Ben Carson has pretty much had a free ride from both the right and the left so far, even when they know he has said weird stuff in the past that any other candidate would be grilled about, and even when he debates on national TV with his eyes closed.
All that changed this week, and it's been fabulous. Finally the media is poking around in Carson's past and pulling out these tidbits of insanity.
The Egyptian Pyramids are Grain Silos
Ben Carson stood by his long-held belief about ancient pyramids in Egypt, that they were used to store grain, rather than to inter pharaohs.
Asked about this Wednesday, Carson told CBS News, "It's still my belief, yes."
The subject came up when Buzzfeed published a 1998 commencement speech delivered by Carson at Andrews University, a college founded by Seventh-day Adventists.
"My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain," Carson said. "Now all the archeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs' graves. But, you know, it would have to be something awfully big if you stop and think about it. And I don't think it'd just disappear over the course of time to store that much grain."
In the same speech, he went on to say, "[W]hen you look at the way that the pyramids are made, with many chambers that are hermetically sealed, they'd have to be that way for various reasons. And various of scientists have said, 'Well, you know there were alien beings that came down and they have special knowledge and that's how--' you know, it doesn't require an alien being when God is with you."
Ben Carson doesn't believe the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids.
Can't make this stuff up. #bencarsonwikipedia
https://t.co/XWHm3iZsnN
— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 6, 2015
— ATHEISTPOWER/Kriz (@ATHE1STP0WER) November 6, 2015
Ben Carson thinks the pyramids were used to store grain, not buried rulers. 1) pyramids aren't hollow, and 2) ancient Egyptians could write.
— Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) November 5, 2015
All I wanna know is did he stabbed King Tut? #CarsonOnCNN #pyramidgate pic.twitter.com/g5GNbJImZU
— LiberalValuesNetwork (@lordxmen2k) November 6, 2015
Wonder how @RealBenCarson explains the Pyramid Texts -- they're all about the king's passage into the afterlife :P #Pyramidgate
— Pox Voldius (@Pox_Voldius) November 8, 2015
#bencarsonwikipedia. All the stone inside the pyramids is petrified wheat. Duh. What do think dinosaurs ate in the desert?
— Scott Poole (@thepoetryreport) November 6, 2015
Another theory is that "The Eskimos built the pyramids in Egypt to store snow." #BenCarson #pyramidgate
— David (@davpow) November 6, 2015
#pyramidgate The giant grain storing pyramids were guarded by the giant scare-sphynx which helped scare away the pterodactyls
— Kal AKA (@KalAbehra) November 7, 2015
Ben Carson's take on the pyramids #pyramidgate pic.twitter.com/2G4DGorSfu
— Kirk Thomas (@TehKirk) November 6, 2015
So much criticism of Carson for his pharaoh-denial, so little credit for ruling out that aliens built the pyramids
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 4, 2015
Rand Paul: Nope! Aliens!
Rand Paul mocks Carson's pyramids theory: I think it was aliens! https://t.co/HvpGn4hik8 pic.twitter.com/OEjQxWoogN
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) November 5, 2015
"The children of Israel wouldn't have been enslaved by the Egyptians if they had been armed better."
- Ben Carson
— David Jenkins (@scriptdave) October 9, 2015
There are Actually Pyramid Truthers and Ben Carson is One of Them https://t.co/b5vd3p5iyV via @TPM #ThePyramidConspiracy said mockingly.
— Thomas Reich (@gollum1419_g) November 6, 2015
"Some people believe in the bible and don't find that silly at all," Carson on pyramids. This isn't in bible. https://t.co/EHkOVf0JVQ
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) November 5, 2015
Carson Got All Stabby with Something Sharp on Somebody Once (Maybe)
From Salon
In preparation for an interview with Ben Carson on “New Day” Friday, CNN investigated claims the retired neurosurgeon made about his upbringing in his 1990 autobiography “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story,” but was unable to find corroboration for the incidents of violence that are at the core of his story of transformation from an angry young man into the calm, collected GOP hopeful he is today.
