I have been arguing on here all day that Politico is absolutely correct in their story and Rush and a great many Freepers are wrong. Factually speaking, the academies do not offer scholarships. They offer appointments. Further, a general a coach or anyone else cannot give a scholarship. All cadets must receive a nomination from their MOC, then apply and be accepted to the academy. This applies even to recruited athletes. Further, let’s say Westmoreland was impressed with a young Ben Carson and told him he should apply or that he’d be a strong candidate or that he’d have no trouble getting in or that he would pull some strings (doubtful he would say that). But even so, Carson would still need a nomination from his MOC, then would have to apply and be accepted to West Point. So given all of this, Carson’s version is pure unadulterated bullshit. He was never offerered a scholarship, and for him to claim that he had the option to attend or turn down West Point is not true. That the man has been peddling this story in this form for 25 years and continues to peddle it as recently as two weeks ago, speaks to either ignorance (doubtful given his intellect) or a willingness to knowingly fabricate a story to look good and impress conservative voters who typically are
Pro military.
I’ve been hammered all day on here. By other Freepers, by other service members, by parents of cadets. But the fact remains that Carson never received a scholarship or an offer to attend West Point. By him continuing to state as such at minimum makes him an embellisher and at worst a liar. The spin from Carson’s team that he was misunderstood or that it’s semantics is laughable. I am a Trump supporter but don’t think Trump needs to apologize in the least.
I like Trump also, but you are over-the-top on Carson.
I see you are Air Force Academy grad, so Y-O-U would know the difference between appointment and scholarship.
I have a friend who went to USNA because he was one of the best lacrosse players in America in high school. I asked him who he got his appointment from, and he told me the person’e name, but then quickly said, “It was basically a scholarship, if he hadn’t appointed me, there were several others who would, and that basically the academy wanted him no matter what.
So, you are splitting hairs about Carson, and I wouldn’t expect a civilian who was a teenager at the time, to recall the specific words used by Westmorland. I am confident that had Carson wanted to go to West Point, Westmorland would have provided a quick easy path to A-P-P-O-I-N-TM-E-N-T.
Give the man a break. It’s a NON-STORY.
See post #4 on this thread. Apparently USMA did call them “scholarships”
“I have been arguing on here all day that Politico is absolutely correct in their story and Rush and a great many Freepers are wrong. Factually speaking, the academies do not offer scholarships.”
See post 4, advertisement in Black Enterprise Feb 92, page 153. West Point was marketing their program as a full government scholarship.
“Each year about 1200 young men and women take advantage of the opportunities to attend West Point on a full government scholarship which includes tuition, room and board ….â€
Politico is already walking-back their story with stealth edits.
Dr. Carson probably has no idea about the USMA application process. (Well, to be fair, he probably has a pretty good idea now...) Some General he met a long time ago suggested he apply and that he would get in if he applied. He probably just took it at face value that it was an offer to attend...on scholarship since everyone knows service academies offer full scholarships to their attendees.
So true.
I don’t understand why so many are rushing to twist the truth to salvage the moment for Carson. He misstated the events to bolster his street cred.
He was at best asked to apply. If he was so naive that he thought that meant they were offering him a position without even applying that is a pitiful reflection on either his intelligence or his reading comprehension. Didn’t he have advisers or a guidance counselor he would have showed the letter to?
In any case by the time he wrote his book he was a man and surely understood that an offer to apply is not an acceptance and shouldn’t be touted as such. This is a piece with many other comments or positions he has brought forth where it is obvious he has not thought or explored a area before speaking. Not a good trait in a person running for President.
By far not the first time Carson has had to try to clean up his remarks. He is on video crediting Mannatech with funding his endowment chair at Johns Hopkins. When the Mannatech relationship became a liability, his campaign said that Carson was just “confused”.