipman 2016-09-09 12:09||   2016-09-09 12:09|| Front Page Top

#10 Aleppo? It's a brand of dog food.
Posted by SteveS 2016-09-09 12:50||   2016-09-09 12:50|| Front Page Top

#11 the 6th Marx brother..
Posted by dk70 the scantily clad 2016-09-09 16:38||   2016-09-09 16:38|| Front Page Top

#12 Sounds like a typical Congressman.
Posted by Count Galeazzo Thravirt1405 2016-09-09 17:25||   2016-09-09 17:25|| Front Page Top

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