Carson claims to have punched a seventh-grade classmate in the head while holding a lock, and attempted to stab a classmate named “Bob” in ninth grade, but CNN spoke to nine people who knew him at the time — two of whom lived next door to the Carsons and knew young Ben well — and not a single one of them could corroborate his stories.
Vanity Fair
When CNN interviewed his classmates, some who’d known Carson as early as elementary school, they universally said they never heard any rumors of Carson’s alleged violence. “I don't know nothing about that,” said Gerald Ware, who attended high school with Carson. “It would have been all over the whole school.” CNN also delved into Carson’s shifting recollections of certain pivotal life moments: during one telling of the hammer incident, they reported, he left out the hammer, saying only that he attempted to hit his mother.
In this strange universe we live in, Carson being accused of not having a violent temper is somehow a minus: during press conferences and an appearance on The Kelly File later that day, he adamantly refused to admit that he fabricated his personal history, blaming the media for trying to take him down: “Do you think I’m a pathological liar like CNN does? Or do you think I’m an honest person?”
From Politicus USA
Timothy McDaniel, a friend of Carson’s, told CNN the descriptions Carson gives on the Trump are not the guy he knew. He remembers Carson as an academically driven young man, “… never stooping to the level of the common thug.” His friend suggested that maybe Carson tried to hide this side of himself out of embarrassment. A tenth person said maybe he heard about the attempted stabbing at school.
Yes, that’s right, Dr. Carson might just be an ordinary kid who studied really hard and became a great neurosurgeon, and now he’s a leading contender for the GOP nomination for president.
What’s so bad about that? Well, working hard to rise above your circumstances doesn’t resonate with evangelicals. You have to be a stereotyped version of a sinner first and then be saved. If you’re black, best to be a thug. If you’re a pretty white woman, see Roxie Hart. Etc. You need a good story to be a good con artist, and the good story needs to fit in with the bigotry of your marks, to validate their prejudices and make them feel elevated, chosen, and ultimately, superior. So Carson needs to be a dangerous, violent thug saved by the Bible.
Carson thinks CNN is on a "Witch Hunt"
From The Hill
Carson told host Megyn Kelly on Fox News’s “The Kelly File." "This is simply an attempt to smear and deflect the argument to something else.
“The media is ruthless,” the retired neurosurgeon added. "So, you know, I would say to the people of America — do you think I’m a pathological liar like CNN does? Or do you think I’m an honest person? I’m going to leave that up to the American people to make that decision.”
Carson then argued that CNN is trying to discredit him, given his surging popularity with voters nationwide.
“It’s a smear campaign,” he insisted. "They’re going to go back and try to find anything that I’ve ever said and try to get me on the defensive about it in order to distract away from the things that are important.
#BenCarson clarifies that he tried to stab "a close relative,"not a friend https://t.co/0mm4bs7h4r # via HuffPostPol pic.twitter.com/ESAa9bR9Wc
— KHARY PENEBAKER (@kharyp) November 6, 2015
.@RealBenCarson: CNN thinks I'm a 'pathological liar' | https://t.co/Mvo1DENsWT
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 7, 2015
Loki: Bow, mortal scum!
Carson: GRAIN-STORING PYRAMID
Loki: ?
Carson: TARGETED RAP SONG
Loki: ?
Carson: STAB PEOPLE
Loki: I give up.
— Turkey Zandarumstick (@ZandarVTS) November 5, 2015
Trump loves this story!
