I am all for third party (or fourth party, or...) candidates, and I have no problem casting a vote for one if our views align, if he or she is serious and/or if he or she is the best person for the office. That has happened in the past. Indisputably, our two-party system has serious flaws in it.
However, this is not the year for the third party candidate. Mike Stauffer has not made the case in his independent bid for Maricopa County Sheriff, Doug Quelland is not the answer in his state Senate race, and now Gary Johnson, Libertarian nominee for President, has shot himself in the foot.
At a debate broadcast on C-Span last night with several minor party candidates, Johnson made the strangest "vote for me" closing pitch. Watch it below, then I'll print the transcribed quote, just so you can make sure he really said what you thought he said
“Wasting your vote is voting for somebody that you don’t believe in. That’s wasting your vote. I’m asking everybody here, I’m asking everybody watching this nationwide to waste your vote on me.”
When I read that quote, I just had to track down the video, to make sure it was not stripped out of context, or to see if he was grinning when he said it. Unfortunately, it was without irony, and he did not seem to notice that he just suggested that voters not believe in him, and THEN to vote for him. (Sure, I know what he meant by the first sentence. But, he should NOT have then tried to equate a vote for Johnson with a wasted vote.)
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