If both Trump and Carson follow this Jefferson dictum, they're conservative enough for me.
Posted on 09/03/2015 1:36:27 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
While Jeb Bush feuds Donald Trump and others kowtow to him, only one candidate is seriously gaining on him.
Ben Carson is now tied with Trump in one Iowa poll and is close in others, an especially notable result given that The Donald has jammed a lifetime's worth of free media into the past couple of months.
Carson's rise suggests that it's possible to catch the populist wave roiling Republican politics and yet not be an obnoxious braggart who abuses anyone who crosses him and will say or do anything as long as he's getting attention. Ben Carson is a superior outsider to Donald Trump.
He is more gentlemanly and more conservative, with a more compelling life story. Carson is a man of faith who, despite his manifest accomplishments, has a quiet dignity and winsome modesty about him. Ben Carson is a throwback, whereas Donald Trump is a bold-faced name straight out of our swinish celebrity culture.
What they have in common is that they are political neophytes light on policy details who are memorable communicators precisely because they speak and carry themselves so differently from other politicians. Although the similarities stop there — Carson is what Trump calls "low energy," and yet he makes it work for him.
At the Faith and Freedom event in Washington in June, Carson gave a speech that had no obvious applause lines, never rose above a conversational tone, had very little political content — and left perhaps the best impression of any presentation by a candidate.
Few politicians have ever wielded soft-spokeness to such rhetorical effect. Carson aced the Fox debate when in his closing statement he didn't puff himself up and attempt to soar like candidates always do, but gently said a few nice things about his background as a surgeon, with a touch of humor. It was a hit.
If Carson's surge continues, one wonders if other contenders now doing all they can to kowtow to and copy the bombastic real-estate mogul will instead decide to kowtow to and copy the mild-mannered retired neurosurgeon.
Carson is a more natural fit for conservatives than Trump. If you like your outsider not to favor higher taxes, not to have once opposed the ban of partial birth abortion, not to speak favorably of socialized medicine, not to have been an erstwhile booster of Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton, and not to have experience buying off politicians, Ben Carson (or Carly Fiorina) is a much better bet than Donald Trump.
And Carson is altogether a more sympathetic figure. He rose from nothing; Trump took over the family real-estate business. Carson's mom was one of 24 kids, had a third-grade education and worked as a domestic; Trump's father built tens of thousands of apartments in Brooklyn and Queens and amassed a fortune of $300 million.
Carson is a serious Christian who has a powerful testimonial about getting down on his knees as a young man unable to control his temper and saying, "Lord, unless you help me, I'm not going to make it."
Carson tells of how he prayed to God to give him the right woman and how he has been married to his wife, Candy, for 40 years; Trump brags about the beautiful women he has bedded.
Trump says he likes "The Art of the Deal" better than any book except the Bible, but he appears to have read just one of them. His evasions when he was asked a few basic questions in a Bloomberg interview about the Good Book were hilariously ham-fisted (he can't answer what his favorite verse is because that's too personal a question).
Trump is the most blatantly secular major presidential candidate since Howard Dean, and of course, he is running as a Republican, not a Democrat. Trump will have to do well in the Iowa caucuses that have been won most recently by Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee and George W. Bush — a devout Catholic, an ordained Baptist preacher and an evangelical, none of whom were prone to fits of awkwardness and shyness when the Bible came up.
Trump is, to say the least, not of this mold. He is a successful creature of our culture of conspicuous display and tasteless braggadocio. It's no accident that he played himself in WWE wrestling dramas, or that he names everything after himself, or that he doesn't have enough superlatives for own personal qualities and wealth and accomplishments.
Not content simply to brag about his real achievements, Trump says things that are obviously self-inflating fables. Does anyone really believe that other candidates came up to Trump after the Fox debate and told him he had won, as he maintained in his post-debate interview with CNN's Don Lemon?
Carson has certainly made the most of his own renown, churning out best-sellers and raking in the speaking fees, but he operates from a baseline of self-respect and respect for others.