Carson now admits his friend named "Bob," who he tried to stab (Bob was saved by his belt buckle!), no longer exists as Bob. Wrong name!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2015
The Carson story is either a total fabrication or, if true, even worse-trying to hit mother over the head with a hammer or stabbing friend!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2015
And this person - not the real Trump:
Now that I think of it, I've never actually seen Ben Carson's birth certificate either. #WestPoint
— President Trump (@Writeintrump) November 6, 2015
Ben Carson is a soft-spoken brain surgeon who tried to stab someone at age 14 & laughs when talking about mass shootings. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
— Connor Ratliff (@connorratliff) October 31, 2015
Is there ANYTHING at all that is true in the Ben Carson story (if that is indeed his name)? #WestPoint #knifegate #pyramidgate
— lancegould (@lancegould) November 6, 2015
FoxBizNews Debate moderator: "Dr. Carson, do you know who's buried in Grant's Tomb?"
Carson: "No, but I'll gladly take a stab at the answer"
— Denali Parton (@eclecticbrotha) November 6, 2015
Will Carson stab someone at the #GOPDebate or will a belt buckle save the day?
— Mary Ramirez (@MaryDram) October 28, 2015
I stabbed General Westmoreland at the pyramids, with a chicken leg from the Popeye's Organization.
— David Waldman (@KagroX) November 6, 2015
Ben Carson clarifies that he tried to stab "a close relative," not a friend https://t.co/V2qLvMfOn6 via @HuffPostPol
— Melissa Calderon (@BlacksandXXX) November 7, 2015
Ben Carson: Heal • Inspire • Stab https://t.co/AWPoeIvjGi
— ProChoice Sneak (@word_34) October 28, 2015
This might be a first, a presidential candidate is upset that people don’t believe he tried to stab someone https://t.co/2KL2b0fq9X
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) November 6, 2015
Ben Carson Wasn't Offered a "Scholarship" to West Point Because There are NO Scholarships at West Point
From Washington Post
For years, Carson has said he was offered a “full scholarship” to the U.S. Military Academy when he was a high-achieving high school Army ROTC cadet in the late 1960s. But Carson never applied to West Point, was never accepted and never received a formal scholarship offer. In fact, West Point does not offer scholarships; all cadets attend free.
The story was first reported Friday by Politico. Carson responded to the resulting controversy by saying that when he spoke of an “offer,” he referred to informal, verbal statements of encouragement from military leaders he met through the ROTC, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps .
“I was told that because of my accomplishments, they would be able to manage to get me into West Point and that I wouldn’t have to pay anything,” Carson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network. He said he decided not to apply and went to Yale University instead to pursue medicine. “There was no application process [at West Point]. I never even started down that path,” Carson said.
Trump hearing Carson lied about West Point pic.twitter.com/xZbdhJ97zb
— side-eye spice (@goldengateblond) November 6, 2015
The line "Later I was offered a full scholarship to West Point" does not even make sense. Tuition covered.
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) November 6, 2015
“I never said I received a full scholarship” @RealBenCarson in heated exchange with reporters on #WestPoint claims https://t.co/UhBk9fWlQT
— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) November 7, 2015
@deray He kept the lie going for 25 years--pretty amazing. Here's the story in Gifted Hands (published in 1990). pic.twitter.com/7FpJwfWEWI
— TC (@tchop_stl) November 6, 2015
@deray did Carson hire Brian Williams for his media affairs?
— billdelgrosso (@BillDelGrosso) November 6, 2015
BREAKING: Ben Carson offered huge payment by Publisher's Clearing House
— David Waldman (@KagroX) November 6, 2015
How many insane Carson things in the last 24 hours? 5? pyramids, stabbing story, west point, rap song, music video. what is going on?
— Justin Barasky (@JustinBarasky) November 6, 2015
.@RealBenCarson addresses the story about his West Point scholarship https://t.co/pcoDNSGjvH https://t.co/sZiXGjwK5m
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 6, 2015
Ben Carson got into West Point on scholarship; climbed Mt. Everest and went to the Moon. Because, you know, he COULD have if he’d wanted to!
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) November 6, 2015
So I guess Ben Carson learned about how the Egyptians used great pyramids to store grain in that archeology class he took at West Point.
— Victor Laszlo (@Impolitics) November 7, 2015
— philip harris (@pharris830) November 7, 2015
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