August 4, 2016

The great big, open, loving William Weld.

Here, I made this clip for you from last night's CNN town hall with William Weld, the Libertarian Party VP candidate, and Gary Johnson, the candidate for President:



Here's the transcript, which identifies Johnson as saying what, in fact, Weld says. The question asked comes from a college student who is a Muslim and a veteran, who says he can't vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton and wants to know "Why are you a better choice for somebody like me?" Johnson goes first and, in something not included in my clip, lists his positions, which are "the best of what Republicans are supposed to be about" and the best of what Democrats are supposed to be. Weld then takes his turn, thanks the student for his service, and — in the part that's in my clip — says:
If I could just throw an arrow in the air. To me, the real reason might be that we're decent people, we are both inclusive to the tips of our toes, great big, open, loving, if you will, society. And we know that this country has always been a melting pot. We know that's the strength -- the sinew of this country and we want to keep it that way. 
Anderson Cooper then says:
Governor Johnson, I've heard you use some words tonight. I don't think I've heard a politician use in a long time. At one point you said, I may be wrong, which I haven't heard a politician say that in a long time. And just now you said, well perhaps we're this, and perhaps, you know. Those are, I haven't heard a politician - -
Weld bursts in with: "Well, he's just an elegant guy, Anderson." And I just want to say that Weld is an elegant guy. Weld is great. I'm loving Weld.

51 comments:

Bad Lieutenant said...

Trump has been talking about love.

I liked Bill Weld when I was younger. Then again, I used to like Jack Daniels, too.

YoungHegelian said...

we are both inclusive to the tips of our toes, great big, open, loving, if you will, society.

Except, of course, to those millions of their fellow citizens, who, you know, actually believe in their ancestral faiths.

Why, those people can just get sucked into a "black hole" somewhere.

David said...

Weld will bind us together. It's so obvious.

RMc said...

"Why are you a better choice for somebody like me?"

You mean, a whiner?

mccullough said...

This is Merkel level nonsense. Is the US going to admit 100 million immigrants a year?

buwaya said...

A different brand of sweetener to go with the poison.
The cyanide now comes in cherry flavor as well.

Mutaman said...

Libertarians- Politics for 8 year olds based on the motto "You're not the boss of me".

AllenS said...

They got nothin'.

Jupiter said...

The question asked comes from a college student who is a Muslim and a veteran, who says he can't vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton and wants to know "Why are you a better choice for somebody like me?"

Does he mean as a target for jihad?

Mutaman said...

Johhnson's down to 265 -1 at betfair. Mead should borrow a few bucks from Ann and unbuckle.

traditionalguy said...

Libertarianism is a mental illness too. All ideologies are.

But this pair of old white hippies are the best ones seen since the species nearly went extinct from drug overdoses.

Sebastian said...

"we are both inclusive to the tips of our toes, great big, open, loving, if you will, society. And we know that this country has always been a melting pot." 1. A melting pot assumes we're admitting people who want to melt. How do we know? 2. It's easy to love people at other people's expense. This is libertarianism?

Sounds like Johnson and Weld got the Althouse message: don't be cold! don't make the women cry!

Jim Sweeney said...

As I recall, Weld was not a big hit as Governor of MA. He flopped as a presidential contender too did he not? And, since then? What has he done? Build golf courses, buildings or what?

jr565 said...

"If I could just throw an arrow in the air. To me, the real reason might be that we're decent people, we are both inclusive to the tips of our toes, great big, open, loving, if you will, society. And we know that this country has always been a melting pot. "
No one is opposed to your existing immigration policy which is built around the melting pot idea. Dems have been violating said laws for the longest, and then made arguments that lack of support of illegal immigration meant you hated immigrants and were opposed immigration.

Smilin' Jack said...

