# So tell me about Ben Carson... **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 2, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154 "2014-12-02T19:11:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/81 "2014-12-10T01:10:00Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > So I take it you would decline his services as a neurosurgeon. Why would anyone entrust their lives to an insane and idiotic neurosurgeon? Most people don’t know he’s a fuckwit. And some people who do know are stupid themselves. And some people who do know are crazy themselves. And some people who do know like that he’s, “Stickin’ it to the Libtards!” If you’re okay trusting your brain to a man who went through medical school and dismissed evolution because it conflicts with some fables he heard as a child, well it’s your brain. > [@](#): > > THe problem a lot of you seem to have is that you fall for politicians who are very skilled at acting intelligent. That’s no my problem. That’s something you made up because you’re fumbling around trying to justify fawning over a dipshit that thinks there was a global food. > [@](#): > > But really they are no different than an actor playing a genius on TV. Very few of these people are more knowledgeable than the average person, and it always comes out whenever they give unscripted interviews. Someone who has been through medical school has no defense for not being knowledgeable about biology. He willfully ignores facts when he doesn’t like them. Putting someone like that in power is profoundly stupid. > [@](#): > > They fall back on talking points at best, demonstrate extreme ignorance at worst. Their intelligence doesn’t generally extend beyond remembering their lines. Staying on message is a skill. Knowing that the sky isn’t a stone dome that has pinpricks of light in it, isn’t a high bar to ask of someone. > [@](#): > > Ronald Reagan should have proved once and for all what politicians were made of intellectually. No one ever accused Reagan of being a genius, but arguably no one played the role of politician better than he did. He’s an actor, and charming. > [@](#): > > Ben Carson, on the other hand, is an actual genius who doesn’t know what he can say in public and what he can’t. Hasn’t hired good handlers yet. So? I’m not suggesting he should be president. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/82 "2014-12-10T01:20:09Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > There’s a reason that rocket science and brain surgery are cited as examples of things you need to be a genius to do well. It’s a pithy idiom. I don’t doubt that Carson is smart, at least a little, in a narrow field. That doesn’t mean he should be trusted with nuclear weapons. He’s loony as a fuck. > [@](#): > > I mean, many of you swooned over Barack Obama editing the Harvard Law Review and giving one good speech. His intelligence has been fawned over ever since, even though it’s never translated into the ability to oversee the executive branch. Nonsense. He’s overseen it fine by any measure. You’re ideologically devoted to finding flaw, so you’re trumping up background noise as a symphony of incompetence. > [@](#): > > Granted, Carson doesn’t have that skill set either, but at least he’s actually as smart as people say he is, because he’s worked in a field where if you aren’t actually that damn smart you won’t succeed. People are smart in different ways. Carson has a pie slice of intelligence that allows him to function as a surgeon. The rest of the pizza is full of bronze-age utter horseshit, and the arrogant delusion necessary to ignore obvious facts. > [@](#): > > Politicians can fake it and arguably the best politicians aren’t the smartest ones, but the ones that fake it best. How many nuclear physicists in Congress? I think one: Rush Holt. Anyone considering him for President? No, because he’s above faking that he knows things that he doesn’t. He’s also probably not sure that the world is 6,000 years old. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/83 "2014-12-10T02:01:08Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > There are lots of different types of intelligence. Carson might be lacking in critical thinking skills, or he might be unwilling to challenge notions like various religious beliefs, or something else. But if someone is well educated but denies evolution, then something is wrong with the way they think. Evolution is a special case because it cannot be disproved in an experiment. Carson’s job is more intimately acquainted with the scientific method than a politician’s. I would agree that a person with a scientific background should give more credence to scientific consensus, but I don’t consider the unwillingness to do so a sign of bad thinking. Unlike say, thinking that the laws of supply and demand can be repealed by legislation, something which liberals try to do every day while proclaiming loudly that they respect science. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/84 "2014-12-10T02:05:10Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > It’s a pithy idiom. I don’t doubt that Carson is smart, at least a little, in a narrow field. That doesn’t mean he should be trusted with nuclear weapons. He’s loony as a fuck. Is there a field narrower than politics? Actual actors need more skills. > [@](#): > > People are smart in different ways. Carson has a pie slice of intelligence that allows him to function as a surgeon. The rest of the pizza is full of bronze-age utter horseshit, and the arrogant delusion necessary to ignore obvious facts. A pie slice of intelligence that allows you to be a brain surgeon? Interesting idea. I wonder how well attacking his intelligence will fly in a campaign. Especially given that it’s not unusual for us to elect evolution-deniers President. > [@](#): > > He’s also probably not sure that the world is 6,000 years old. While it may be frustrating, I know a lot of intelligent people who believe that. Religion is a weird thing, it makes people divide their brains up. The rational side would never allow them to believe something that would have actual consequences, but for things that do not have any import on their lives or the lives of those entrusted to them, believing certain things works for them. Ben Carson never killed a patient because he believed the world was 6000 years old, nor did his belief in the afterlife make him discount life any less. Heck, if anything, those that don’t believe in an afterlife seem to consider life less precious than those who do. