# Liberty Movement > Liberty Campaigns >  CNN to Host 2nd Libertarian Townhall

## CaptUSA

Let's hope they practice this time...




> On Wednesday, August 3, CNN will host a Libertarian presidential town hall in primetime at 9 p.m. Johnson and Weld will field questions from voters, and Anderson Cooper will moderate.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-med...wn-hall-226498

I don't have high hopes for the outcome, but the inclusion is somewhat refreshing.  (imagine if they had done this with Harry Browne...)

UPDATE:

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## euphemia

Of course you don't have high hopes for the outcome.  The candidates are not Libertarian.  The moderators are liberals.

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## notsure

CNN is putting in alot of extra effort this season trying to promote the Libertarian Party. I don't know if it's "refreshing" or "disturbing". The timing seems a bit odd. Didn't I read an article on this forum that said Johnson/Weld, the Libertarian Party, mainly draw from the Republican Party?
I've never seen the LP get as much attention as they are now. NEVER seen CNN do a townhall for them, and now they're doing 2.
Is this CNN's effort to draw votes away from the right and help tilt the election in Hillary's favor?
Is this CNN's effort to get Gary above 15% and placed into the debates?
Unfortunately, I don't think Gary being included in the debates will do him or the LP any favors.
Debates and public appearances are not his strong suits.

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## 69360

This is a big deal. I don't recall any prime time third party since Perot.

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## Occam's Banana

> I don't have high hopes for the outcome, but the inclusion is somewhat refreshing. (imagine if they had done this with Harry Browne...)


Ironically, the efforts of great spokesmen like Harry Browne are what have made this sort of thing possible in the first place.




> CNN is putting in alot of extra effort this season trying to promote the Libertarian Party. I don't know if it's "refreshing" or "disturbing".


To kill or to co-opt, that is the question ...

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## euphemia

If they want liberty principles they will invite the Constitution party candidate, too.

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## jllundqu

> Let's hope they practice this time...
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-med...wn-hall-226498
> 
> I don't have high hopes for the outcome, but the inclusion is somewhat refreshing.  (imagine if they had done this with Harry Browne...)


Good for CNN.  Will there be any libertarians there?

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## euphemia

Folks on this board criticized Trump/Republicans for not talking about the Constitution during the convention.  If Ron Paul is our standard, and if we are going to be fair, then we need to apply the same standard to Johnson/Weld.

Your guy did it too/does it worse is not an argument.

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## Suzanimal

> Good for CNN.  Will there be any libertarians there?


Bill Weld - the _Original_ Libertarian (thanks, OccamsBanana for the reminder in another thread)will be there

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## Occam's Banana

> Good for CNN.  Will there be any libertarians there?

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## MattRay

I'm very worried about Bill Weld. I hope Gary speaks more, and I really hope he keeps mentioning the NAP and continues to ditch the "socially liberal: description. If he does that and Weld keeps his low tax liberalism to a minimum, I'll call it a win compared to last time.

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## dannno

> Didn't I read an article on this forum that said Johnson/Weld, the Libertarian Party, mainly draw from the Republican Party?


I doubt it.

*Gary Johnson continues to pull more from Clinton than Trump* 
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...ton-than-Trump





> Ya I have been trying to tell Trump supporters for months that Gary going after leftists is the best possible scenario and not to hate on him too much for it..

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## James Otis, Jr.

I really hope Gary Johnson does a better job presenting himself and libertarian ideas this time.  Because the last time he completely failed and it was a big opportunity missed.

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## Champ

CNN assumes that Libertarian votes will steal votes for Trump so they are giving increased exposure here.  GJ says that they are taking evenly from both major parties, which would make the assumption by CNN false.

Curious where the Green Party town hall is, especially now that Jill Stein chose her VP.  Hint: they don't want disaffected Bernie supporters being encouraged to vote for Stein so the glorious chosen one Hillary has maximum potential to win.

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## CaptUSA

It is quite encouraging how much CNN has been promoting this.  They even have had a countdown on the bottom of the screen.

Surely, the DNC thinks this will hurt Trump and CNN is doing their job for them, but who cares?!  I don't care *who* it may hurt.  Introducing a third option into the conversation is always good.  (Even if that option is Gary Johnson)

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## cindy25

> Of course you don't have high hopes for the outcome.  The candidates are not Libertarian.  The moderators are liberals.


most CNN viewers are Clinton supporters, so pulling votes to Johnson is a good  thing.  I would like to see a Green (Socialist) party forum, so Stein gets more Clinton votes.  Johnson may not be Libertarian but he is better than Clinton

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## adam220891

Just heard a guy on CNN say something to the effect of 'I'd vote for Rand Paul the libertarian, but not Gary Johnson, because he isn't even one.'

