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Republican Ben Carson's campaign manager, 20 staff quit
Reuters ^

Posted on 12/31/2015 3:56:26 PM PST by springwater13

U.S. Republican Ben Carson's 2016 presidential bid was thrown into chaos on Thursday when his campaign manager and some 20 other staff members quit amid infighting, dropping poll numbers and negative media coverage.

Barry Bennett, who oversaw Carson's rapid rise to the top tier of Republican contenders and his later fall, said he quit over differences with another top adviser to Carson, Armstrong Williams.

Specifically, Bennett blamed Williams for an interview Carson gave last week to The Washington Post suggesting that the campaign was in disarray. "It's one of the stupidest things I've ever seen a candidate do," Bennett said.

Things had "boiled over" with Williams, Bennett told Reuters. "For the past seven weeks, I've been doing nothing but putting out Armstrong Williams-started fires," Bennett said.

He also charged Williams was behind a story in The New York Times that suggested Carson was out of his depth on foreign policy.

Carson's communications director, Doug Watts, also resigned due to differences with Williams, Bennett said. Some 20 staff in total left, he said. Among them was deputy campaign manager Lisa Coen.

Williams, a political commentator who holds no official role with the campaign, said he was "shocked" by Bennett's criticism. "They're giving me a lot more credit than I deserve," he told Reuters.

He suggested Bennett and Watts left the campaign rather than be fired. "Right now, they’re upset and they need a scapegoat, and I’m the scapegoat," Williams said.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: New York
KEYWORDS: 2016election; amnesty; armstrongwilliams; barrybennett; bencarson; carson; demagogicparty; districtofcolumbia; dougwatts; election2016; lisacoen; loser; memebuilding; niceman; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; poorcampaigner; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost
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1 posted on 12/31/2015 3:56:26 PM PST by springwater13
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To: springwater13

sad to see


2 posted on 12/31/2015 3:58:02 PM PST by RaginRak
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To: springwater13

20? Did I read that right.

20 staff members.

Carson must be a complete political moron.

If Carson can’t build and keep a campaign team.

How is he going to build and keep a Presidential team?

The answer is he doesn’t know how.


3 posted on 12/31/2015 3:59:43 PM PST by tennmountainman ("Prophet Mountainman" Predicter Of All Things RINO...for a small pittance)
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To: tennmountainman

Carson wasn’t running for President. His “business manager” Armstrong Williams was running a ponzi brand building scheme to sell Carson’s books and develop a donor list they can motenize in the future.

You don’t raise $23 million and spend 70% of that money back to raise more money.


4 posted on 12/31/2015 4:01:56 PM PST by springwater13
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To: springwater13
Afraid they would be stabbed.
5 posted on 12/31/2015 4:03:05 PM PST by TornadoAlley3 (Obama is everything Oklahoma is not.)
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To: tennmountainman

The consultants are feeding off of Carson’s corpse, like hyenas and turkey vultures do to dead wildebeests.


6 posted on 12/31/2015 4:03:45 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: tennmountainman

This book tour is rapidly derailing.


7 posted on 12/31/2015 4:05:46 PM PST by Sasparilla
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To: springwater13

Once it was clear that Carson was not up to the task of taking down Trump, the media and the rest of the Republican Party simply had no use for him.

“He also charged Williams was behind a story in The New York Times that suggested Carson was out of his depth on foreign policy.”

Maybe, maybe not - either way, it was MORE THAN OBVIOUS that Carson was clueless on foreign policy, it didn’t take an inside leak to figure that out.


8 posted on 12/31/2015 4:07:34 PM PST by BobL (Who cares? He's going to build a wall and stop this invasion.)
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To: BobL

Hope he sends his supporters to TRUMP, especially if they are attracted to book authors. (smirk)

TRUMP, 2016


9 posted on 12/31/2015 4:14:04 PM PST by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming)
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To: springwater13
You don’t raise $23 million and spend 70% of that money back to raise more money.

That's right. With some liberal causes, the number approaches 90%...

10 posted on 12/31/2015 4:14:56 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: springwater13

So who’s this Armstrong Williams character? First time I’ve ever heard of him...


11 posted on 12/31/2015 4:22:56 PM PST by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
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To: Timber Rattler

Oh you’ll have a whole new view on Carson once you do a search, trust me.

Someone whose judgement is so poor as to hire/ be a longtime friend of that nutcase needs to have his brain operated on, not be doing the operating. And NOT running America.


12 posted on 12/31/2015 4:34:51 PM PST by Norm Lenhart (Existential Cage Theory - An idea whose time has come)
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To: springwater13

Gentle Ben DID bring the concept of good and respectable as it relates to Americans of African origin back to the consciousness of the remaining Americans who reside in that territory once known as “the United States of America”.

We have had a lot of what is not so good and not very respectable as it relates to certain “persons of color” over the past 7 years. Thugs marching with “Black Lives Matter”, the total disrespect for the police in many cities, not only by the mob on the street, but by the Democrat city “leaders” who have raised the art of demagoguery to an art form, and the constant drumbeat from the White Hut that the microaggression of “white supremacy” is at the root of all the “racism” in this country.

The Americans of African descent are much better than that.


13 posted on 12/31/2015 4:37:11 PM PST by alloysteel (Do not argue with trolls. That means they win.)
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To: springwater13

14 posted on 12/31/2015 4:43:30 PM PST by JPG (What's the difference between the Rats and the GOPe? Nothing.)
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To: RitaOK
Hope he sends his supporters to TRUMP, especially if they are attracted to book authors. (smirk)

I suspect a big chunk of his supporters are evangelicals who would tend towards Cruz. Some of the remainder may well go to Trump.

15 posted on 12/31/2015 4:46:47 PM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: Timber Rattler

https://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&site=&source=hp&q=Armstrong+Williams&btnK=Google+Search


16 posted on 12/31/2015 4:50:09 PM PST by deport
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To: grey_whiskers
You don't raise $23 million and spend 70% of that money back to raise more money.

That's right. With some liberal causes, the number approaches 90%...

70 percent is still better than the Clinton Crime Family Foundation, isn't it? After all, I don't think you can claim the salary paid to Chelsea as "program costs" for a charity, even if it all goes to paying for plastic surgery,,,

17 posted on 12/31/2015 4:52:39 PM PST by Bernard (The Road To Hell Is Not Paved With Good Results)
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To: springwater13

My first choice would be his votes to go to Cruz, sure Trump will get some... AND I LIKE BOTH


18 posted on 12/31/2015 4:53:19 PM PST by Chauncey Uppercrust (CRUZ/TRUMP 2016 OR BUST...RUBIO NO GOOD)
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To: springwater13

Carson campaign deathwatch.


19 posted on 12/31/2015 4:54:39 PM PST by RKBA Democrat (Look closely at any evil and most times you'll find the unmistakable handprint of caesar.)
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To: tennmountainman
>>Carson must be a complete political moron.<<

An accomplished Neurosurgeon, not a moron. Politics is a cut throat business. He is not a politician.

I respect him for that. I hope he lands a cabinet position in a Trump or Cruz administration.

20 posted on 12/31/2015 4:56:29 PM PST by servantboy777
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