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/85 "2014-12-10T02:08:39Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Unlike say, thinking that the laws of supply and demand can be repealed by legislation, something which liberals try to do every day while proclaiming loudly that they respect science. Examples. Specific ones, if you please? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/86 "2014-12-10T02:13:45Z")
Let’s start with minimum wage. The administration actually disputed the CBO’s assessment and said that job loss due to a higher minimum wage would be ZERO. By your own logic, that should disqualify everyone in that administration on the economics side from well, being in that administration. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/87 "2014-12-10T02:15:20Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Is there a field narrower than politics? Actual actors need more skills. Good politicians need some skills. Chucklefucks like the current stars on the right don’t need much of anything, other than a spleen to vent. > [@](#): > > A pie slice of intelligence that allows you to be a brain surgeon? Interesting idea. I wonder how well attacking his intelligence will fly in a campaign. Especially given that it’s not unusual for us to elect evolution-deniers President. To be a brain surgeon you need a strong memory, good hands, and an iron will. You can’t be stupid, but you sure as fuck can be an idiot. > [@](#): > > While it may be frustrating, I know a lot of intelligent people who believe that. Religion is a weird thing, it makes people divide their brains up. The rational side would never allow them to believe something that would have actual consequences, but for things that do not have any import on their lives or the lives of those entrusted to them, believing certain things works for them. Ben Carson never killed a patient because he believed the world was 6000 years old, nor did his belief in the afterlife make him discount life any less. No, I’m guessing he didn’t. However, if he decides that biblical prophecy needs him to nuke the Levant, he is obviously immune to facts and reasoned arguments to dissuade him. > [@](#): > > Heck, if anything, those that don’t believe in an afterlife seem to consider life less precious than those who do. That’s horseshit. All an atheist has is this world. Theists think this is dress rehearsal for the real show. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/88 "2014-12-10T02:21:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Let’s start with minimum wage. The administration actually disputed the CBO’s assessment and said that job loss due to a higher minimum wage would be ZERO. By your own logic, that should disqualify everyone in that administration on the economics side from well, being in that administration. Cite the comment. Also: [PolitiFact | Would raising the minimum wage cost 500,000 jobs?](http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2014/oct/10/rick-scott/would-raising-minimum-wage-cost-500000-jobs/) 500k is a possible projection. The CBO granted that it might be very slight. We just added 320k jobs So the amount is fairly small, and unsure in any case. Got anything else? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/89 "2014-12-10T02:26:30Z")
“Our view is that… zero is a perfectly reasonable estimate of the impact of the minimum wage on employment,” Furman said > **[Minimum Wage Hike Could Cost 500K Jobs, CBO Reports](https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/02/minimum-wage-hike-could-cost-of-500k-jobs-cbo-reports/)** > > While raising wages lifts people from federal aid, it may also kill jobs. The CBO recognizes that it could be more or less. But this is an administration that argued that the stimulus created or saves millions of jobs, not because such was actually observed, but because the economic models said it must be so. When the economic models predicted job loss from a minimum wage increase, they invented new economic theory on the spot. Pretty incredible. Now granted, the Democrats are right on the merits of minimum wage. 16.5 million people helped vs. 500,000 hurt isn’t a bad deal. But denying tradeoffs is just dishonest. There is no free lunch. I mean, they could just be lying. Apparently lying about science is okay, whereas actually disbelieving something that the scientific consensus says is disqualifying. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/90 "2014-12-10T02:29:10Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Ben Carson is a [creationist](http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dr-ben-carson-creationist/). He’s a 6-day creationist too – he literally believes that God created the earth in 6 days. Well, to be totally fair, not everyone believes every tenet of the religion they belong to\*, so that’s a pretty weak cite for that claim. But he does appear to be a creationist, which is rather stunning. That is, he doesn’t “believe” in evolution by natural selection, thinking there must be some diving intervention. It should be noted, however, that he is hardly alone in holding those view in the US-- he is in the majority. \*And he was raised in that religion, so it’s not like he chose to join as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/91 "2014-12-10T02:33:50Z")
