# Ben Carson for President thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 31, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554 "2015-08-31T22:58:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/321 "2015-11-05T03:07:40Z")
No, pyramids are totally an efficient way to build granaries! They give you not just a granary in that city, but in every city you control on the entire continent! Plus, they prevent anyone else from building them and stealing that advantage for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/322 "2015-11-05T03:10:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, pyramids are totally an efficient way to build granaries! They give you not just a granary in that city, but in every city you control on the entire continent! Plus, they prevent anyone else from building them and stealing that advantage for themselves. But in Civ 4 they’re only good for allowing any government civic. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/323 "2015-11-05T03:16:33Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > The pyramid thing has got to be drug-induced. Surely there are more efficient ways to build granaries than construction humongous structures that take decades to build and have only a tiny usable volume to total volume ratio. “There’s going to be a famine in 7 years. Quick, let’s spend the next 20 years building a grain storage thingy, so we’ll be ready…, um, never mind.” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/324 "2015-11-05T07:36:31Z")
He will totally carry that fifteen to twenty percent of the population that the rest of us are embarrassed about. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/325 "2015-11-05T12:19:15Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > “There’s going to be a famine in 7 years. Quick, let’s spend the next 20 years building a grain storage thingy, so we’ll be ready…, um, never mind.” “And make sure that it’s an enormous, 13 acre structure that’s almost entirely solid with only a few hundred square feet of storage inside!” No words, especially considering that he’s doubling down on it. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/326 "2015-11-05T12:34:56Z")
What I want to know is this- did Joseph wear his Technicolor dreamcoat while building it? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/327 "2015-11-05T14:15:44Z")
Did he exaggerate the violent ways of his youth, maybe to make his transformation to respected surgeon all the more impressive?: [http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/ben-carson-2016-childhood-violence/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/ben-carson-2016-childhood-violence/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/328 "2015-11-05T14:25:00Z")
We are officially in bizarro land, where a politician is now possibly lying about horrible things he _didn’t_ do in the past. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/329 "2015-11-05T14:31:21Z")
He’s undergone a transformation from incompetent knife-wielding thug to brain surgeon to Ralphie Wiggums. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/330 "2015-11-05T15:32:18Z")
Jokes aside, I halfway wonder if Carson didn’t get that idea from the Civ games. Yeah, using Civ as your source for historical information is kooky, but then, just four short years ago we had a candidate basing his tax policies on Spongebob and Pokemon. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/331 "2015-11-05T15:50:05Z")
Somehow, I doubt a biblical literalist could stomach playing the Civ games. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/332 "2015-11-05T15:57:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Somehow, I doubt a biblical literalist could stomach playing the Civ games. I can’t see Carson playing Civ 4 and finding himself building Islamic missionaries. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/333 "2015-11-05T16:04:49Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > He’s undergone a transformation from incompetent knife-wielding thug to brain surgeon to Ralphie Wiggums. Isn’t this basically the plot of _Flowers for Algernon_? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/334 "2015-11-05T16:40:31Z")
I just sat down and watched the whole video [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FrqShRhxJBM/hqdefault.jpg "The Andrews Experience- Dr. Ben Carson 1998 Graduation key note speaker") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrqShRhxJBM) It’s only 14+ minutes of an evidently longer speech, but it’s packed with gold, not just the grain storage thing. He begins by praying that what he says will be God’s words, not his. No such luck. He claims that modern technology can’t store grain for seven years (a quick google search shows many credible sources saying Tupperware or tin cans are all you need to store raw wheat for decades at room temperature). He claims that the scientific explanation for how the pyramids were built is, “aliens.” He claims that he leaves scientists speechless when he refutes their version of cosmology by citing the First Law of Thermodynamics, AKA entropy. (I believe him, because any scientist would certainly know that he’s talking about the Second Law, not the first, and would also know that entropy is very, very commonly cited by ignorant creationists as a refutation to evolution or whatever, not understanding that it only applies to closed systems. So I’m fully prepared to believe that scientists are left speechless when a medical doctor spouts such nonsense.) Right before talking about the importance of honesty, he claims that he was the dumbest kid in his class, consistently getting zero on math tests. He adds that all the kids laughing at him made him upset, but not upset enough to study, which was actually a good line, but doesn’t explain how he got into Yale with straight F’s in math. Continuing on the theme of honesty, he says that when a pro-life commercial he made had some non-factual information inserted by an editor, he demanded that it be withdrawn, because “I didn’t want my name associated with anything that smacked of untruth” — evidently that was before he signed his contract with Mannatech. He also modestly noted that it took tremendous courage to do that. I would love to see the entire speech. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/335 "2015-11-05T20:02:07Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > …He begins by praying that what he says will be God’s words, not his. No such luck… That is a customary way to open a Christian sermon or homily. Carson and Trump have both been approved for Secret Service protection: [http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/donald-trump-ben-carson-secret-service/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/donald-trump-ben-carson-secret-service/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/336 "2015-11-05T21:24:52Z")
I think this pyramid thing is going to be what does him in as the front runner. He’ll still keep the evangelicals on his side but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him lose 5-10% of his polling because of this. [Even hosts on Fox are laughing at him.](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/shepard-smith-ben-carson-pyramids) I expect they’ll ding him hard on this on SNL this weekend (with Trump hosting, even). This is his “I can see Russia from my house” moment. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/337 "2015-11-05T21:43:42Z")
I seriously doubt they’ll “ding” him for this on SNL. They’re taking enough flak for having him on without making an attack ad skit for the Trump campaign. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/338 "2015-11-05T21:45:16Z")
Is there a “Vote for the Worst” movement going on that I don’t know about? If you recall, that’s where people would submit votes for the worst person on various reality shows to keep them on as long as possible. That’s the only plausible reason I can think of for Carson doing so well. I don’t find him charismatic. The way he talks makes me seriously wonder if he’s heavily medicated. And the things he says sounds like the crazy stuff a homeless guy would say. Is Howard Stern asking people to say they support him? I can kind of understand Trump’s popularity because he can be entertaining to watch, but Carson… I just don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/339 "2015-11-05T21:50:50Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Is there a “Vote for the Worst” movement going on that I don’t know about? If you recall, that’s where people would submit votes for the worst person on various reality shows to keep them on as long as possible. Sanjaya Carson? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/340 "2015-11-05T22:00:49Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > I think this pyramid thing is going to be what does him in as the front runner. He’ll still keep the evangelicals on his side but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him lose 5-10% of his polling because of this. [Even hosts on Fox are laughing at him.](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/shepard-smith-ben-carson-pyramids) I don’t know, the clip you link to is Shepard Smith laughing about Carson, and Shepard Smith is basically the one person on Fox News who will call out crazy things as being crazy. This doesn’t mean that anyone else on Fox News is laughing at this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554.md?page=18)