It's impossible to imagine him engaging in juvenile insult wars with random targets of his ire. Or imagine him calling a female journalist a "bimbo" for asking questions that he found unwelcome. Or commenting crudely on women's appearances.
Like Trump, Carson excoriates the culture of political correctness and has said his share of outrageous things, but he also doesn't consider it beneath him to occasionally apologize.
America long ago turned its back on self-restraint and gentlemanliness. Conservatives were the last holdouts, but their dalliance with Trump makes you wonder if they, too, are willing to surrender to celebrity excess as the new norm.
Ben Carson stands for something different. His personal story shows how true class isn't about riches, but about character. Donald Trump has all the finest things and I'd hazard to guess barely as much class as Ben Carson's penniless mother struggling to raise her sons had in her pinky.
Carson may not ultimately have the political pull of Trump, who is more mediagenic and can potentially spend much more money. Yet, if conservatives want to flirt with an unconventional candidate, Carson provides the opportunity to do it without a guilty conscience.
If both Trump and Carson follow this Jefferson dictum, they're conservative enough for me.
Interesting; Politico promoting 2nd place soft spoken Carson over the bombastic Trump. Both described by Politico’s Rich Lowry as “unconventionals” and neither of which score, although Carson has more points than Trump, very high on the conservative meter.
Carson has yet to speak out about “Black Lives Matter” Slowly but surely black conservatives are comming forth accepting the reality that Obama created this hyphenation of Americans using race for his own political purposes. Which I’ve been posting here in FR’s for years was employed as a political tactic to defer any constitutional questioning action of the 1st branch by the 2nd branch of government.
Here is what they’re saying
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3323814/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3324514/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3325168/posts
The sad part is we do have a black candidate now in second place in current polling running for POTUS who has yet to speakout on this matter. Until he will he does not deserve consideration to be our POTUS
Carson, while an amazing physician and a kind man, would get chewed up and spit out by the left DC/Midge & Bonehead cabal. They would completely steamroll him.
Interesting; Politico promoting 2nd place soft spoken Carson over the bombastic Trump. Both described by Politico’s Rich Lowry as “unconventionals” and neither of which score, although Carson has more points than Trump, very high on the conservative meter.
Carson has yet to speak out about “Black Lives Matter” Slowly but surely black conservatives are comming forth accepting the reality that Obama created this hyphenation of Americans using race for his own political purposes. Which I’ve been posting here in FR’s for years was employed as a political tactic to defer any constitutional questioning action of the 1st branch by the 2nd branch of government.
Here is what they’re saying
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3323814/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3324514/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3325168/posts
The sad part is we do have a black candidate now in second place in current polling running for POTUS who has yet to speakout on this matter. Until he will he does not deserve consideration to be our POTUS
They are roughly 15% of the population and a good bit of them are nothing but trouble as they have been proving as of late.
He’s neither a conservative nor a leader.
Semi-automatic weapons ok in countryside, but not cities
Appearing on Glenn Beck’s radio show this past week, Carson took a vastly different stance from most conservatives on the issue of gun control, claiming you shouldn’t be able to own semi-automatic weapons in large cities.
Asked by Beck for his thoughts on the Second Amendment, Carson gave the popular pro-gun argument: “There’s a reason for the Second Amendment; people do have the right to have weapons.”
But when asked whether people should be allowed to own “semi-automatic weapons,” the doctor replied: “It depends on where you live. I think if you live in the midst of a lot of people, and I’m afraid that that semi-automatic weapon is going to fall into the hands of a crazy person, I would rather you not have it,” Carson elaborated. However, if you live “out in the country somewhere by yourself” and want to own a semi-automatic weapon, he added, “I’ve no problem with that.”
Source: Andrew Kirell on mediaite.com , Mar 3, 2013
Is it moral for us, for example, to take advantage of cheap labor from illegal immigrants while denying them citizenship?
I’m sure you can tell from the way I phrased the question that I believe we have taken the moral low road on this issue. Some segments of our economy would virtually collapse without these undocumented workers—we all know that—yet we continue to harass and deport many individuals who are simply seeking a better life for themselves and their families.
Is there a way to apply logic to this issue and arrive at an intelligent solution?
