Posted on 09/28/2015 8:34:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Early as it is, recent polls are beginning to tell us something about the 2016 presidential election.
For one thing, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that Jeb Bush will be the Republican nominee. Not only is he a weak fifth (at 7%) in the just released NBC/WSJ poll, Republicans, as of now anyway, just don’t like him. In a new Fox News poll, he has a net favorability rating (like/dislike) among GOP voters of a measly one percent.
For comparison, favorability ratings for Trump are +12, Cruz +21, Fiorina +30, Rubio +35, and Carson an unprecedented +52. Almost everybody likes him. (I thought Republicans were supposed to be bigots.) Carson is also creeping up behind Trump over all, only one point behind in the aforementioned NBC/WSJ poll, 21-20. (Fiorina and Rubio are tied for third at 11.)
Perhaps more telling, in another just released poll of North Carolina voters by Elon University, in a hypothetical NC general election matchup we find Trump losing to Clinton by 7%, but Clinton herself losing to Carson by 11%. That’s a huge 18 percent swing! (I don’t think you’ll find Donald bragging about that one on Hannity.)
Something is clearly going on here, Mr. Jones. But what is it? First off, voters have liked Dr. Carson from the beginning for his life story and his authenticity. But lately he has shown more than that. His statement that he would not support a Muslim for president — and then giving his reasons, specifically that sharia law with its legislated misogyny and homophobia, not to mention immutable fusion of church and state, is in direct contradistinction to our Constitution — has highlighted issues for the electorate that no other candidate has thus far dared to raise, at least to the level that Carson has. And he has resonated with the public on the subject across party lines. (In one poll, 51% agreed with Carson and 28% disagreed.)
Moreover, Carson is talking seriously about substantive ideological issues like taqiyya – the principle in both Shia and Sunni versions of sharia law allowing Muslims to lie to non-Muslims for the advancement of Islam — that rarely are discussed in political campaigns (or, for that matter, in Iran negotiations). The public, some small part of it anyway, is being educated.
Not surprisingly, this – dare we call it – uppityness on the part of the neurosurgeon has elicited a fair amount of cognitive dissonance or, in Andy McCarthy’s term, willful blindness from the liberal punditocracy. Jake Tapper on his Sunday show acted as if he could scarcely understand what Carson was saying, even though it is quite simple. Fortunately for us, CNN itself published a transcript. From Carson:
Let me tell you what I would advocate, I would advocate that people go back and look at the transcript of what I actually said. …I would have problems with somebody who embraced all the doctrines associated with Islam. If they are not willing to reject sharia and all the portions of it that are talked about in the Quran. If they are not willing to reject that, and subject that to American values and the Constitution, then of course, I would. I would ask you, would you be willing to do that? Would you be willing to advocate for somebody who would not do that? Probably not. …Is it possible that maybe the media thinks it’s a bigger deal than the American people do? Because American people, the majority of them, agree and they understand exactly what I am saying.
Thankfully, they do.
Now wise friends of mine still tell me that the former pediatric neurosurgeon cannot be president, even though he has done such pioneering things in the operating room and even though he is arguably the most extraordinary individual to run for president since Lincoln and Washington. And I understand what they’re saying. It would be something very different. But those same people were telling me that Trump could not be president months ago, until Trump showed he had staying power in the polls. We don’t know anything anymore. But what is clear is that Ben Carson is formidable. I would suggest that in this instance (as in many instances actually) the quiet man may emerge to be stronger than the loud man. Maybe he already he is.
And here’s something else for Republican voters to think about. Wouldn’t a Carson-Rubio ticket, or vice-versa, someone from the inside and someone from the outside, do more to destroy the despicable identity politics the Democratic Party has been exploiting to everyone’s detriment for generations than just about anything you could think of? It would upend all the reactionary nonsense Obama has stood for on symbolism alone. Worth pondering, no?
And, as Steve Jobs would say (hey, there’s a movie coming out), ONE MORE THING: Joe Trippi — a smart liberal pundit who is not a bad guy — has written an L.A. Times oped today insisting “No, pundits, Hillary is not collapsing.” Maybe he’s right. Maybe Sanders and Biden can’t really overcome her, unless, of course, she’s indicted. But the essence of what Joe T. is saying is that the ethnic (read: black) vote will save Hillary after she goes down in white-bread Iowa and New Hampshire, where her numbers look really bad. That, however, is all the more reason to put Carson on the Republican ticket (if he doesn’t get there by himself, which he well might). Ben would DESTROY Hillary in the general election. Besides the fact that he’s authentically black, as opposed to “Clinton black,” Ben’s already got Kanye West on his side. Game over!
Roger L. Simon – Co-founder and CEO Emeritus of PJ Media and PJTV – is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and multi-award winning novelist. He is covering the election at Diary of a Mad Voter. You can find him on Twitter @rogerlsimon.