If I could just throw an arrow in the air. To me, the real reason might be that we're decent people, we are both inclusive to the tips of our toes, great big, open, loving, if you will, society. And we know that this country has always been a melting pot. We know that's the strength -- the sinew of this country and we want to keep it that way.
Anderson Cooper then says:
Governor Johnson, I've heard you use some words tonight. I don't think I've heard a politician use in a long time. At one point you said, I may be wrong, which I haven't heard a politician say that in a long time. And just now you said, well perhaps we're this, and perhaps, you know. Those are, I haven't heard a politician - -
Weld bursts in with: "Well, he's just an elegant guy, Anderson." And I just want to say that Weld is an elegant guy. Weld is great. I'm loving Weld.


Sounds like the whole show would be lovable to people who love mawkish incoherence.

mockturtle said...

Cooper and Trump must have studied speech in the same class.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I just went to the CrossFit website.

Looked at the way the images are presented.

Did an AltParse®.

And I am convinced, now more than ever, that they are aiming for chicks.

CrossFit is for chicks.

Kind of makes me wonder what the hell is going on with today's chicks.

tim in vermont said...

Weld was a good governor of Massachusetts.

rcocean said...

"Weld was a good governor of Massachusetts."

Do good Governor's quit because they got bored with the job?

As for his stance on immigration. I'll translate for you. When he says "we're a big open loving society, a melting pot" what he really means is: "rich and well-to-do people like me love cheap labor and high rents".

sunsong said...

I hope Johnson/Weld do well in November!

Chris Lopes said...

As a former resident of the People's republic of Massachusetts, I'd say Weld was less than inspiring and certainly not a libertarian. On the other hand, the Libertarian party is the least objectionable this year and no more likely to win than they were in previous years.

n.n said...

It's well enough that they support women's "final solution", selective exclusion ("="), and anti-native policies, but Pro-Choice without "benefits" is a weak platform.

tim in vermont said...

Do good Governor's quit because they got bored with the job?

As for his stance on immigration. I'll translate for you. When he says "we're a big open loving society, a melting pot" what he really means is: "rich and well-to-do people like me love cheap labor and high rents".


Reminds me of the joke about the restaurant, not only was the food terrible, but the portions were tiny!

tim in vermont said...

He won me over with his comment about Mass becoming a welfare magnet due to their policies of making up social security numbers so that illegals could collect welfare. Of course that battle is long since lost. One reason I left the state. Vermont has taxes, for sure, but they don't sit around all day thinking of things to tax the way they do in Mass.

tim in vermont said...

Remember when Dukakis wanted to put state troopers on Rt 3 to collect sales taxes from people returning from shopping in New Hampshire? Weld wouldn't have come up with that kind of nonsense.

Tank said...

Weld is the end of America.

A useful idiot.

End of story.

rehajm said...

Weld is just boring enough as leaders go. Except he took down the Newton tolls in the middle of the night. It was a time in my life when I didn't have toll money so for that I loved him. Jesse Helms killed his appointment as Ambassador to Mexico as Weld has always been pro choice. His prose is 'interesting'. Okay at racquetball. Other than that he's boring.

This book of his is an okay read.

mockturtle said...

He looks like a sot, to me.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Weld is great. I'm loving Weld."

From earlier posts:

Althouse prepping us for November's "Why I voted Third Party" post.

Her conscience won't let her vote for Hillary.

Her fears won't let her vote for Trump.

Her sense of responsibility won't let her abstain from voting.

This will be framed in the context of a 'conversation at Meadhouse'.

I could write it for her, if she wants.


I am Laslo.

Titus said...

Weld was a very successful republican governor in a deep blue state. I was there and still am.

Titus said...

Mass republicans are democrats though in other states. We have like no social conservatives thank god.

Titus said...

And we are the highest educated state in america natch but education is bad in republican circles.

narciso said...

and yet they have elected elizabeth warren, the successor to h stuart hughes, and john kerry,

the choice of weld and johnson seems as illconsidered as james birney's liberty candidacy in 1844, a circumstance then whig abraham lincoln mused the following year, if not for birney,
clay would have won, and polk would have been kept out,

narciso said...

some explanation here,

http://bay-journal.com/bay/1he/writings/birney-james-g-liberty-party.html

Gusty Winds said...

A vote for these guys is just plausible deniability to say I didn't vote for Clinton or Trump. It's the choice that allows you not to make a choice.

narciso said...

choose wisely,

http://redalertpolitics.com/2016/08/04/gary-johnson-endorses-blacklivesmatter/

Phil 314 said...

