The MSM would destroy him.
Posted on 11/18/2015 9:49:34 AM PST by conservativejoy
Come on. The guy is as dumb as a bag of rocks. How does he get away with it? Because our society craves his narrative.
To the consternation of the GOP, Ben Carson still remains a significant player in the Republican presidential field. Carson appears to have no interest in what his challengers say or do, and he could not care less about how they speak of him. Remaining above the fray has been a tactic that Carson has used superbly throughout his campaign. But the most alarming aspect of his campaign thus far is the apparent disregard he has for what he says and does.
Carson knows that he is ignorant on many pertinent issues that are required for the presidency, especially foreign policy. He has frequently mentioned his reliance on advisors to get him up to speed on the issues, but none of this seems to phase him. He appears to wholeheartedly believe that he will know what he needs to know when he will need to know it. And until that time comes, the American public will be subjected to a barrage of gobbledygook that could make one go insane.
During last week's GOP debate, Fox Business debate moderator Maria Bartiromo asked him a standard question about whether he supported President Barack Obama’s decision to deploy 50 special ops troops in Syria. Carson's response started with, "Well, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they, that's why they're called special ops."
If this response was delivered with the cocksure Texas swagger of a George W. Bush or Rick Perry, Carson would have been the butt of endless jokes, and his poll numbers could have plummeted. Yet Carson gets a pass because he is a more subtle form of wrong. His post-debate poll numbers still have him neck and neck with Donald Trump atop the GOP field.
Carson gets a pass because our society craves his narrative. He was a successful neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is also a successful author, and his rags-to-riches story is an inspiration for many. America loves narratives like Carson's because they remove complexity from the world. Life becomes incredibly simple because all of its problems can be solved through determination, hard work, and an unwavering belief in God.
Stories like Carson's allow us to ignore the cognitive dissonance that is the bedrock of our society. The dichotomies of creating a democracy while also forcefully preventing victims of the African diaspora from participating in their government and subjecting them to oppression and terrorist abuse, and being a religiously devout nation and one that values the separation between church and state, speak to this dissonance that Carson assuages.
We cannot overlook the significance of Carson's race in both his political rise and the acceptance of his narrative. He has been positioned as the African American anti Obama from day one. His life story has now become the inspiration of a conservative electorate that prefers to ignore the systemic nature of racial oppression in America. Carson's narrative now encourages their disregard of racial injustice and their embrace of individual liberty as a universal uplifting force.
Carson's failings are excused because countless Americans want what he represents, even if he thus far has displayed no capacity to provide what they need. He has a list of gaffes that most candidates would never be able to recover from. But few are alarmed because no one truly cares about what he says; they care about his narrative.
Supporters of Carson do not seem interested in the reality of candidate Carson, which appears to be that he is an individual who is wholly out of his depth and struggles to answer basic policy questions. They care about what he represents, which is a smart man with an easily digestible, inspirational story that makes the world appear simple. Carson's tax plan, which is based around the religious practice of tithing, is a prime example of this.
This is why Trump spent more than 90 minutes attempting to dismantle Carson's narrative during a campaign stop in Iowa. If Carson's strength emanates from his narrative, you cannot fault Trump for trying to destroy it.
Despite being vastly dissimilar candidates, Trump and Carson fill an emotional need within the GOP base, and as a result they can get away with saying almost anything they want. Trump's campaign is more bellicose and vile than Carson's, and his supporters have figured out how to explain away his vicious attacks much like Carson's have for his gaffes.
Trump's campaign tactics make it easier to envision how awful his presidency would be, but the vagueness of Carson's policy positions and general ignorance on all pressing issues can make Carson's potential future harder to envision, yet equally as troubling.
America loves narratives like Carson's because they remove complexity from the world. Life becomes incredibly simple because all of its problems can be solved through determination, hard work, and an unwavering belief in God.
In the past week, he has been nothing more than a disaster on foreign policy. When pressed on nearly any subject pertaining American engagement in the Middle East, Carson only appears capable of spewing a word salad as he hopelessly searches his brain for a cogent response.
In light of the tragic Paris attacks, Fox News' Chris Wallace asked Carson about how he would form a coalition to combat ISIS, and all he could muster was a bunch of gibberish that Wallace struggled to decipher, and even asked the candidate to clarify.