@eddriscoll’s artwork above was adapted from the climax of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
I am not interested in Carson.
“Shorter answers, get right on GUNS..!”
And get right on guns doesn’t mean some speech in front of the NRA, tell Steven Colbert why he is wrong about gun control to his face. It also doesn’t mean saying oops I forgot to say “I respect the 2nd amendment but...” before you tell us why we don’t need guns. It means say you were wrong about inanimate objects being responsible for inner city crime and say you were wrong when you agreed with Bloomberg about disarmament of black people.
And immigration...
The short answer is actually BECOME A CONSERVATIVE.
***What has the good Dr. run, other than a small practice?**
Johns Hopkins ain’t no SMALL practice. It happens to be a world renowned teaching hospital in Baltimore MD.
From Wiki;
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest hospitals.[8] It was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the best overall hospital in America for 21 consecutive years (1991–2011). In 2012 it was briefly supplanted by the Massachusetts General Hospital,[9][10][11] but regained the top position in 2013, before moving to third place in 2014.[12][13]
Exactly.
A small practice?
In 2001, Dr. Carson was named by CNN and TIME Magazine as one of the nation’s 20 foremost physicians and scientists. That same year, he was selected by the Library of Congress as one of 89 “Living Legends.”
He is also the recipient of the 2006 Spingarn Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the NAACP. In June, 2008, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush, the highest civilian honor in the land.
Dr. Carson holds 67 honorary doctorate degrees. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Science, the Horatio Alger Society of Distinguished Americans, and many other organizations.
He sat on the board of directors of numerous entities, including Kellogg Company, Costco Wholesale Corporation, the Academy of Achievement, and is an Emeritus Fellow of the Yale Corporation, the governing body of Yale University.
As a strong believer in the power of education, and alarmed by studies showing America’s students falling behind the rest of the world, Ben and Candy Carson founded the Carson Scholars Fund in 1994.
“A Cruz/Carson ticket would be hard to beat.”
It would be a good ticket when it comes to the character of the men. Doubtful that they could be declared winners in a contest against any Democrat. I’m not saying they wouldn’t win the required votes. I’m just saying that the Dem machine for fixing elections will be running at 110%.
I think it was Hugh Hewitt who said, “If it’s not close, they can’t cheat.” If true, kicking it up a notch with Trump/Carson(or Cruz) would make the gap larger and maybe more difficult for them to cook the books. Right or wrong, in this day and age, charisma is a factor. Cruz has some, but not enough to entice some to switch sides.
He’s on the Kellogg board
Personally liking someone and voting for them are two different things. I like a lot of people that I would not vote for President.
No, Trump’s pretty straightforward about his positions and how they haven’t always been purely conservative—though he was a Republican back to being a national fundraiser for Reagan.
Carson and Fiorina aren’t any more conservative than Powell or Snow.
The Presidency is by its nature an OJT position. Every day is a new challenge. What is needed is someone who cannot know everything but can address the challenges by picking great people to advise him.
a better question is “who are you to judge him ?”
have you watched his movie?
You’re barking up the wrong tree.
I couldn’t care less what the democrats would be willing to vote for. That the standard “moderate” bottom feeder strategy.
Scuse me for being the turd in the puchbowl but please tell me with the rats nest of a mess we have in Washington we need a lot more than just folks who talk nice, we need a Leader who has been there and done things...
Not just talk about them, too airy fairy mental imagery of something they have no idea how to get done..
Have done a lot of International projects involving many professions and people in other countries. Talk is cheap, when you are the head dude all the roads lead to you. A CEO told me I was an Excellent Cat Wrangler as trying to get indifferent aspects of your own company let alone others is an art and the means needed to get it done run the gamut from nice to flat out A$$ kicking.
At the end I am known as a Team Leader who gets things done and I have trust and my integrity. And one of the primary elements to my success is experience across disciplines that I bring to the party.
We have to come out of the Gate with more than pretty words and ideas, Trump has plans for the framework and the team is forming to rock it
I AM DONE WITH ALL OF THAT BOVINE SCATOLOGY OF TRUST ME I HAVE A DREAM...
We need a leader who has done more than be a Politician, and if that is the route you took I have doubts day 1 about where you really come from
Nah. I have it on good authority that Americans won’t elect another African-American.
Thanks for your excellent post.
I’m not voting for a lying liberal piece of garbage like Trump to make you or your democrat friends happy.
Period.
If Dr. Carson wins the nomination he’s got my vote!
Carter was governor for 4 years, not that it helped him much in the Oval Office.
And so if Dr. Carson wins...would this make him the FIRST truly African-American to take office?
You have conveniently stated your opinion. Trump inherited about 100-200 million and he is worth billions. He has experience running his own very large business plus he has made many deals. Trump also graduated from perhaps the finest business college we have. Trump has much more real world experience then any MD even one who was a Department Head. Yes Carson has seats on many boards. A seat on a board does not equate to running a damn business.
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