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I don't know, other than I am sure they were asked if he applied and received an appointment to West Point, and of course he had not. But if you read the article, LS, it seems to be clear that Carson and his ghost writer were writing decades afterward about things Carson was recollecting happened in 1969 when he is 17-18 years old. I can see how a recollection about a dinner with Westmoreland where he had a chance to meet him and talk with him, might have made a huge impression, and he may have left the dinner with the expectation that he could get into West Point due to some encouragement that the General may have given him. But the whole point of what he was writing in the book was not to make a point about West Point, it was to make a point that he had numerous opportunities to pursue but he was resolute in what he wanted to pursue - which was to become a brain surgeon.

And let's be honest here, is anyone really going to tell me that Carson would not have been encouraged by the General to apply to get into West Point? Isn't Carson exactly the kind of young man they want to recruit? He was an extremely intelligent African American young man who had gone through ROTC several years in high school and probably would have had a sterling application. I can hear that dinner conversation now.

LS, you know me and have seen me on this board for over 15 years. We've exchanged posts from time-to-time, I'm sure of it. You know I have no campaign agenda. I prefer Cruz point-by-point, and if Cruz is still in the game by the Tennessee primary, I will probably cast my vote for him. I also like Trump, though his pettiness in jumping into and piling on this feeds my suspicions that he is really a man of questionable character. But LS, I am sickened by the campaign operatives that have taken over posting on FR and trying to do a hit job on Carson amongst conservatives.

Look, I think we can discuss this reasonably on here, but our points for and against candidates should be substantive about issues. If someone wants to attach Carson, Trump, Cruz, or anyone else over not being strong enough on this or that to be a true-blue conservative, then great. That's what FR is for - it's a place for true-blue conservatives to post articles and discuss.

To my point LS, here is a Facebook post that Carson himself wrote recently.

"I was the highest student ROTC member in Detroit and was thrilled to get an offer from West Point," he continued. "But I knew medicine is what I wanted to do. So I applied to only one school. (It was all the money I had.) I applied to Yale and thank God they accepted me. I often wonder what might have happened had they said no."

Couple things to note: [1] He said he only applied to one school. The articles and headlines make it sound like Carson fabricated that he applied to West Point and was awarded a spot. He never said that, his statements are consistent with the conversation he said he had at dinner with Westmoreland. [2] I bet the guy who asked him that question on FB was a republican operative from another campaign, or a member of the media, trying to set a trap for him.