Sigh. Such a shame we got stuck with GJ and Weld.

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## surf

don't put too much thought into this networks motivation: CNN is hoping for ratings. hope it does well.

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## adissa

> CNN is putting in alot of extra effort this season trying to promote the Libertarian Party. I don't know if it's "refreshing" or "disturbing".


Pretty obvious it's to hurt Trump.

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## CaseyJones

bump

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## CaptUSA

First segment was pretty solid.  Libertarian? Probably not.   But viable third choice?  Yeah, think they nailed it.

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## RJ Liberty

> Pretty obvious it's to hurt Trump.


Johnson's pulling about equally from both candidates, though.

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## CaptUSA

Anderson asked the damned gay wedding cake question again.

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## Krugminator2

> Anderson asked the damned gay wedding cake question again.


This is by far the best he has done.

His answer to that cake question was so laughably bad though. His answer has actually gotten worse.

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## cindy25

I was watching it on the comp, and stupid CNN International went on and on about 1 person killed in London.  ONE, 100.  had to find a CNN USA live stream: http://www.zahitvstation.com/watch-cnn-usa-live

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## CaptUSA

So far, they've been pretty good.  Not ideal.  No red meat for libertarians.  But a reasonable alternative for people who don't want Clinton or trump.

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## CaptUSA

All in all, I'd say that was a pretty good night for them.  Not really a libertarian display, but they should appeal to a wider audience.  I expect their poll numbers to rise a little.

Social media has been fairly positive as well.




> Curious where the Green Party town hall is, especially now that Jill Stein chose her VP.  Hint: they don't want disaffected Bernie supporters being encouraged to vote for Stein so the glorious chosen one Hillary has maximum potential to win.


Oh, and CNN will be doing a Green Party townhall as well.

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## Champ

> Oh, and CNN will be doing a Green Party townhall as well.


Yep, I saw them make the announcement at the end of the Libertarian town hall.  I guess they were waiting for Jill Stein to make her VP announcement and she finally did a few days ago.  It seemed curious that the Libertarian party had already had 2 town halls, with no mention of any upcoming Green Party town hall, despite slowly rising poll numbers for them.

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## RJ Liberty

> All in all, I'd say that was a pretty good night for them.  Not really a libertarian display, but they should appeal to a wider audience.  I expect their poll numbers to rise a little.
> 
> Social media has been fairly positive as well.


Anyone have a YouTube link? I am traveling, so no access to DVR, and couldn't watch the live feed.





> Oh, and CNN will be doing a Green Party townhall as well.


That's cool. I don't know whether to feel grateful to CNN for covering the third parties this year, or feel pissed that in other years, they haven't bothered to even mention them. I guess I'll go with "grateful".

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## CaptUSA

> Anyone have a YouTube link?


Begins @ about 34:45




Let me know if anyone finds a better one and I'll add it to the OP.

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## RJ Liberty

Thanks!

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## puppetmaster

> This is a big deal. I don't recall any prime time third party since Perot.


  why are they doing it......ah. they need to dilute the vote.  Watch them advertise and make a big deal...then say wow everyone should look into this and give this party a chance knowing full well it only ensures their evil witch wins. We are so screwed

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## puppetmaster

> I doubt it.
> 
> *Gary Johnson continues to pull more from Clinton than Trump* 
> http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...ton-than-Trump


  this may be ,but what it does do is give the vote counters someone to blame. Then they make sure their candidate wins....then they blame the 3rd party and it won't have a chance in the future. So many scenarios....

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## CaptUSA

> this may be ,but what it does do is give the vote counters someone to blame. Then they make sure their candidate wins....then they blame the 3rd party and it won't have a chance in the future. So many scenarios....


But then why do the same thing for the Green Party?  How many people could Trump possibly lose to Jill Stein?!  How many Bernie supporters could vote for her?

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## puppetmaster

> But then why do the same thing for the Green Party?  How many people could Trump possibly lose to Jill Stein?!  How many Bernie supporters could vote for her?


  true. But I think they want hillary not Trump.

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## 69360

> why are they doing it......ah. they need to dilute the vote.  Watch them advertise and make a big deal...then say wow everyone should look into this and give this party a chance knowing full well it only ensures their evil witch wins. We are so screwed


We are screwed no matter if Clinton or Trump wins. It really doesn't make much difference.

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## euphemia

> But then why do the same thing for the Green Party?  How many people could Trump possibly lose to Jill Stein?!  How many Bernie supporters could vote for her?


The Green Party will pick up Bernie supporters, for sure.

