Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager’s inability to provide specific answers to “basic questions” during an interview Wednesday led Joe Scarborough to warn of “tiptoeing into Gary Johnson territory.”
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” panel told Robby Mook that his answers on Syria’s civil war were reminiscent of Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johson’s failure to identify the city of Aleppo. Direct questions by co-host Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle were met with vague generalities, which forced Mr. Scarborough to interject.
“We love you, buddy, but what are you here for if you can’t answer basic questions?” the host asked, Mediaite reported. “I mean, we may be tiptoeing into Gary Johnson territory here if you don’t know the answer to that basic of a question.”
Mr. Mook was first asked if Mrs. Clinton was disappointed in 2013 when President Obama failed to act on his infamous “red line” in Syria.
“You’d have to ask her about that question,” Mr. Mook replied.
“So, day one in office then, Robby, what does she do in regard to Syria?” Mr. Geist asked.
“She will work with our allies to dismantle their safe harbor in Syria and Iraq,” Mr. Mook said. “She will harden our defense here at home, and she will dismantle their network around the world. And a lot of that is going to happen in cyberspace and digital communications.”
When Mr. Barnicle asked what Mrs. Clinton would do differently than Mr. Obama in response to Aleppo, the campaign manager again replied, “I think you’re going to have to ask her that question,” Mediaite reported.
The interview ended when he declined to confirm Mrs. Clinton’s current position on no-fly zones in Syria.
“Aren’t you here representing her point of view?” Mr. Geist asked. “You’ve been saying that Donald Trump won’t tell us what his policy is, but here you are, not telling us what the policy is.”
“Donald Trump has not laid out his plans,” Mr. Mook replied.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.