Libertarian Thread

[ElectionsGuy]

Libertarian Party Poll - Who won the debate?

Petersen - 45%
Johnson - 23%
McAfee - 19%
Other - 13%

Three way:

Petersen - 51.5%
Johnson - 26.5%
McAfee - 22.0%

I tend to agree. I was disappointing with this debate, even though its just for Stossel's show. All the candidates seemed to have dramatic up and down moments of the debate, Johnson especially is just awkward in his speaking and seems like he never rehearsed or cared. Petersen is the Marco Rubio of the libertarian party presentation wise, and the most libertarian-lite of them all ideologically. He's the candidate that probably doesn't have the best policies but the one that is the most polished who seems very pragmatic and reasonable. McAfee is somewhat weird with his questioning of Stossel, definitely the one that could be casted as 'out there' or whatever, but very polished on some answers with good confidence. I would vote for all three of these guys so I don't mind who gets nominated, what I really want though is for the libertarian party to become much more high-profile than it has been. Its really sad seeing good alternatives being shut out by the corporate media. Its quite sad that this qualifies as an official 'forum' for a political party, and that previous debates that look like they were filmed in a potato and get 88 views on Youtube. Things really need to change...

[ElectionsGuy]

https://www.lp.org/poll/who-won-the-libertarian-presidential-debate-on-stossel

^^ The poll is actually from the libertarian party itself. Other is just what I combined as all the other silly options on there, that's why I did the three way. As to why Johnson did better than McAfee, maybe party insider bias? Don't know. I do think this is the worst I've seen of Johnson speech wise.

It would be be magnificent to have Ron Paul run as a libertarian, one can dream.

[ElectionsGuy]

Fox News, MSNBC, CNN need to start vetting for national Libertarian debates on TV. It's the only way more people get exposed to an alternative 3rd party to the GOP and DEMs.

The problem is that will never happen. Big media is funded by special interests of the two major parties that want to lock out any alternative opposition.

[ElectionsGuy]

Yeah, I'm not going to lie, one of my least favorite moments was Petersen's Penny Plan advocacy. It's just too terribly simplistic and doesn't do enough to cut spending.

[ElectionsGuy]

I think Johnson did better this time and kind of redeemed himself a bit, but still had a few hesitant and akward answers which he needs to work on. Still, definitely better for him, no clear winner this time in my opinion. From watching these debates, I can now sort of classify these candidates: McAfee is your 'true libertarian' with deep philosophical thinking, Petersen is pretty ideological but also has a bit more of a conservative and constitutional bent to him, and Johnson is the most pragmatic, perhaps skeptical of purity while still being libertarian enough, of the three.