America's "Third Party" presidential candidates frequently complain that they are given virtually no attention by the news media, compared to the Democrats and Republicans.  Libertarian Gary Johnson might have wished that no one was paying attention when he was given an hour-long townhall-style platform on the cable news channel MSNBC.

The former New Mexico governor appeared alongside his running mate, former Massachusetts governor William Weld, on the network's "Hardball" program.  Despite the title, the host Chris Matthews is no Jeremy Paxman.  His softball interviews are a little more frequent than probing interrogations.  And the question posed to Mr. Johnson really couldn't have been simpler.

Matthews asked Johnson to name his favorite foreign leader.  That's it, a very simple question.  The answer could have been an ally of the US, or given Johnson's Libertarian bent, he could have said he won't play favorites at this point.  He didn't, and it wasn't pretty.

Johnson appeared flustered, and was at a loss to come up with a name - any name.  He appeared to be unable to name any leader from any country.  Sensing blood in the water, Matthews pressed the question:  "Any one of the continents, any country, name one foreign leader that you respect and look up to, anybody," Matthews said.

Johnson tried to lob and named Israel's recently deceased founding father Shimon Peres.  Matthews said the person has to be alive.

After admitting that he was having an "Aleppo moment", and with the help of Mr. Weld, Johnson eventually named Mexico's former president Vicente Fox, without any reasons.  He finally landed on "Merkel", or German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who unlike Fox is still in office.  The exchange took less than a minute, but as a cringe-worthy spectacle it felt much longer.

The Aleppo reference was to a similar moment that Johnson had on the same network earlier this month.  At the time, Johnson was was asked how he would deal with the continuing situation in Aleppo, the ravaged Syrian city at the center of that country's refugee crisis.  "What is Aleppo?" a confused Gary Johnson asked.  "You're kidding me," the stunned interview replied, before reminding Johnson of the humanitarian crisis .

It's hard to tell which part is more disturbing:  That the third most-popular presidential candidate in the US can't name a world leader, even a friendly one;  that he has displayed this sort of blanking out before regarding the Syrian Civil War, the geopolitical disaster and refugee crisis that has remade the face of Europe and the Middle East; or that he thinks the name of a gutted city is his personal joke.

The Johnson campaign is pushing a social media hashtag #LetGaryDebate to build pressure to allow the third party candidates into the presidential debates.  If he does get in, he might actually provide a moment that takes attention away from the orange clown.