Dammit, they're not angry enough!

Anonymous said...

Weld to conservatives: "I'll stop you and melt with the world."

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Weld put the Justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Judical Court who authored the first-in-the-nation same-sex marriage decision.

Rosalyn C. said...

What about all the hard questions? How would they deal with Healthcare? The healthcare mandate? The trade imbalance? Amnesty? The National debt? How will they cut the federal government? How would they handle ISIS?

Seems like their solution to all divisive problems is put people to sleep. Perfect for people who are undecided.

narciso said...

well it is CNN, no hard questions except about transgender pot smoking eskimos,

jg said...

weld seems to me deeply cynical here. i guess that's a function of my seeing him as a spoiler - i never followed him before.

Saint Croix said...

Dear Governor,

I would like to vote for you! You remind me of Thomas Jefferson.

Big fan of liberty.

Here is Thomas Jefferson, writing eloquently on the horrors of slavery,

he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce; and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, & murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.

It's like he was suggesting that slaves were people or something. Crazy, man! The authorities had spoken! How could a slave be a person. All the white people were like, "you got to change that, Tommy. You are dragging us down with your negative vibes, man."

So he took it out. But at least in his heart, he knew slavery was bad. He did not say, "I think the government should provide free slaves for everybody who wants one." He wasn't trying to attack Queen Hillary and Her Evil Veep by suggesting she was too timid on the slavery question. I mean, if Thomas Jefferson had written a Declaration of Independence in which he criticized the king for his failure to provide more and more slaves to the colonies, John Adams might have said to himself, boy these people from Virginia are idiots.

I think it was Jefferson Davis who said, "You can be an abolitionist, but don't try to force your views on me." If Jefferson Davis was running today, I'm sure he would be going on and on about free trade. "Free trade in baby parts! I don't know what a person is! Keep your moral judgments to yourself, and vote for me!" He may or may not try to get the kids stoned so they would vote for him. Anyway, keep up the good work, sir!

Saint Croix said...

Governor, you are right that babies are weak and helpless human beings. They are non-viable. As such, it's quite acceptable to stab them in the neck and kill them. That's how our authorities have ruled. And who are we to question our authorities?

Of course, our authorities can get really embarrassed when the violence comes to light.

Mick said...

CNN is only giving this forum because a vote for them is a vote for Clinton. They CAN"T WIN, are total milquetoast, and basically stand for nothing.

Mick said...

You voted for the USURPER Husseim Obama twice "law prof", so excuse me if I disregard your judgment about Weld. Will you ever apologize for what you helped do to America? Will any of the Usurper voters? Doubt it.

damikesc said...

we are both inclusive to the tips of our toes, great big, open, loving, if you will, society.

Long as you don't have religious beliefs. Than you can go fuck yourself and bow down to the state, as all Libertarians believe, deep down.

Weld was a good governor of Massachusetts.

Long as you don't much care for free speech on college campuses.

And we are the highest educated state in america natch but education is bad in republican circles.

Having virtually no racial diversity does that.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Mick, for the record, AA claims that she voted for Romney.

Anonymous said...

To me, the real reason might be that we're decent people, we are both inclusive to the tips of our toes, great big, open, loving, if you will, society. And we know that this country has always been a melting pot. We know that's the strength -- the sinew of this country and we want to keep it that way.

A mostly meaningless statement, though the parts that can be construed to mean something aren't true.

R.J.Chatt: What about all the hard questions?

If any problems remain after soaking in bromides, it's because of all the wreckers out there not being who we are.

John Althouse Cohen said...

CNN is only giving this forum because a vote for them is a vote for Clinton.

CNN is also going to do a town hall with the presumptive Green Party nominee, Jill Stein. She's more liberal than Clinton, so she tends to help Trump.

damikesc said...

They both hurt Clinton more than Trump.

Libertarianism is a great idea...provided one can completely unravel the safety net and insure that immigrants cannot vote to provide goodies again.

You cannot do that, so it is a terrible ideology.