# 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:** 22
**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 7, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/421 "2015-11-07T17:17:05Z")
Well, he’s still got his medical practice to fall back on. ---
**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 7, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/422 "2015-11-07T17:20:58Z")
I posted an article from Gawker about another possible lie from his book, but now I think Gawker might just be trolling everyone, because you could put whatever words in his mouth and it sounds like he might have said them. I’ll wait until someone else posts it. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/423 "2015-11-07T17:29:24Z")
What I do think that it would be very interesting is to check what did really happen under the context of the Vietnam war. As an ROTC it is more likely that Carson supported the War that at that time was becoming a very unpopular one, AFAIK Carson has declared that his focus was elsewhere but that he did not fought against the ones opposing the war, that he was just indifferent. :dubious: :dubious: But really, to me making a big deal of Meeting Westmoreland and with the hindsight of all the years passed before Carson wrote his book, I’m less impressed with Carson, and I thought that was not possible. [If I was writing the book I would had kept as far away as I could from Westmoreland](http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/11/todays-list-the-top-ten-reasons-gen-westmoreland-lost-the-war-in-vietnam/) or to make the meeting with him just an afterthought of a less important celebration. That would had been closed to reality too. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/424 "2015-11-07T17:29:49Z")
> [@](#): > > …However, records produced by the US Army show that General Westmoreland was not in Detroit on _May 23rd, 24th, 26th, and 27th_, but was in Washington keeping a low profile and conducting meetings along with making a trip to Massachusetts and Vermont… (emphasis mine) Aha! Behold, how the liberal media operates! He wasn’t there on those days, but where was he on the\* 25th\*?! Smoking gub! ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/425 "2015-11-07T17:37:24Z")
Correction to the last line of my post: That would had been **closer** to reality too. On Edit: But yeah, I also think that Ben Carson was and has a mind that is closed to reality. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/426 "2015-11-07T18:14:41Z")
I think this press conference marks the peak of Carson’s poll numbers. It’s all downhill from here. Hostile towards the press, wants to ask the questions, thinks Obama escaped scrutiny. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/427 "2015-11-07T18:31:35Z")
It’s all a bunch of LSM lies. Why, he was named [the most honest student](http://gawker.com/ultimate-trickster-ben-carson-claims-he-was-named-most-1741171913?trending_test_a&utm_expid=66866090-62.H_y_0o51QhmMY_tue7bevQ.1&rev=1446909764310&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fkinja.com%2Fwrite%3Fblogid%3D7&utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow)in his class at Yale! ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/428 "2015-11-07T20:58:09Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > It’s all a bunch of LSM lies. Why, he was named [the most honest student](http://gawker.com/ultimate-trickster-ben-carson-claims-he-was-named-most-1741171913?trending_test_a&utm_expid=66866090-62.H_y_0o51QhmMY_tue7bevQ.1&rev=1446909764310&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fkinja.com%2Fwrite%3Fblogid%3D7&utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow)in his class at Yale! I did some research on this in the [other thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18840457#post18840457). I predict his book is going to rocket to the top of the best seller list, because it seems to be full of stories like this that he obviously made up, and liberals will laugh till their sides hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/429 "2015-11-07T22:18:30Z")
* * * > [@boytyperanma](#): > > I think this press conference marks the peak of Carson’s poll numbers. It’s all downhill from here. > > Hostile towards the press, wants to ask the questions, thinks Obama escaped scrutiny. i saw him claiming this. He seemed to believe it. He truly is crazy ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/430 "2015-11-07T23:02:43Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > He truly is crazy Yup. No longer any question. He may not be dangerous (unless he’s elected to public office), but he is definitely not in touch with reality. So I owe him an apology. I thought he was lying about his biography. I’m beginning to think that he believes every word he wrote. He must lie awake at night, having fantasies about himself, and within a few months, they are indistinguishable from real memories. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/431 "2015-11-07T23:28:52Z")