All we have to do is look to our northern neighbor, Canada. They have a guest worker program, which allows people to enter the country as officially recognized guest workers who pay taxes, receive benefits, and are able to come and go as they please without infringing on anyone else’s rights.
Source: America the Beautiful, by Ben Carson, p.102 , Jan 24, 2012
If Rich Lowery is for him, then I’m against him. That and he seems to be open boarders and weak on the 2A. He’s buddies with Trump so maybe either him or Cruz for VP, I’d prefer Cruz.
From some of the comments here, I’d gather that although Mr. Carson is extremely intelligent and a pleasant person; WE NEED A LOUD-MOUTHED - GET IT DONE KIND OF PERSON.
AND .. guess what ..?? I suspect the disaffected Jeb supporters are turning to Carson; mainly because he seems to be similar in character; soft spoken and soft on amnesty, against guns, etc. He’s a perfect fit for the people who vote GOP-e.
I prefer a pro-American patriot to Carson the open-borders amnesty shill.
Besides, Carson is a racial token. Nothing more. Nothing less. No white brain surgeon, never elected to anything, never the head of anything beyond a hospital, would be considered as a candidate, even if he once spoke back to Obama at a breakfast meeting or whatever.
I look forward to this time-waster’s exit from the campaign.
What we need to be considering is the aftermath of Obama.
Which candidate will be the best at facing down Putin or China or the newly nukified Iran bent on destroying Israel and sending a nuclear missile into the US to show that they can?
Which candidate will be best at restoring the economy, because the economy is still very, very weak.
Which candidate will be best at encouraging companies to expand and invest in new employees? We still have 90+ million who have been sidelined from the workforce.
The next president will have a major task of cleaning up after the Obama mess. And he/she, if Republican, will not have the luxury of a compliant media to prop him/her up. And at the rate McConnell is screwing things, he/she will likely have a Democrat controlled Senate.
Sometimes a loud mouth is just a loud mouth and doesn't get things done. Lyndon Johnson was a loudmouth and a bully, but he understood how government worked so he was able to push his agenda through. Another loudmouth might just get bogged down swapping insults with people.
AND .. guess what ..?? I suspect the disaffected Jeb supporters are turning to Carson; mainly because he seems to be similar in character; soft spoken and soft on amnesty, against guns, etc. He’s a perfect fit for the people who vote GOP-e.
On the theory that whoever doesn't support whoever you do has to be part of the GOPe, sure. Actually, though, Trump is stronger among moderate to liberal voters than Carson is. If Ben Carson is a candidate who can win over more conservative and more moderate voters (as Donald Trump apparently can), good for him.
I agree so why are we considering someone with ZERO Executive experience? Just because they are black?
Horse crap!
If you read this thread closely you will see he is pro illegal alien criminal scum and gun control.
Both deal breakers especially from a flip flopper.
Semi auto for everyone.
Carson’s position on illegals shows is not a conservative. It is a left wing position.
“I want the pilot to fly it”
Damn right. Cool rhyme, too
I don’t think Trump can actually land the plane though. He’d better find a Ted Striker for VP.
The big problem for Trump is that Carson is the only other primary candidate who he would lose to in a one-on-one match and it’s by a lot, 55 to 36 percent.
The next candidate who performs best against Trump is Cruz, losing to Trump 41 to 48. Everyone else loses to Trump by more.
I don’t know if Carson would be a good president, but I am sure he could never handle the fight to get elected. He would be in way over his head.
3. Who would you vote for if the only two candidates for the Republican nomination were
Donald Trump and [NAME]?
Trump - Other - (VOL) No one - (VOL) Don’t know
Jeb Bush 56% 37% 5% 2%
Ben Carson 36% 55% 1% 8%
Marco Rubio 52% 38% 1% 9%
Chris Christie 63% 30% 2% 5%
John Kasich 62% 29% 3% 7%
Ted Cruz 48% 41% 4% 7%
Cary Fiorina 50% 37% 5% 8%
Scott Walker 53% 38% 3% 6%
Rand Paul 60% 27% 5% 8%
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