Posted on 12/22/2014 8:09:24 AM PST by Maelstorm
INDIANAPOLIS — A conservative think tank recently sent Ben Carson, a potential presidential candidate and fierce critic of the federal health care overhaul, a series of messages to post on Twitter during the grilling in the House of Jonathan Gruber, the M.I.T. economist who advised the Obama administration.
Mr. Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, has set off a prairie fire of rank-and-file conservatives urging him to run for the Republican nomination. He liked the think tank’s idea, but he knows that he excites supporters because he is an unscripted outsider. So he wrote his own Twitter posts, including, “Why was it necessary to disrupt entire medical system to take care of the needs of 15% of the people?”
With former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida moving closer to declaring his candidacy, and the Republican establishment determined not to repeat the mistakes of the lengthy nominating fight of 2012, the rise of Mr. Carson suggests the best-laid plans of the party for 2016 may not go as smoothly as desired.
Even as Mr. Bush began to quietly line up donors, and the attention of the news media turned last week to policy disputes over Cuba between two other potential high-profile contenders, Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, Mr. Carson was riding an under-the-radar groundswell.
In Iowa, which holds the first voting for nominees, a local chairman or chairwoman has been recruited in all 99 counties, something no other potential candidate can claim. A national committee to draft Mr. Carson into the race, Run Ben Run, has raised more money than the high-profile outfit urging voters to get “Ready for Hillary.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
My only reservation where he is concerned is on gun control but he seems to have come around on that. I’ll vote for any of the candidates that will make undoing Obama’s damage a clear priority. There are three candidates I definitely don’t want Christie, Bush, or Romney.
Having been on FR for the last round of Presidential primaries, I absolutely agree. I love FR but it was a toxic place for all who supported anyone other than the 'true conservative' de jour.
Romney absolutely could have won the general election but, as will happen again in 2016, many FReepers will stay home, vote 3rd party to "make a point" or "force the GOP to move right next time", or some other failed excuse.
I pray we've learned our lesson but won't bet on it. "We have met the enemy and he is us". -Pogo
Give me any combination of: Cruz, Carson, Paul, and quite a few others. Just DON'T GIVE ME ANOTHER DEM!
Im getting some very bad vibes about Carson. I sincerely think his movement will backfire on conservatives.
TEA and GOPe are polar opposites, Carson’s got nothing to do with it.
“Try pouring a ton of steel without rigid principles.” Hank Rearden
That's like saying Noah had some flooding issues.
He wouldn't even make that. Carson brings nothing to the ticket. Cruz needs to team up with a governor to balance the ticket with executive experience.
Yeah but most of the rest have even bigger ones.
He brings an unquestioned record helping kids and a story of rags to success through hard work that would be extremely inspiring. I’d prefer Cruz but I think Carson has great potential once you start thinking outside the Washington DC box.
So did Mother Teresa. That didn't make her a good choice for political office.
I’d prefer Cruz but I think Carson has great potential once you start thinking outside the Washington DC box.
We're just finishing 6 years of a man who was elected because people thought he had great potential; I'm not anxious to do that again. If Dr. Carson wants a hobby now that he's retired then take up golf.
You are forgetting he has run a hospital has been the head of pediatric neurosurgery HARDLY an example of Obama who was a community
organizing communist!!!!!! He HAS run something he has a very calming
demeanor and I DO TRUST him to overturn OBAMMIECARE !!!! Is he a
conservative purist I do not know, but I WILL tell you one thing,
in healthcare and education HE IS!!!!!!!
Being a politician isn’t like wiring a house (something that I know how to do), it isn’t like flying a jumbo jet either. Being President revolves mostly around getting the right people involved and on your team something that Obama could never do because he’s on the wrong team and he has the wrong ideas. His problem is not and never has been a lack of experience with Washington DC. His problem is he is a left winger. What I’m waiting to see from Carson is what his ideas are and who he has on his team. I’m not stuck on any one candidate as of the moment but I’m certainly not of the mind that we need someone that is a member of the political class to be President. That runs entirely contrary the founding of this nation. The way things run today is not the way they are supposed to run. Carson’s success will be centered around his team. If he can build a good one he will be viable. The area in particular he needs to focus on is foreign policy. He knows health care. He’s got the social and fiscal issues right.
I think you are wrong. Obama’s problem was never his lack of experience. His problem is wrong thinking. Also Obama was no brain surgeon by any means. He was a party apparatchik. I don’t understand the desire to minimize some one like Dr. Carson. We’ve elected many Drs. to office who had no political experience and they’ve done admirable jobs. Comparing him to Obama is not only inaccurate but ridiculous. Dr. Carson is a product of the American Dream and hard work.
“Cruz 100%”
I’m writing in Ted Cruz if he’s not the nominee. I think if the buzz gets out now we can start a movement!
Not getting my vote without pictures.
I don't minimalize his achievements. Just his qualifications for the highest office in the land.
We’ve elected many Drs. to office who had no political experience and they’ve done admirable jobs. Comparing him to Obama is not only inaccurate but ridiculous. Dr. Carson is a product of the American Dream and hard work.
Not to the presidency. And I don't want to start now. I'm not saying Dr. Carson isn't a nice person. But I'm a nice person. My boyfriend is a peach of a guy who does hundreds of hours each year of pro bono work for residents of battered women's shelters. The world is filled with nice guys and gals. But that doesn't qualify us to be president.
Ted Cruz is a good man - I would vote for him in a heartbeat.
“The NYT promoting Carson?
I’d be willing to bet they did the same thing with The Pizza Guy in 2011”
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Yep, it’s the same tactic...insert yet another non-viable demi-conservative to further fragment the conservative vote.
LET’S COALESCE NOW AROUND “TED CRUZ 2016”. Let the ruling elite and their main stream media put their “split the vote” strategy where the sun doesn’t shine.
A truly moral and intelligent man.
Run Ben Run. Stay away from the GOP plantation.
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