Plus people of faith tend to divide their brains up. My mother-in-law believes exactly as Carson does, and she has a masters in biochemistry. She wouldn’t even have her Associate’s if she got every question wrong on evolution. She knows evolution, and I’m sure Carson knows evolution, or else he wouldn’t have gotten his degrees either. I couldn’t have passed high school biology without understanding it. If there was actually a problem here, Carson would never have become a neurosurgeon. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/92 "2014-12-10T02:37:37Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > “Our view is that… zero is a perfectly reasonable estimate of the impact of the minimum wage on employment,” Furman said > > [Minimum Wage Hike Could Cost 500K Jobs, CBO Reports - ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/02/minimum-wage-hike-could-cost-of-500k-jobs-cbo-reports/) > > The CBO recognizes that it could be more or less. But this is an administration that argued that the stimulus created or saves millions of jobs, not because such was actually observed, but because the economic models said it must be so. When the economic models predicted job loss from a minimum wage increase, they invented new economic theory on the spot. Pretty incredible. No. What’s incredible is your comments that have no bearing on the universe in which we live. They most certainly didn’t make up stuff on the spot. The CBO has to be pessimistic in its forecasts. Furman [says](http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/02/18/congressional-budget-office-report-finds-minimum-wage-lifts-wages-165-million-worker): > [@](#): > > 1. CBO’s estimates of the impact of raising the minimum wage on employment does not reflect the current consensus view of economists. The bulk of academic studies, have concluded that the effects on employment of minimum wage increases in the range now under consideration are likely to be small to nonexistent. CBO also agrees that the employment effect could be essentially zero, but their central estimates are not reflective of a consensus of the economics profession. Specifically: > > [ul] > [li]Seven Nobel Prize Winners, eight former Presidents of the American Economic Association and over 600 other economists recently summarized the literature on the employment effects of the minimum wage in this way: “In recent years there have been important developments in the academic literature on the effect of increases in the minimum wage on employment, with the weight of evidence now showing that increases in the minimum wage have had little or no negative effect on the employment of minimum-wage workers, even during times of weakness in the labor market.”[/li] > [li]The pioneering research in this area was conducted by John Bates Clark Medal winner David Card and Alan Krueger, who published a study in the American Economic Review in 1994 finding that fast food restaurants in New Jersey did not cut back employment relative to Pennsylvania after the former State raised its minimum wage. They concluded, “We find no indication that the rise in the minimum wage reduced employment.”[/li] > [li]The Card-Krueger research was generalized by Arindrajit Dube, T. William Lester, and Michael Reich who compared 288 pairs of contiguous U.S. counties with minimum wage differentials from 1990 to 2006. Based on this, researchers found “no adverse employment effects” from a minimum wage increase.[/li] > [li]A recent literature review of the extensive published work on the minimum wage concluded: “[W]ith 64 studies containing approximately 1,500 estimates, we have reason to believe that if there is some adverse employment effect from minimum-wage raises, it must be of a small and policy-irrelevant magnitude.”[/li] > [li]Another recent review of the theory and evidence on the minimum wage by John Schmitt at the Center for Economic Policy Research concluded that “The employment effects of the minimum wage are one of the most studied topics in all of economics. This report examines the most recent wave of this research – roughly since 2000 – to determine the best estimates of the impact of increases in the minimum wage on the employment prospects of low-wage workers. The weight of that evidence points to little or no employment response to modest increases in the minimum wage.”[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/93 "2014-12-10T02:55:58Z")
It is a basic tenet of economics that increasing the price of something reduces demand. It’s true that other factors could drown out the relatively small effects of a modest minimum wage increase, but the theory is sound. To deny the laws of supply and demand is pure quackery. Keynesianism, which is much less solid than the Law of Supply and Demand, the administration has regarded as undeniably reliable science. Since they increased federal spending, it MUST have grown the economy and increased employment, even though such an effect was not observed, and even though their own models showing what would happen without a stimulus matched nearly exactly what happened with a stimulus. THeir ad hoc hypothesis: “Things were worse than we thought.” At least on economics, this administration is simply not serious. And that is a field of study that has far more impact on governance than how the Earth came to be. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/94 "2014-12-10T03:05:47Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It is a basic tenet of economics that increasing the price of something reduces demand. It’s true that other factors could drown out the relatively small effects of a modest minimum wage increase, but the theory is sound. To deny the laws of supply and demand is pure quackery. No one is doing that. I’ve shown you where an awful lot of economists agree with Furman. And now, you’re deciding that your ideology trumps reality. > [@](#): > > Keynesianism, which is much less solid than the Law of Supply and Demand, the administration has regarded as undeniably reliable science. Since they increased federal spending, it MUST have grown the economy and increased employment, even though such an effect was not observed, and even though their own models showing what would happen without a stimulus matched nearly exactly what happened with a stimulus. THeir ad hoc hypothesis: “Things were worse than we thought.” So that’s it? I kick your argument’s teeth in, and you just shake it off and stumble to the next clot of horseshit? Not cool. [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/upshot/what-debate-economists-agree-the-stimulus-lifted-the-economy.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/upshot/what-debate-economists-agree-the-stimulus-lifted-the-economy.html) > [@](#): > > At least on economics, this administration is simply not serious. And that is a field of study that has far more impact on governance than how the Earth came to be. They’re plenty serious. They’re the ones listening to the experts. Unlike you. And Carson. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/95 "2014-12-10T03:10:00Z")
