Here is a transcript of the infamous Nov. 1, 2016 Maddow-Weld interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I4Fk... in which Libertarian Weld promotes voting for Clinton.
I am judging Johnson by the standards that he has set, or aspires to, by himself - the libertarian ideals. To those, he is a traitor and he has set the Libertarian Party back a generation or so. I don't think that anyone on this forum would even contemplate voting for the Hillary vermin. And since Trump has many policy issues that make me cringe, voting for the Libertarian Party was a way to send a protest message and perhaps make the LP viable in the future. But at this point, voting for Johnson represents what?
I think that Johnson thought he needed a prominent person with political experience in order to have a chance at getting in the debates and he made a serious mistake selecting Weld. I have thought this from the beginning. I have no inside information on how Johnson selected Weld or whether he thinks Weld is libertarian, but I think Johnson is quite sane and by far a better choice for president than either Trump or Hillary.
Would you agree that after hearing Weld in this interview, if Johnson thinks either Weld or himself, so long as he supports Weld, is representing Libertarian ideals, then he is delusional?
If that was a valid way of thinking, all who supported Nixon are as guilty as he was. Judging an entire party because 51% of the delegates to the party convention agreed to let the presidential candidate have his choice for running mate on the second ballot is irrational. It was a single poor choice by both Johnson and by 51% of the delegates. Overwhelmingly libertarians recognize that Weld is an un-libertarian statist.
After Weld said of Hillary as being honest and of high moral character, anyone looking at today's Libertarian Party as anything other as an extension of the DP is delusional.
Now I'm really out on these clowns. First Johnson makes Libertarians look like fools, and now the "freedom party" endorses the far more restrictive of the other two?
Maddow: "Why would that person not weight threat to the country against hope that the libertarian party gets its 5% this year? Why would a person pick the Libertarian vote in that case?"
Weld: "The person could very well decide not to do that."
Weld is sadly correct. My dream of one of the mainstream candidates completely imploding did not come true.
Not what I heard. What I heard was, given the inevitable choice between a giant douche, and a turd sandwich, weld said the turd sandwich is better because we already know what it taste like.
If Hillary wins, we will be LUCKY to avoid conflict with Russia. She wont declare war on them, but she will get us backed into a situation like shooting down their planes in Syria and one thing will lead to another.
This is why I said the libertarian ticket is very intellectually challenged. I saw that the first time I saw a "town hall" with anderson cooper and johnson. He makes the libertarian movement just look bad.
Clinton wants to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria, which would require shooting down Russian planes--but has the gall to frame Trump as the one who can't be trusted with the nuclear button.
Clinton, if she got a Democrat majority in Congress, would trample the Constitution to an extent not seen since FDR.
And Weld fears Trump?
I've voted for every Libertarian candidate for President (including the write-ins) since the party was formed, and I was going to do the same this year. But after reading this I think I'll have to pull the lever for Trump.
Posted by ewv 8 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
Transcript of second half of interview:
Maddow: "[sighing] Given, given that. Um, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna circle back to the question I asked before. Um. Somebody listening to you right now in North Carolina, knowing that North Carolina may decide who the next president of the United States is. Hearing you in terms of what you think about Donald Trump and him being, uh that that you fear for the country if he is elected. Why wouldn't it be -- if if those are the stakes, and that person is deciding well, I'm gonna vote against Donald Trump -- and you concede basically that you're not gonna win the -- you and Gary Johnson are not gonna to win the presidency. Why, would that person not weigh threat to the country, fear for the fate of the country, against hope the Libertarian Party gets its 5% this year. Why would a person pick the Libertarian vote in that case if the, if the stakes are that high between voting for Clinton and Trump?"
Weld: "Well, the, the person could very well decide not to do that. And for someone deciding not to do that I have a lot to say about Mrs. Clinton that uh has not been said by others, uh recently and I that think needs to be said. I mean I've know her for forty years. I've worked with her, I know her well professionally, I know her well personally, I know her to be a person of uh high moral character, uh a reliable person, uh and uh an honest person, eh however so much uh Mr. Trump may rant and rave uh to the contrary. So uh I'm happy to say that, and people can make their own choices."
