Is this “built the pyramids to store wheat” theory like, a thing? I’ve never heard it before. If he is just repeating some kind of evangelical crap that’s bad. If he actually thought this up on his own it is so, so much worse.
Yep, pyramid truthers are a thing. So, not as crazy as you thought!
(Emphasis mine)
I think this skews far more heavily towards conservatives.
You might reasonably consider Bernie Sanders an outsider in the sense that he’s considerably more to the left than the Democrat party mainstream, but he’s certainly no stranger to Congress. Although many Democrats would prefer a more progressive candidate than Hillary Clinton, they will undoubtedly rally behind her and vote accordingly a year from now.
You’re not going to see any significant number of Dems crossing over to vote for Ben Carson.
Today, the Carson campaign released a rap-themed radio ad. It attracted some criticism, because it was awful. So, later today, Carson was asked about the ad during a CNN interview. Carson proceeded to distance himself from the ad *his own campaign produced *. Via TPM ( Carson: I Would’ve Taken A Different Approach To The Rap Radio Ad - TPM – Talking Points Memo)
[Quote=Leading Republican Presidential Candidate]
Well, there are — there are people in the campaign who felt that that was a good way to do things. And, you know, they’re entitled to their opinions about such things
You know, I support, you know, them in doing that. But, you know, I probably would have taken a little different approach.
[/quote]
Way to go to bat for your team, doc. Now, I don’t expect a candidate to personally micromanage every single thing the campaign does. But, shouldn’t you make sure you’re OK with a major ad? I would think the candidate would have to sign off on something like that.
Unless Carson is just a puppet who follows the orders of the people running the campaign, all of whom know he doesn’t have a chance and are just using the campaign to make money.
Nah, couldn’t be.
Carson was okay with it, he just didn’t think much of it. Part of being transparent is that you’re candid and don’t try to sell a shitburger when you make it.
No, when your subordinates do something under your authority and you have the responsibility to “approve this message”, you take ownership of it. You say, “Yeah, I signed off on it but in retrospect it was a bad ad.” You don’t say, “Yeah, like, my guys do their own thing and I guess that’s OK. I might have done it differently, but whatever, man.” You might have gone a different way?! Then why didn’t you? Who’s running the show?
In a campaign, the campaign manager, in this case, Armstrong Williams, runs the show. Candidates are products to be sold, they don’t “run” anything.
A Presidential candidate is to his campaign as an actor is to a blockbuster film.
My bigger concern is that this demonstrates Carson’s lack of management experience. If he was an experienced executive, he’d know that this sorta throws your people under the bus. Obama used to do the same thing, constantly, during his campaign. We don’t need that right now, we need someone who can run things.
Oh, this is definitely being noticed and becoming a thing.
Washington Monthly (10/26/15): Is the Ben Carson campaign a people-powered dynamo or a scam?
The Atlantic (10/26/15): Where is Ben Carson’s money going?
The Week (11/4/15): Is Ben Carson’s campaign one big con?
Note that Carson himself isn’t being accused of anything, he’s being taken advantage of if these stories are true. I think we all agree that he’s not ready to be President, but the man doesn’t deserve to go to jail for having the temerity to run for President without knowing everything that goes into it. Campaign finance law is a complicated thing and people shouldn’t be punished for not understanding it.
On the other hand, the Carson campaign’s style of fundraising would be expected to have a high burn rate, so there may be nothing unethical going on. For example, in Iowa the campaign has set up fairs for Ben Carson, which have been highly effective in raising his poll numbers there but also very expensive.
I caught this snippet of his plans for the economy:
It sounds pretty interesting and I can’t wait to hear the full details.
- Ben Carson
- Chance Gardiner, Being There
Yes, luci, I think that’s what filmore was jokingly quoting.
True story: We bought our new house two months before we moved, so we had to hire someone long distance to mow the lawn and trim the hedges. The person my wife hired was named…Chance! Chance the gardener! I just had to laugh. Of course I pictured an elderly, well-dressed idiot tending our garden.
A month later, we met him – turns out he’s a studly 25-year-old vet of Puerto Rican origins, and very smart. As different from the Being There character as you could imagine. I had to laugh again!
Okay, end of hijack. Back to your regularly scheduled thread, wherein someone who actually thinks this planet was formed a few thousand years ago might become the leader of the free world.
Aaaand Carson tells an utter falsehood yet again. It’s rare for the WashPost Fact Checker to give 4 Pinocchios, but Dr. Carson keeps racking them up. And then tried to weasel-word his way towards truthfulness after he was called out on this week’s stupid, unnecessary, flat-out lie.
For a Republican candidate, maybe. And that should tell you everything you need to know about the Republicans. They expect us to trust these guys with running the entire country, when they can’t even be trusted to run their own campaigns?
No, it’s that way in almost every campaign, at least the ones that are competitive. Read any book on any election. The professional consultants and handlers are the brains of the outfit and they run the Presidential candidate like a beast of burden.
Carson’s doing what it takes to win Iowa - spout the extreme evangelical version of the world while appearing kind and genial. It worked for Huckabee, and it worked for Santorum. Not that it did either of them any good afterward.
I think that Rubio and Cruz and the others are just figuring Carson will beat Trump in Iowa, leaving New Hampshire ripe pickings for one of them.
In other news, CNN decided to fact-check Carson’s biography, and it didn’t go well.
My favorite part is how Carson’s campaign responds. Because, you know, the media doing its job is the same thing as a witch hunt.
“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?”
Well, gosh, I dunno, how are those connections to Mannatech doing?
Still running strong in the least-embarrassing category.