Ben Carson emerges as sleeper threat in N.H. Republican Party event straw poll

dailymail.co.uk ^ | March 15, 2014 | DAVID MARTOSKO

[ilovesarah2012]

Sen. Rand Paul and Gov. Chris Christie placed first and second in a straw poll held during this weekend's Northeast Republican Leadership Conference, but Dr. Ben Carson may have stolen the show without being a candidate for anything. He emerged in third place with 11 per cent support, tied with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Sen. Rick Santorum. Paul led them by less than four points, with 14.7 per cent support. Christie polled 13 per cent. A 'draft committee' intent on sparking Carson to run for the White House in 2016 raised more than $2.8 million in its first six months of existence. That's more than double what the 'Ready For Hillary' group raised in its initial half-year, even though Hillary Clinton's candidacy seems far more assured than Carson's.

[C. Edmund Wright]

2014 will be fine…it’s about an organic movement in off year elections.

[ilovesarah2012]

Exactly.

I am just so hungry for a honest, smart, proud-to-be-an American leader. Is Dr. Carson up for the job of president? I don’t know but I believe I know his character and I trust him. Read his book America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great and it is inspiring. I want to be inspired again.

I doubt he will even run but I sure would love to see him in some leadership role in the party.

[Red in Blue PA]

If he has your vote, then you have no standards. May as well vote for Christie or any other dem-lite RINO.

The (supposed) purpose of the Republican party is to provide an opposition party to dems. A gun grabber RINO is no different than a dem so what is the point of voting at all of there is not going to be any opposition?

[Travis McGee]

I won’t vote for a gun control advocate, period.

[Sirius Lee]

Let’s get a few things out of the way first…

1. Ben Carson isn’t actually running for president. I think it would be premature for him to do so.

The reason we're talking about it is because, premature or not, he is polling better than Cruz and Palin in a NH poll. Now I like Dr. Carson. We agree on most issues. I hope President Cruz appoints him Surgeon General. But I will not equivocate on the 2nd Amendment, nor vote for someone who does.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

I like Dr. Carson, but like Christie’s, his anti-gun stance is a deal breaker for me.

I agree. His assertion that it might (might?) be OK to own an "assault weapon" if you live in a rural area but not if you live in a city echos an earlier time when certain people could expect their 14th and 15th amendment rights to be respected in some parts of the country but not in others.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

You don’t win over allies when you yell at people who have good intentions, but aren’t fully on board.

Here at FR, if that advice were to be followed, the post count would probably drop by eighty percent.

The neverending search for someone who will preach to the choir with 100.00% consistency causes a lot of FRustration here. I'd take Carson for president in a nanosecond.

[bert]

Search?

No search can be made by those that view life through a paper towel tube

[Red in Blue PA]

I am amazed that people will overlook his stance on guns. They say, “trust me, he will be good on other issues”.

But if he cannot be trusted with something so basic as the 2A, exactly why should I trust his decision making on other issues?

[ilovesarah2012]

You obviously don’t know much about Dr. Carson. We can argue about him once he declares his candidacy.

[VRW Conspirator]

That and $4.75 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

[Jim Noble]

So now both the GOP and the Democrats are in the business of looking for heroes who can make a good speech and who will be overwhelmed by the complexity of running the Executive Branch as their first job in political administration.

[TomGuy]

2) climbing on the bandwagon of a minority Republican without any sort of voting record to show just how conservative they actually are. (Hello Colin, Condi, Allen “Pigford” West, and Herman McCain)

Too many fail to spend 2 minutes doing a Google search on a candidate. They jump on the bandwagon because the person gave a good speech or made a witty retort to a media question.

I recall in 2008, many on FR were jumping on the Thompson bandwagon. After a short period of research, I discovered he not only supported McCain's CFR, he also chaired the committee and had his name on the original version.

In both 2008 and 2012, my state primary was so late in the spring that the nominee was determined weeks earlier. Thus, my state primary was irrelevant for the presidential nomination. Also, it gave me little reason to jump on the bandwagon of any candidate; thus, I scrutinized all of them and their warts. Most of the short-period frontrunners were populist-by-default as they split the conservatives and gave the GOPelite the nomination.

[DoodleDawg]

Isn’t 8 years of amateur hour in the Oval Office enough?

[ilovesarah2012]

6 presidents never held public office before becoming president

1. George Washington
2. Herbert Hoover
3. Ulysus S. Grant
5. Dwight D. Eisenhower
6. Zachary Taylor
7. William Howard Taft

[ilovesarah2012]

How can an intelligent person compare Obama to Dr. Ben Carson? Really???

[9YearLurker]

Yep. All those fringe candidates tend to have narcissistic leanings, by which they love the attention, and many of them are in it for the cash as well. It’s long been a Democrat practice to get vote-splitters into a race where they can, and I’m convinced that at very least the GOPe, if not the Dems themselves, play that game with apt bribery for the GOP primaries.

[Red in Blue PA]

I know enough from his simple zip code 2A theory that his judgement on more complex issues will already be called into question. “Shall not be infringed” means something......or are people now getting a pass if they get that ass backwards?

[9YearLurker]

All generals or high-ranking cabinet secretaries.

[Red in Blue PA]

Their views on the 2A are remarkably similar for one.

Stop defending the indefensible.