Posted on 11/29/2014 6:06:51 AM PST by Kaslin
This column is not meant to endorse Dr. Ben Carson for president, because in my opinion it's too early to endorse him or anybody else at this point.
The vetting process is in its nascent stages, and you don't really know anything about the candidates as potential standard-bearers until you get them out there on a national stage together, and then you can size them up accordingly.
This column isn't even about Carson's looming presidential run. Rather, it's about our response to it as conservatives. Some of which is troubling.
I recently spent a good portion of a Saturday with Dr. Carson. We ate two meals together. One of those was a private lunch, which provided the occasion for a blunt, off-the-record discussion about where the country is at as well as his potential candidacy. I also emceed a fundraiser he spoke at that was packed with key Iowa Caucus activists. So I think I got a fairly good glimpse of Carson's motivations and beliefs.
Carson didn't have any handlers. He came only with his friendly wife Candy, who was very comfortable introducing herself to everyone, and took some time to go and play the violin at a local hospital for some sick kids. If he's a stalking horse for the establishment, which is a theory I've heard posited from some conservatives, Carson did a very poor job of playing his role. He did and said almost all the things the political class says not to do and say, and the crowd ate it up.
Is Carson as winsome a communicator as Mike Huckabee? No.
Is Carson as powerful defending conservative principles as Ted Cruz? No.
Does Carson have a major policy win over the Left like Scott Walker? No.
Does Carson have a track record like a Rick Santorum or a Bobby Jindal? No.
Is Carson surrounded by people who have been preparing to run him for president from the time he first became known like Rand Paul? No.
But what Carson has going for him is a life story that is the very embodiment of the American Dream. As well as a deep desire to end the Left's politically-correct divisiveness, and restore the melting pot of a uniquely American culture that was once our biggest strength as a people.
And that puts Carson in line with how most Americans feel at the moment. They don't like Democrats, and they don't trust Republicans. They don't want the Democrats taking the country any further left, and they don't believe the Republicans will do anything about it. In short, most Americans feel as if they're not represented by either party, and they're tired of being called names just because they disagree with something that's hurting them and their children.
Carson fills that longing Obama first tapped into in 2008 before his Marxism started shining through once he was in office. But while Obama fashioned himself a golden calf for the masses seeking a political savior, Carson earnestly believes that returning to the ideals that turned a black kid who grew up in deep poverty into one of the world's foremost neurosurgeons is our deliverance. Carson wants to use the platform of a campaign not to pander, but to take that message to places most conservatives have either written off or are afraid to enter. His life story of overcoming the odds makes him believe that actually might work.
That doesn't mean Carson should be the GOP nominee in 2016, or that he shouldn't be vetted. In fact, before he spoke at the fundraiser I emceed I encouraged the crowd to look past his exemplary life story and still vet him as they would any other candidate.
But it does mean someone who really wants to be your ally shouldn't be made to be an enemy. While most conservatives are welcoming Carson into the field with open arms, some patriots I really respect immediately jump to his past questionable comments on the Second Amendment. Or his support for Monica Wehby not running as a pro-life candidate in liberal Oregon, even though Carson believes abortion is "murder."
Those things are fair game for thinking he's not ready for primetime, but in case you haven't noticed recently we are lacking for Jonahs willing to go to Nineveh. Heck, we can't even get most Republicans to stand boldly in a room full of conservatives, let alone against the tide of political correctness as Carson is willing to do. Therefore, even if Carson isn't presidential material for you, at the very least he could be a powerful friend in a war for the soul of America that requires all hands on deck.
The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. Carson has shown up to work while many who claim to be on our side are out to lunch. I say we hand him a hard hat.
You named a Congressman, a Senator, and a career politician/Governor, Carson should try something like that first before running for leader of the free world as his starting point.
Howard Dean’s long political career:
“In 1982, he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives, where he remained until being elected lieutenant governor in 1986. Both were part-time positions which enabled him to continue practicing medicine. Dean won re-election as Lieutenant Governor in 1988 and 1990.
