By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZThe Paz Files
AUSTIN, Texas - The very first thing you notice about Gary Johnson is that he seems folksy and perhaps too calm of a dude to be messing with national politics. He's the former governor of New Mexico whose face you first got to see in last Thursday's Republican Party presidential, debate in Orlando, Florida. He was the guy farthest to the left on the stage he shared with Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and five other lesser candidates.
Left is where Johnson belongs.
He is more a Libertarian than a Republican, even more-so than Ron Paul, also a candidate for the GOP's 2012 presidential nomination.
Johnson is a former construction handyman who birthed his own construction company in Albuquerque, New Mexico back when many in town where heading for the desert and toking a joint or two. He has never denied smoking it, and, in fact, is known about his lovely state as a guy who will light up when the mood hits him. That confidence always has been a part of Johnson's appeal. Unlike Rick Perry, Johnson does not hide under Tea Party skirts, nor does he usually shy away from offering his opinions.
I lived in New Mexico for two years a few beers back soon after Johnson left office in 2002, but his name forever came up as someone who would one day seek higher office. For the most part, his name was replaced on the front burner by that of Democrat Bill Richardson, who also became governor of the Land of Enchantment state. Richardson's star rose as Johnson's faded a bit.
But not much, because whenever the topic of marijuana and government came up in Santa Fe, the City Different, it was Johnson's philosophy that quickly entered the conversation. Marijuana, he says, is not as bad as is often portrayed by Republicans. His flirtation with it, however, has a sort of convenient angle. He injured his back while paragliding in Hawaii and, dang, there was a handy joint to soothe the pain.
"Rather than using painkillers, which I have used on occasion before, I did smoke pot, as a result of having broken my back, blowing out both of my knees, breaking ribs, really taking about three years to recover," Johnson says. Prescription painkillers, he adds, had caused him to suffer nasty side effects. Plus, the pain of withdrawing from the pills proved unbearable. As he explains it, "someone" who cared for him gave him marijuana to deal with the pain.
It's a believable tale, one you hear often from Hippies out West.
But what's refreshing in stodgy Republican circles is Johnson's unapologetic comments. He used marijuana and is okay with it. It's 2011, and a lot of Americans are coming to terms with their own peccadillos. Screw it, they are saying, I am what I am. For Republican Newt Gingrich, it is adultery that makes living worthwhile. For Johnson, it is a joint.
Who knows how far Johnson will go in this campaign? Being asked to the Florida debate was a plus. He'd been ignored during the first two. Johnson is no brash Perry, however. He is more of a Jon Huntsman-type, a candidate interested in speaking not with wild bluster, but with calmed-down common sense.
Country Rick Perry won't even address his Gay accusations; Johnson fields the marijuana-use question with the aplomb of an All-Star major league shortstop, gloving the hard grounders and taking care of business.
Like a man and not an Aggie, we should add...
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9 comments:
He looks like a pothead.
Let's see: a man capable of independent thought, reasoning, common sense, not caught up in hysterical politics. Are you sure Johnson is a Republican?
This guy is like Gingrich, just bored and rich. Free TV time and nothing more. A White Thang in other words.
None of the Republican candidates are impressive. But neither are the democrats. Sorry, I think I will sit out this election.
Mr. Editor, I heard a rumor at the coffee shop, that Junior Bonner never left Texas.
Is it possible the ugly cowboy is living a life of deceit. Please clear this matter up. There is an old man that drives an el camino, all beat up. But the word is, he is body builder. He lives notht of Combes, Texas. I am trying to get a picture of the beat el Camino.
Jr. Bonner was so skinny he could barely walk.
I think all the candidates representing the gop ought to be in jail, no valen madre, not a single one.
So the guy that reported the old white 1986 El Camino was right, Jr. Bonner lives in Combes, the word is this odd looking cowboy is always in a bitchy mood. And speaks to NO one.
But his wife is from Honduras, short, with a descent bottom. I hear he can speak Spanish, is it possible Jr. knew Spanish.
I thought he was from Ohio, I didn't know people from Ohio could speak Espanol.
Weird, just plain weird.
He looks more like a truck driver. Than a roping cowboy, he does resemble Rick Perry, only this guy according to the editor is a skirt chaser, the other one, we don't know.
Anon, wimpy cowpoke; I think he got dumped on a sewer drain ditch for messing around with some prostitute. Someone is reporting the sob, is living in Combes Texas, deep in South Texas, drives an beat up el camino. He looks like East Texas trash.
They should have put some weights, when they dumped him on the Canal.
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