Maddow: "I feel like you're, you're butting up against a [laughing] gossamar, ceiling, here, a very uh, in that you're I mean you're not getting -- you're not quitting, you're not stepping out of the race. Um I heard you say to today on MSNBC that you'll cast a vote for the Libertarian ticket, on which you are --"
Weld: "That would be our ticket."
Maddow: "That would be your ticket, your and Gary Johnson's ticket. But do you honestly believe that Gary Johnson would be a better president than Hillary Clinton?"
Weld: "I think he'd be capable of being a good chief executive and yes a commander in chief Aleppo to the contrary not withstanding. Uh he was a strong governor, and, uh, you know, I believe in the platform of the Libertarian Party, which is different from that of the other two parties, and I believe that it would be good for the country if the Libertarians were to have a seat at the table to speak truth to power of the other two parties, which now have this monopoly uh in Washington. Having said that I'm not taking back anything I said about the massive difference between the two establishment party candidates. One would be chaos for the country, I think, and the other would be a very uh, uh business-like and and capable and competent approach to our affairs."
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Not good at all.
Weld: "The person could very well decide not to do that."
Weld is sadly correct. My dream of one of the mainstream candidates completely imploding did not come true.
Clinton, if she got a Democrat majority in Congress, would trample the Constitution to an extent not seen since FDR.
And Weld fears Trump?
I've voted for every Libertarian candidate for President (including the write-ins) since the party was formed, and I was going to do the same this year. But after reading this I think I'll have to pull the lever for Trump.
Maddow: "[sighing] Given, given that. Um, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna circle back to the question I asked before. Um. Somebody listening to you right now in North Carolina, knowing that North Carolina may decide who the next president of the United States is. Hearing you in terms of what you think about Donald Trump and him being, uh that that you fear for the country if he is elected. Why wouldn't it be -- if if those are the stakes, and that person is deciding well, I'm gonna vote against Donald Trump -- and you concede basically that you're not gonna win the -- you and Gary Johnson are not gonna to win the presidency. Why, would that person not weigh threat to the country, fear for the fate of the country, against hope the Libertarian Party gets its 5% this year. Why would a person pick the Libertarian vote in that case if the, if the stakes are that high between voting for Clinton and Trump?"
Weld: "Well, the, the person could very well decide not to do that. And for someone deciding not to do that I have a lot to say about Mrs. Clinton that uh has not been said by others, uh recently and I that think needs to be said. I mean I've know her for forty years. I've worked with her, I know her well professionally, I know her well personally, I know her to be a person of uh high moral character, uh a reliable person, uh and uh an honest person, eh however so much uh Mr. Trump may rant and rave uh to the contrary. So uh I'm happy to say that, and people can make their own choices."
Maddow: "I feel like you're, you're butting up against a [laughing] gossamar, ceiling, here, a very uh, in that you're I mean you're not getting -- you're not quitting, you're not stepping out of the race. Um I heard you say to today on MSNBC that you'll cast a vote for the Libertarian ticket, on which you are --"
Weld: "That would be our ticket."
Maddow: "That would be your ticket, your and Gary Johnson's ticket. But do you honestly believe that Gary Johnson would be a better president than Hillary Clinton?"
Weld: "I think he'd be capable of being a good chief executive and yes a commander in chief Aleppo to the contrary not withstanding. Uh he was a strong governor, and, uh, you know, I believe in the platform of the Libertarian Party, which is different from that of the other two parties, and I believe that it would be good for the country if the Libertarians were to have a seat at the table to speak truth to power of the other two parties, which now have this monopoly uh in Washington. Having said that I'm not taking back anything I said about the massive difference between the two establishment party candidates. One would be chaos for the country, I think, and the other would be a very uh, uh business-like and and capable and competent approach to our affairs."
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