Carson's ignorance might not appear as dangerous as Trump's belligerence, but ineptitude has many diverse and equally dangerous faces.
His campaign is nothing more than an inspirational non sequitur that has no connection to political competency. Carson consistently proves that the genius of being a brain surgeon does not necessarily transfer to the political realm. And without being blinded by his back story, it would be impossible for anyone to believe that he would be up to the task of being president based on his performance thus far.
Carson, like Trump, has energized the zeitgeist of conservatives, and this encourages devotion and the capacity to ignore or explain away his many faults. In many ways, they are two sides of the same coin: Different back stories, different personalities and faults, but equally inept and potentially disastrous at governing.
Eventually, the narrative falls away, reality takes precedent, the faults of the man can no longer be excused, and everyone else is left to pick up the pieces. We should all hope that Carson's campaign unravels before his obvious ignorance becomes dangerous, and leaves a mess that could take years to clean up.
Agreed, an Idiot is someone like that black democrat congress woman from texas, Carson is not, he is just not ready for primetime, put him as surgeon general and leave it as that.
I’m not sure I see his admission on relying on experts for advice as a fault. The current President thinks he knows everything about anything and looks at the crappy job he’s doing. A more important question is who he would seek the advice from. Obozo has surrounded himself with Left-wing idiots, causing the resultant stupid policy decisions. Dig around Carson’s answers and ferret out who his advisers would be rather than condemn him for not knowing everything.
How about being a lazy, ignorant, stupid, mouthy "community organizer"? Does that make someone smart enough to run the country?
The only Job Obama was ever qualified for was filling Ice Cream cones at Baskin Robbins.... and i'm not even sure about that.
Anyone who has not already first slammed Obama for being the stupidest President in History, has no credibility when it comes to criticizing anyone else.
The MSM would destroy him.
I just love the irony of a department chair from the highest-rated medical school in our nation being told, “Your [sic] an idiot.”
Thank you for being brave enough to say it. Regardless of ideology, people don't want to cast aspersions at blacks out of fear of being called racist. It's a sick, sad world in which we live.
I knew this back in April. I had, and continue to have much respect and admiration for Dr. Ben as a doctor, as an academic success story. Dr. Carson will forever be a symbol to motivate minorities to study hard, and apply themselves fully to the chosen profession. He has achieved that.
But I could see early on, he was not suited for politics, let alone politics on a national scale. The Doctor has been focused on the physical world of his patients and the spiritual world of faith, the spiritual world that calms and trains the mind. Hopefully, he will be appointed to be the Top Doctor.
I think I read yesterday that one of his own campaign trainers was in the press saying Dr. Ben continues to struggle to understand foreign conflicts now occurring.
That’s someone on Carson’s own team slamming him in public.
Sounds to me, the wheels are coming off anyway.
Carson's not an idiot but I'm not so sure about the author.
It’s easy to write a column slamming Dr. Carson. It’s not brain surgery. He’s clearly not dumb. The good doctor will make an excellent Surgeon General.
I am not a Dr. Carson supporter but he is not stupid/idiot material. He just probably never spent much time thinking about stuff outside the medical profession or his religion.
Also, he maybe medicated for a mental condition to control anger, etc and that can explain his uber relaxed facial expressions and why he appears - well - medicated.
Clumsy writing.
Uses words he doesn’t understand.
Ex.
“Reality takes precedent”
Precedence, not precedent
Makes me feel like editing the whole thing. It would be half as long.
And I really despise all the personal attacks going on against some of the other non-Trump Republican candidates. The nastiness I saw yesterday concerning Jindal was just over the top.
Is there a particular reason you listed this as a Hot Air piece and not a Daily Beast piece? This is written by an ultra liberal race pimp from the Beast——what are you doing here?
HG, we have a posting problem here....
I was one the very first who called this ass clown Michael Steele version 2015.
But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, some Freepers called me racist for calling out the liberal white guilt Freepers.
He’s an idiot because he doesn’t have craftily sculptured answers given to him by his handlers.
I don’t believe he’s an idiot, perhaps a savant is closer to the truth.
He isn’t an idiot, but he’s woefully over his head in the run to the presidency. His being in the race blocks the way for a true conservative candidate like Cruz to coalesce around.
I give him credit, he hasn’t played the race card YET.
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