They are listening to the experts that tell them what they want to hear. The experts Congress actually hired so that politicians would have a harder time lying about the effects of their policies, they didn’t like them so much. When Ben Carson denies the reality of a basic tenet of economics, let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/96 "2014-12-10T03:26:20Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > They are listening to the experts that tell them what they want to hear. The experts Congress actually hired so that politicians would have a harder time lying about the effects of their policies, they didn’t like them so much. As I said, they have to be pessimistic. And you were wrong. Horribly so, and you incorrectly demonized the administration based on your ignorance of the issue. > [@](#): > > When Ben Carson denies the reality of a basic tenet of economics, let me know. He thinks a flat tax is a good idea, is that close enough? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/97 "2014-12-10T04:33:51Z")
Ben Carson “I’m so smart I say, and believe in, stupid things on purpose!” Too long for a bumper sticker . . . but it’s got potential as a campaign slogan. CMC fnord! ---
**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:** [December 10, 2014, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/98 "2014-12-10T12:11:49Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Evolution is a special case because it cannot be disproved in an experiment. [False.](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Disproving_evolution) And many experiments (like [this one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_experiment), most notably), have lent considerable data in support of evolution. > [@](#): > > Carson’s job is more intimately acquainted with the scientific method than a politician’s. Which makes it all the more egregious that he discounts it. > [@](#): > > I would agree that a person with a scientific background should give more credence to scientific consensus, but I don’t consider the unwillingness to do so a sign of bad thinking. How on earth not? > [@](#): > > Unlike say, thinking that the laws of supply and demand can be repealed by legislation, something which liberals try to do every day while proclaiming loudly that they respect science. Nope. > [@](#): > > While it may be frustrating, I know a lot of intelligent people who believe that. Religion is a weird thing, it makes people divide their brains up. The rational side would never allow them to believe something that would have actual consequences, but for things that do not have any import on their lives or the lives of those entrusted to them, believing certain things works for them. Ben Carson never killed a patient because he believed the world was 6000 years old, nor did his belief in the afterlife make him discount life any less. Heck, if anything, those that don’t believe in an afterlife seem to consider life less precious than those who do. Belief in evolution may not hurt Carson’s ability to do surgery. But it shows a flaw in his ability to think critically. > [@](#): > > Plus people of faith tend to divide their brains up. My mother-in-law believes exactly as Carson does, and she has a masters in biochemistry. She wouldn’t even have her Associate’s if she got every question wrong on evolution. She knows evolution, and I’m sure Carson knows evolution, or else he wouldn’t have gotten his degrees either. I couldn’t have passed high school biology without understanding it. > > If there was actually a problem here, Carson would never have become a neurosurgeon. Appeal to authority – the problem with his critical thinking is exacerbated by his medical training. He should know better – he should be held to a much higher standard than idiots like Louie Gohmert. Carson seems unable to challenge idiotic thinking about religion and science, even if he might accept certain aspects of science that don’t challenge his religious beliefs. I certainly couldn’t support someone who rejects science for something as fundamental to the field as evolution. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/99 "2014-12-12T03:06:00Z")
I think part of the problem here is the tendency to regard intelligence and stupidity as mutually exclusive properties. I’ve always said you can possess both. There are, in fact, levels of stupidity that require true genius to achieve. Doctor Carson has an inspiring back story but I’d certainly never vote for him because of what he believes. The fact that a smart person can believe a few stupid things doesn’t make him stupid but neither does it render the stupid things he believes any less the stupid for him believing them. ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/100 "2014-12-12T05:50:35Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > No one is doing that. I’ve shown you where an awful lot of economists agree with Furman. And now, you’re deciding that your ideology trumps reality. Is that sort of like how liberals were adamant that Obamacare would bend the cost curve downward even though a basic understanding of economics would lead one to understand how asinine an assumption that was? By the way… Argumentum ad populum? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154.md?page=6)