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## puppetmaster

> We are screwed no matter if Clinton or Trump wins. It really doesn't make much difference.


 quite likely, but I would prefer Trump to screw me over clinton.....sounds kinda gay!  Ew

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## CaptUSA

> true. But I think they want hillary not Trump.


That's what I'm saying.  If they were just doing it to help Hillary, they wouldn't be giving her potential supporters the Jill Stein option.  They'd want to keep that under wraps.

You guys still think there's some big difference between Hillary and Trump in the eyes of the media...  There's not.

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## puppetmaster

> That's what I'm saying.  If they were just doing it to help Hillary, they wouldn't be giving her potential supporters the Jill Stein option.  They'd want to keep that under wraps.
> 
> You guys still think there's some big difference between Hillary and Trump in the eyes of the media...  There's not.


  i see positive spin for Hillary on the news and only see negative spin for Trump on the same channels.  For my own personal choice of the $#@! choices I want a crazy old man over an evil old witch.

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## afwjam

I watched it, much better then I expected. Johnson is still Johnson, but he was a lot more articulate then I've seen in the past.

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## RJ Liberty

The CNN town hall was viewed by 1.6 million viewers. Not bad!

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## Smitty

Johnson lost everybody who was trying to decide between him and Trump when he stated that "we should embrace immigration".

Hillary will be losing votes to both Johnson and Stein. I don't see Trump losing votes to either of them.

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## CaptUSA

http://reason.com/blog/2016/08/05/hu...ns-second-libe




> Perhaps more important than the raw numbers is the massive uptick in viewership for Wednesday's event compared to a similar Libertarian Town Hall discussion hosted by CNN on June 22. Overall viewership was up 74 percent and viewership in the 25-54 demographic increased by 101 percentmore than doubling the "in demographic" audience for the first town hall with Johnson and Weld

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## RJ Liberty

> http://reason.com/blog/2016/08/05/hu...ns-second-libe


Most excellent.

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## CaptUSA

> Most excellent.


Yes it is.  CNN beat O'Reilly for this hour.

What that means is that the network has been shown that they can garner ratings now by giving third parties airtime.  This is indeed, excellent.

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## RJ Liberty

> Yes it is.  CNN beat O'Reilly for this hour.
> 
> What that means is that the network has been shown that they can garner ratings now by giving third parties airtime.  This is indeed, excellent.


Good point, Captain. If the networks see that they can get good ratings by giving third party candidates coverage, then they will continue to give them coverage. No media blackout means the third parties have a fighting chance, and future political campaigns could even benefit as well.

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## eleganz

> http://reason.com/blog/2016/08/05/hu...ns-second-libe


Wow how epic, 2016 is really starting to be a black swan year for libertarians!

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## MattRay

> We are screwed no matter if Clinton or Trump wins. It really doesn't make much difference.


Exactly. We should know this as Ron Paul supporters. Big government is big government. I can't support anyone who has used government force for personal gain and supports illegal NSA spying

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## MattRay

I thought Gary was ok. He could have been better, but at least he didn't buy into the nonsense of semi-automatic bans and gun control, and at least said something nobody else would say that there's nothing to be gained from staying in Afghanistan.

Weld on the other hand, made me cringe when he mentioned drones as well as the need for government during a crisis. The man just doesn't get it at all. At least Gary has pretty good instincts and would be an improvement on most issues, despite his lack of solid principles, but Weld is basically a modern Rockefeller Republican.

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## r3volution 3.0

> CNN is putting in alot of extra effort this season trying to promote the Libertarian Party. I don't know if it's "refreshing" or "disturbing". The timing seems a bit odd. Didn't I read an article on this forum that said Johnson/Weld, the Libertarian Party, mainly draw from the Republican Party?


The Democrats might well be clandestinely supporting the LP in order to take votes from the GOP in the general (or vice versa, as it's not really clear who the LP draws from most). But, as a libertarian, whose cause will benefit from a high LP turnout, and who is indifferent to whether the blue or red criminal wins in November, why do I care? By way of analogy, If I'm an American colonist in 1780, do I care why the French are sending me money and weapons? My cause benefits regardless of whether they're doing it for love of liberty or for cynical geopolitical reasons, to smite their British foe.

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## r3volution 3.0

> Johnson lost everybody who was trying to decide between him and Trump when he stated that "we should embrace immigration".
> 
> Hillary will be losing votes to both Johnson and Stein. I don't see Trump losing votes to either of them.


Johnson will draw small-government GOPers, anti-war/pro-civil-liberties Dems, and a great many generally disgusted independents.

He won't get the frothing at the mouth nationalists/alt-righters, you're right, Trump's got that (and only that) locked up.

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