Drain the swamp, protect our children’s future, together? And here I thought he didn’t have a coherent, detailed platform!
What strikes me is his odd cadence. He’s a very strange speaker. But he’s got good staff. That’s a good ad.
A good staff would prevent him from saying so many stupid things.
They try. When Carson called Obama a pathological liar, Armstrong Williams scolded him. “YOu don’t need to say that.”
Good staffs can’t prevent experienced politicians from saying stupid things. At best they reduce the odds significantly. When the raw material they are working with is basically a guy off the street thrust into the national limelight…
imagine what he could be saying without them! 
A candidate also has to be willing to stay on script. But if you stick to a script, you’re not authentic. That’s why Biden would have been so formidable. He’s constantly off script, but he’s a smart guy and even when he’s being stupid it’s not alarming stupid it’s just eyebrow-raising stupid.
Here’s one of the things that’s helping the outsiders. Even though Carson is now in front, the media is more interested in vetting Marco Rubio:
The media is so not taking Carson seriously that they are actually failing to vet him. Maybe if he wins Iowa.
Even an Iowa win may not matter… when was the last time the Republican candidate who won Iowa won the nomination?
EDIT: It’s W, by the way. So not that long ago, but in '08 and '12 Iowa didn’t matter for the Republican nomination.
True, but Carson will never fall if the media doesn’t find some dirt or widely report some of the things he says. Maybe we really do have a liberal media and they are keeping their powder dry until he wins the nomination.
How’s things going for your guy Kasich?
He’s workin’ on it!
Kasich and Christie are banking on NH. Historically, NH means more for the nomination than IA anyway, so a win there by either could propel them to victory. Even a solid second in a crowded field would be very helpful.
I think it’s safe to say that Carson’s polling well because the GOP primary voters are primarily the base, and the GOP base are largely creationist ignoramuses like Carson.
Carson’s biggest real problem is that he’s so ignorant of the issues, that he thinks there are easy answers and that his ignorance is as good as actual facts and knowledge. The Tea Party are pretty much founded on that motto.
The latest Qunnipac poll has Carson beating Hillary by a solid 10-point margin. The media is going to have to start noticing him soon.
I think Nate Silver says most people aren’t really paying attention yet, and Carson’s name recognition accounts for much of the swing - just like Trump’s did a bit earlier.
Rubio is getting attention because the Republican pundit money is on him - but that may be wishful thinking. It used to be on Bush.
Christie probably won’t be at the debate next Tuesday.
Also, interesting TPM piece: “Is Carson For Prez a Direct Mail Scam?”
1998 video of Ben Carson stating his theory that the Pyramids were built, not by aliens, but by Joseph to store grain (starts at about 3:08).
I’m sure his thinking has “evolved” since 1998, but, uh, yeah… :eek:
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.
He’s shithouse crazy in like ten other ways, no need to suggest drugs are the cause. Just a standard, run-of-the-mill Dunning-Krueger-Dipshit mouthing off about stuff he knows nothing about.
He was 47 years old then. I don’t see why anyone who could be so dumb at that age would have any new thoughts about it.