On August 14, 1991, Dean was examining a patient when he received word that Governor Richard A. Snelling had died of sudden cardiac arrest. Dean assumed the office, which he called the “greatest job in Vermont.” He was subsequently elected to five two-year terms in his own right, making him the longest-serving governor in Vermont’s history. From 1994 to 1995, Dean was the chairman of the National Governors Association.”
After decades in elective office, Dean ran for President in 2004, and in 2005 became the DNC chairman.
The ONLY way you can disarm anyone is, if they allow it..
are law abiding, docile, able to be manipulated, and/or they are cowards..
others will be armed even if illegal..
I think you misunderstand me. I’m not saying doctors haven’t gotten involved in politics.
I’ve just never seen a random surgeon, or anybody else, touted as a viable presidential candidate after a few uplifting speeches.
Not that I’m a huge fan of a long career in public service as a necessary credential for presidents.
Arguably one of the few presidents with less such experience than Obama was ... A. Lincoln. Who turned out to be a pretty darn effective leader.
So NATO is sending troops to engage Russians in Ukraine? do you have a source for that?
No, seriously... it absolutely did not follow what we were talking about.
The need to avoid risk and surprises at all costs is simply dead man walking....from Shawshank....get busy living or get busy dying.
Thank you for the clarification, but I don’t see how wanting some actual legislative experience and/or a voting record of some kind equates to avoiding “risks and surprises at all costs.” It simply doesn’t, particularly in Carson’s case when he has already made comments regarding the 2nd Amendment that should give one pause.
Lincoln is supposed to have started as a rail splitter which is pretty close to the bottom I woud say but he is not the one I would hold up as a role model regardless of how many call him our greatest president.
Carson is probably a pretty nice guy, but he’s really squishy on the 2nd Amendment. Which has pretty much become my litmus test for politicians.
IMHO, he’s a no-go unless there just isn’t anyone else.
Old Student
It’s not that he’s black, I couldn’t care less that he’s black. I like him for other reasons, among which is that I’ve met him and he and I have more in common than you know.
Don’t assume so much.
I wasn’t questioning the “pause” on the 2A issues - although some on here have way over stated his position on that. I simply reject this whole notion of absolutely positively needing political experience.
I’m sure you thought you knew what you were getting with GWB. How did those surprises work out for ya?
I have too! Well, only one occasion, up north of Nashville, in Portland, TN. I didn’t meet his wife, but his mother was with him. What a piece of work she was! Not nice at all.
But him...he was really great, personable, kind, lots of good adjectives.
You can see that behavior continuing in the current process -- there are a lot of ideological favorite candidates early on who gradually drop out as they lose primaries and eventually a big name candidate gets the nomination -- but each voter only votes once (in his or her own state's primary).
Some voters go with their ideological soul mates, others make a more pragmatic choice. If the system is ever retooled, some kind of run-off might be included so that voters get a chance to decide which of the (just possibly) electable candidates they want once the obviously unelectable alternatives have been eliminated.
Good for you, but his attitude on guns is a deal breaker for me.
Don’t assume so much.
What assumptions?
your focus is too narrow.....way to narrow
Your OPINION is noted and dismissed.
That it had anything to do with him being black.
His comment on guns was a deal breaker for me too, but I still have great hopes for him, perhaps as SG??
A classic example of conservatives wasting time, on something which is out of the question, and not going to happen. Period.
So as a first step in narrowing the field down from 20 to 10, I suggest Carson get out. He’s a very nice man, but will NOT be the GOP’s nominee.
In case anybody can’t figure it out, he is following the Buchanan, Palin media career model, e.g. threaten to be a candidate, sell books and earn speaking fees.
What an idiotic thing to post, comparing a Governor who was the GOP vice presidential candidate in 2008 and who has 20 years in elective politics and who has held many elected offices and has never run for president, with two people who are fake politicians that want to start at president for their first election.
I’m sorry you had an unfortunate experience with her. I met her once, and all was well. She certainly inspired him to excel.
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