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Posted on 11/26/2011 3:38:31 PM PST by freespirited
Disgruntled former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson says he is considering leaving the Republican slate and running as a third-party candidate in the 2012 presidential election.
"I feel abandoned by the Republican Party," Johnson, who has been left out of most of the Republican debates, told the Sante Fe New Mexican newspaper this week, saying he might seek the Libertarian Party's support.
"The Republican Party has left me by the wayside," said Johnson, whose polling numbers have recently been so low that they are often not even being picked up by pollsters.
"If I'd have been included in 16 of the last debates we wouldn't even be having this conversation," he said.
While the Libertarians are on the ballot in every state, Johnson acknowledged that the party, which espouse freedom of expression and action, had never received more than one percent of the nationwide vote.
Johnson, 58, holds dear libertarian values such as low taxes and limited government and wants to legalize marijuana.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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Dean barkley.
10 votes the GOP candidate will not be getting
There is no way he can win anything. Dumb move.
Who is this Gary Johnson going to attract? Certainly not disgruntled Ron Paul supporters, and probably zero Obamabots. Maybe somewhere in that “mushy middle” there is a kindred soul that coud be attracted to the shining charisma of Gary Johnson, or maybe only because that supporter has the same name.
Go away and let the adults get on with the serious business of screening potential candidates for the position of US President.
I heard him on WMAL’s “Morning Majority” a couple weeks ago.
He’s a Joke.
Total Liberal.
Pitiful man.
JOHNSON/HUNTSMAN
JOHNSON/HUNTSMAN
JOHN... never mind.
He’ll be running under the NORML party, since he’s for leagalizing pot.
Exactly, and worse, who were the 3,000 morons who voted for him? If it hadn't been for those 3,000 "third party" voters, this country would not be stuck with Obama care right now.
Votes matter and they matter a lot. There is nothing virtuous about voting "third party" unless you're a Greenie, or other left-wing voter, then be my guest.
Gary Johnson's campaign manager:
Thanks for the info. Saw a bumper sticker for this guy today and thought, who the hell is he?
Why he has a bumper stickers out in Michigan, I don’t know?
Well, the GOP has basically thrown Gov. Johnson out. It’s treating him the way it treated Alan Keyes.
Well...bye.
Gary Johnson is John Galt and a future (if not the next) POTUS.
I have no idea. But then, I didn’t know that the NBA had been on strike either. Thank goodness for Free Republic!
Nobody "prevents" a Republican from espousing the ideals and principles of the traditional Republican Party, which attracted many of us to the Party in high school and college. Small government, maximum individual freedom, leaving business alone to do business, all that stuff.
As long as most of the GOP candidates are "Democrat Lite," agreeing that the welfare state is A-OK (but it will work more efficiently with us in control!), there will be Gary Johnsons and Ron Pauls to muck up the works for the RINOs and others in the party who are committed to winning at any cost, since they believe the worst Republican is still better than the best Democrat, yada-yada.
The Libertarian Party, if you recall, was formed in 1971 in reaction to Nixon's abandoning the gold standard and imposing wage-and-price controls to keep inflation in check. The founders were mostly disaffected Republicans who believed (incorrectly, as it turned out) that if they ran Libertarian candidates who were solidly in support of individual rights and opposed to an ever-more-powerful federal government, the contrast would bring the Republicans to their senses and not give Nixon another term and maybe also elect more small-government types to office when there was a choice.
These people never expected, never even intended to win the Presidency. They would have been pleased if the Republican Party had just backed off a little from the big-government, out-bid-the-Democrats mindset which most of the Republicans in those days fell into by the end of their first term.
The Republican establishment, of course, paid no attention. After Nixon resigned in disgrace and Ford became President, look who was appointed--appointed!--Vice President: Nelson A. Rockefeller, a man who was the polar opposite of Barry Goldwater, the Republican Senator from Arizona who many of us looked up to as Mr. Conservative.
Then, despite Ford's bumbling with foreign affairs, the W.I.N. buttons and a plan to ration gasoline, the eastern Republican establishment saw him as their man and wanted every Republican official to fall in line to get him elected in 1976. This was mostly to prevent Ronald Reagan from getting his hands on the party machinery and, whether he won or lost the presidential election, purging Nixonians from positions of influence. (Does this sound just a little familiar?)
Carter of course was elected, and I have to say Republicans did it to themselves. An opportunity passed them by.
And they are heading in that same direction this year, whether we want to admit it or not. Playing to base emotions, waving the flag and pretending to be a tough guy--on Democrats, terrorists, entitlements, you name it--isn't going to win a national election against an incumbent President.
A change of direction is in order, and you won't be seeing it from Romney, Gingrich or most of the others on that platform.
Has there ever been a Republican governor--other than Gary Johnson--with the courage to veto so many bills passed by a Democrat legislature? I don't think so. Ronald Reagan didn't even come close (although line-item vetoes could count) during his governorship.
If you'd rather not see Gary Johnson run on the Libertarian or some other minor party's ticket, at least let the guy have a chance to be heard in the next debate. He has some good ideas, more good ideas as Santorum and Huntsman, fer cryin' out load. (Oh, yeah, I forgot--he's "pro-choice" so that will no doubt make him ineligible for the GOP nomination. As if the President has any control over the Supreme Court.)
Republicans used to be known as the "big tent" party during the Reagan years. You had a great variety of opinions on the way government should work, some good, some not so good, but everyone was given consideration because that was necessary to build party strength. You can't go pi$$ing people off who could help get you elected.
Recently, it's more common for Republicans to be called the "stupid party." Is it any wonder why?
Johnson along with Romney and Huntsman missed their chance at getting elected, if they had only run in their own parties primary against Obama.
Let me put it this way. You have a leftist Democrat candidate, a small government Republican candidate and a small government Libertarian candidate. Democrat wins 49% of the vote. Republican wins 48%. Libertarian wins 3%. Who is the Libertarian helping ? This is the point I’m making. (Mind you, if the Republican is an establishment, pro big government type, I will state that it is the Republican’s fault)
Now, with respect to Gov. Johnson, I don’t regard him as a Conservative but Libertarian. While there are some aspects of the shrinking government agenda most of us can agree on, some of the stuff (the drugs issue) are non-starters. My problem with Johnson is that he came and went and did very little to improve the standing of the NM GOP on his watch and all but passed the office to that bloated, corrupt, megalomaniacal buffoon, Richardson. Had he left a better record and not been so far out, we could’ve had him in DC now instead of Bingaman or Udall. As it is, he merely cuts in to Ron Paul’s base and not much else.
I doubt any of the GOP will beat Obama anyway, so I say Ron Paul should go ahead and run as 3rd party. If he does, Gary Johnson should either run as his VP or drop out.
Unlike Ron Paul, Johnson is a big abortion supporter. Anyone who is OK with him is not a conservative, at least not by the standards of this forum.
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