I suspect he’s angling for a TV show. Although I wouldn’t put Surgeon General in a GOP administration out of reach either.
Maybe Democrats should filibuster his appointment for 6 years should it come to it.
Autism is a spectrum, not a have-it-or-not kind of thing. Temple Grandin, for example, is very intelligent, but she has issues. The fact that Carson is an amazing neurosturgeon means only that he knows his way around cerebral tissue inside crania very, very well. Once he steps outside other people’s skulls, he is just a dude. Could easily be placed somewhere on the autistic spectrum, or maybe he has (or also has) a touch of OCD, or who knows what. It takes a wholly different kind of smart to run a country.
A good inspiring life story helps sell a candidate, and his rise to gifted technician could be a marketing tool. But his having been a gifted neurosurgeon does not qualify him to operate on hearts, let alone do physics, let alone attest to any other smarts other than his technical skills. Okay he ran some departments … that speaks for some executive skills. But I gotta tell you … hospital departments are usually very poorly managed by their physician directors. Yes one can do well in medical school being a bookcase and not a scholar and skilled hands does not mean the mind is all that sharp.
Old joke - How does the internist stop closing elevator doors? (Teller puts his hand out.)How does a surgeon stop closing elevator doors? (Teller leans his head forward.)
I did have to laugh out loud at that. Until we elected Obama, Carter was quite possibly the most inept President we’ve had. Obama’s one accomplishment in office is to make Carter look competent.
Here we go again.
Can we please limit this thread to discussing Ben Carson?
Experiencing cognitive dissonance, no?
Ben Carson deserves to be attacked for the views he’s expressed. Democrats just need to realize that you don’t have to go straight to a person’s morality or intelligence in order to criticize the things they say. If it was wrong to call John Kerry a coward because he proved his bravery in Vietnam, then it’s wrong to call Ben Carson an idiot because he proved his genius in the medical field.
Ben Carson might be a genius in neurosurgery, but he’s still an idiot. They’re not mutually exclusive. The things he’s said recently are idiotic.
Then it follows that a person can be brave when facing physical danger but cowardly when his political career is on the line.
I recall JFK once said that moral courage is rarer than physical courage.
Yes – who said it can’t? McCain was brave in some instances and a coward in others. Kerry probably was too.
About 100,000 Democratic talking heads and commentators. “How dare you call a war hero a cheese eating surrender monkey!”
I’m not going to take your word for it, but go ahead and argue with them if you want. Why bring it up here?
Just to establish the rules of the game, for future reference. But really, I expect pro spinners to spin. That should not happen on SDMB. EVen if you support a candidate, you should be willing to shrug and say that a particular talking point is nonsense. It’s not like your candidate will lose the election because you weren’t a team player.
I like Ben Carson. A lot. But I’m not going to carry water for his dumb statements. Hopefully Dopers will take the same attitude when Hillary’s laying it on thick.
Why do you like him a lot? To me, he’s a smart and skilled neurosurgeon and an absolute idiot, Palinesque in his stupidity, as far as politics. Like really, really dumb.
Yeah, I don’t really get the Carson love. His personal accomplishments are extremely impressive, but every time he opens his mouth I start to wonder if he tried new lobotomy techniques on himself near the end of his career. The Palin comparison isn’t bad, though she had few non-political accomplishments to speak of.
Hell, even world-famous cardiothoracic surgeons can make dumb mistakes: All Healthy Living Articles
Well, imagine Audie Murphy running for Congress sometime in the 1950s, in his home state of Texas. His physical courage is never in doubt. Assume he is sincerely against segregation (no idea if he was). Also assume he wants to win.
What public position does he take on segregation?
That could go either way, couldn’t it?
How can one not like coming from nothing and being one of the most accomplished physicians of our time? I mean, he’s head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. At 33 years old.
His story has been made into movies. When Cuba Gooding Jr. plays you in your life story, you’ve been pretty successful.
I would consider Carson more ignorant than idiotic.