In an [article on Carson](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-ben-carson-20151106-story.html) in Saturday’s Chicago Tribune, the author links to [a Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/138691142964027/posts/513020902197714) by Carson himself in August, in which he responded to several questions. He answered a question about West Point with this: > [@Ben Carson on Facebook](#): > > Bill, that is true. I was the highest student ROTC member in Detroit and was thrilled to get an offer from West Point. But I knew medicine is what I wanted to do. So I applied to only one school. (it was all the money I had). I applied to Yale and thank God they accepted me. I often wonder what might have happened had they said no. Note that wording. **“…thrilled to get an offer from West Point.”** Even if he was only told by someone (Westmoreland or otherwise) that he had the credentials to apply to West Point (but never actually applied to the school, nor received an actual offer to attend), the way he words this reply certainly seems structured in a way to make the reader believe that an offer was explicitly extended by the school itself. IMO, at best, Carson is as good at weasel words as any other politician. At worst, it looks like one in what may be a series of fabricated stories which he used to create a mythology around himself. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/432 "2015-11-07T23:45:24Z")
Oh joy, Dr. Seven Years of Fat Kine is landing here tomorrow to address the meeting of Puerto Rico statehood advocates. Means I’m gonna have the ?pleasure? of hearing the wackiness in person. Not that this is an issue that really rallies the Latino vote. Most major stateside 'Rican organizations and leaders are anti-statehood, aggravatingly enough (and mostly Dem-aligned anyway). But the new Chair of the local GOP has said she will not support fundraising for candidates who do not support admission, so that probably drew him. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/433 "2015-11-07T23:47:03Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > He’s got a long way to go, but he has the potential to get there. He’s loaded up and truckin’. He gonna do what they say can’t be done. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/434 "2015-11-08T00:02:01Z")
How did the son of a mother on food stamps and government assistance afford to attend medical school? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/435 "2015-11-08T00:17:42Z")
[Carson claims to have protected white classmates from riots after the Martin Luther King assassination, but _Wall Street Journal_ can find no corroboration.](http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/another-ben-carson-tale-implodes-no-evidence-supports-claim-he-shielded-white-classmates-from-1968-race-riot/) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/436 "2015-11-08T00:24:01Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Carson claims to have protected white classmates from riots after the Martin Luther King assassination, but _Wall Street Journal_ can find no corroboration.](http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/another-ben-carson-tale-implodes-no-evidence-supports-claim-he-shielded-white-classmates-from-1968-race-riot/) He couldn’t have just re-directed the rioters? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/437 "2015-11-08T01:26:44Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > He couldn’t have just re-directed the rioters? That must be it! He saw them running down the street, yelling “Where the white women at?” and he yelled “Thataway!” pointing in the wrong direction. So _of course_ there’s no corroboration! ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/438 "2015-11-08T04:44:46Z")
I didn’t realize that now you have to have cites for everything in your autobiography. I notice this is also the first time such a thing has been required of a candidate. Carson’s winning this war with the media so far. Politico had to backtrack on their claim that Carson lied about West Point, since they attributed claims to him that he never made, and CNN is still busy claiming that since they can’t corroborate childhood stories from the 1960s, he must have made them up. On the bright side, at least the media is being fair. Unlike the kid gloves treatment Obama got, the media is going hammer and tongs after any candidate who looks like they might be getting on top from either party. Rubio, Sanders, Carson, Trump, and Clinton have all been hit with unusually vicious media coverage in the past few months. All you can ask is that if the media’s going to call balls and strikes that way that they do it the same for all the frontrunners. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/439 "2015-11-08T05:34:00Z")
> [@](#): > > CNN is still busy claiming that since they can’t corroborate childhood stories from the 1960s, he must have made them up. I think you mean _Wall Street Journal_. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554/440 "2015-11-08T05:55:37Z")
Yes, the ones who recently reported that he was quiet and stayed out of trouble and concentrated on his studies. I remember just eight years ago how important temperament was for the Presidency, more important than experience. Ah, how times and standards change depending on who is running. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-carson-for-president-thread/729554.md?page=23)