Saturday, November 7, 2015

Unsolved Mysteries of Ben Carson

photo 8252bd74-a847-46f4-98ae-79adb8f242ea.jpg

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

photo 2e31d140-d182-486e-91b7-a46d4464cc0f.jpg


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."
























Rand Paul: Nope! Aliens!









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.









Trump loves this story!





And this person - not the real Trump:




















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.























Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, October 30, 2015

CNBC "Crap Sandwich" Infuriates GOP


photo 5f1d9081-2824-4632-9389-39f57f297119.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
First GOP Primary Debate
Countdown to the Fox Clown Car Debate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The channel of high finance CNBC hosted a GOP Debate the other night, but instead of focusing on money issues, the Moderators were all over the place, asking embarassing questions to surly candidates who dodged, rolled their eyes, and insulted back with gusto. In the words of RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, it was a "Crap Sandwich."



Reince Priebus via Business Insider:
"Obviously we had assurances that it was going to be straight-up finance, which is what they do every day," he told Hannity on Thursday. "And what was delivered was just nothing but a crap sandwich. I guarantee you we're going to make sure that CNBC isn't hosting and moderating another debate with our candidates."






Even many journalists were tempted to use the phrase "Shit Show"



From Think Progress
Reporters from both conservative and liberal-minded news organizations seem to agree: the CNBC Republican presidential debate was kind of a trainwreck.
That wasn’t really because of the candidates, though — it was because of the moderators. For the first hour, CNBC moderators Becky Quick, John Harwood, and Carl Quintanilla didn’t let candidates interact with each other, resulting in multiple moments of incomprehensible yelling. This may have been because of stricter time limits — this particular 10-candidate debate was only two hours, while the previous Republican debates have spanned three hours.
But constant interruption wasn’t the only problem. Candidates were also highly critical of the CNBC crew, accusing them of being part of the “liberal media.” At one point, Ted Cruz ripped into the moderators for asking what he called unfair and non-substantive questions. And in two instances, audience members actually booed at questions the moderators asked of Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee.

From Sean Illing on Salon:
What happened was less a debate among contenders and more a showdown between the candidates and the moderators. Everyone attacked the moderators when they heard a question they didn’t like, and then made a show of their rebelliousness – this was great for anti-media conservatives, but a distraction for everyone else. The moderators had their moments, but they were mostly awful. Frivolous questions about Rubio’s absenteeism or Trump’s “moral character” or fantasy football gave the candidates just enough fodder to avoid answering the hard questions whenever they were asked. The result of all this was two and a half hours of political gas.

Colbert on CBS: "Did ya'll watch the GOP Debate last night on CNBC? (light applause) I'm so sorry. I, uh, I did watch it, and in some ways it was impressive. They managed to thread the needle between confusing and boring... CNBC showed us how to conduct a debate without a shred of respect....And what the moderators lacked in courtesy they made up for in lack of preparation."



So yeah, Moderators had a really bad night!











Some (including Moderator John Harwood) faulted the candidates for not wanting to answer hard questions:










Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)