{"id":32087,"date":"2011-09-22T23:01:36","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T05:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=32087"},"modified":"2012-07-09T06:42:58","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T12:42:58","slug":"gary-johnsons-zinger-heard-round-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/09\/gary-johnsons-zinger-heard-round-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Johnson\u2019s zinger heard \u2018round the world"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_32088\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 270px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-32088\" title=\"Johnson, Gary\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Johnson-Gary.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"231\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former N.M. Gov. Gary Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n<h4>Johnson\u2019s comment about dogs creating more \u2018shovel-ready jobs\u2019 than Obama \u2013 actually said first by Rush Limbaugh \u2013 earns former governor attention at GOP presidential debate<\/h4>\n<p>Yes, former N.M. Gov. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.garyjohnson2012.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gary Johnson<\/a> is still a presidential candidate, though most people paying marginal attention to the GOP primary probably didn\u2019t know it.<\/p>\n<p>Until Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>After being excluded from a number of debates, Johnson was finally allowed into one by Fox News. And while the media focused on the fighting between frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, Johnson got credit for the best line of the night.<\/p>\n<p>Near the end of the debate, Johnson had this zinger:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy next-door neighbor\u2019s two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Watch it here:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sPYOvOcBgOg\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The crowd cheered. The other candidates laughed. And the media found something to talk about besides the Perry\/Romney fight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor a candidate who is clocking in somewhere between asterisk and one percent in polling, the former New Mexico governor had a moment with his \u2018my neighbor\u2019s two dogs have created more shovel-ready projects than this president\u2019 line,\u201d the Washington Post\u2019s Chris Cillizza wrote in declaring Johnson <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/the-fix\/post\/gop-debate-winners-and-losers\/2011\/09\/22\/gIQAS1xJpK_blog.html\" target=\"_blank\">one of the debate\u2019s winners<\/a>. \u201cIt will be the most replayed line of the night \u2014 without question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/ballot-box\/presidential-races\/183481-gary-johnsons-big-line\" target=\"_blank\">The Hill<\/a> said Johnson \u201cseemed nervous\u201d through most of the debate but \u201cpulled himself together for one of the evening\u2019s more memorable lines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Afterward, a <a href=\"http:\/\/foxnewsinsider.com\/2011\/09\/22\/vote-who-won-the-fox-newsgoogle-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fox News online poll<\/a> (that\u2019s not scientific) had Johnson coming in second among the candidates who participated in the debate.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>Rush\u2019s line<\/h3>\n<p>Johnson released <a href=\"http:\/\/www.garyjohnson2012.com\/gary-johnson-sets-himself-apart-in-the-presidential-field\" target=\"_blank\">a statement<\/a> after the debate saying he \u201cmade it clear that he offers a real alternative to \u2018business-as-usual\u2019 in the Republican presidential field.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom individual liberties to drug policy to immigration, too often the Republican field has sounded like a chorus rather than an honest dialogue,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI am committed to bringing truth and real-world approaches to those and other issues, not just sound bites.\u00a0Tonight\u2019s debate was an opportunity to do that, and I suspect many Americans were ready to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson then <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/GovGaryJohnson\/status\/117087256753352704\" target=\"_blank\">took to Twitter<\/a> to reveal a truth about the line that got him all the attention:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cRe: the dogs, I understand Rush Limbaugh made the same point. Credit to Rush for a great and very true line.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Politico also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/0911\/64241.html\" target=\"_blank\">pointed that out<\/a> with a headline that screamed, \u201cRush made Johnson\u2019s joke first.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018No chance to be the Republican nominee\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Johnson has had a difficult time getting the attention of the national media. Even though he\u2019s polled as well as other candidates that have gotten more media attention (and by \u201cas well\u201d we\u2019re talking less than 2 percent), Johnson has been excluded from all but the first debate \u2013 until Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>He joined the other less-prominent candidates in not getting a mention in many articles about the debate, including one from <a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/romney-perry-other-gop-debate-020001045.html;_ylt=AjQSCJ72M72g1RnSbJjHeUis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNtamtuaWk2BG1pdANKdW1ib3Ryb24gRlAEcGtnA2E0ZjJkMTQzLWYzMjctM2YyMS05OTVkLThkNzZiMGE4MzY0NQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDanVtYm90cm9uBHZlcgMxM2E0ZGY1MS1lNTg4LTExZTAtOWYzZS0wYWExM2Q2NTY3N2Y-;_ylg=X3oDMTFvdnRqYzJoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3\" target=\"_blank\">The Associated Press<\/a>, until the last paragraph.<\/p>\n<p>Even though he was invited to the debate, Johnson didn\u2019t get a lot of time to make an impression. There were long pauses between his chances to speak during the two-hour debate.<\/p>\n<p>Cillizza summed up Johnson\u2019s performance this way:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cJohnson still has no chance to be the Republican nominee but deserves credit for a heck of a zinger.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Or does Rush?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, former N.M. Gov. Gary Johnson is still a presidential candidate, though most people paying marginal attention to the GOP primary probably didn\u2019t know it &#8211; until Thursday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[156,297,107,116],"class_list":["post-32087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-gary-johnson","tag-roundhouse","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}