Firstly, forgive me if previous posters have already stated this.
Politico reporters are partisan hacks that should never be taken for anything but lying shills.
This, in my view, boils down to a question of semantics.
There are two distinct steps when seeking to attend a service academy: nomination and appointment.
Nomination: a nomination to the academy must be procured as part of the application process— with the exception of the children of Medal of Honor winners, who are automatically nominated. Members of Congress can give out nominations. JROTC units that score certain scores in national reviews can hand out nominations to qualified cadets. The Vice President can also give out nominations.
Appointment: a future cadet is considered having obtained an appointment when he or she has completed the application process which includes physical aptitude tests, a full physical, home interviews, and all qualifications (test scores, grades, etc) are met.
ALL service academy applicants are technically “on full scholarship” because their tuition, room, board, books, etc are all paid for by US taxpayers.
It sounds like Ben Carson was told that he would qualify for a JROTC nomination to West Point. He did not receive an appointment (acceptance). In fact it appears he did not even seek a nomination.
I know all of this because I received a JROTC nomination to the US Naval Academy. I had my home initial visit/interview and completed my physical fitness test. However, I chose to resign my nomination before matters progressed any further. (Biggest mistake of my life? Maybe.)
Honestly, I feel that this story is ridiculous nitpicking over semantics. Dr. Carson was obviously an excellent JROTC cadet who was eligible to receive a nomination. He chose not to. My only concern with this story is if Dr. Carson was somehow trying to say that this experience gives him some insight into military life and affairs. However, I understand that the point being made in his book was that JROTC saved him from a life of violence and poverty— AS IT DOES FOR THOUSANDS. In that case, Dr. Carson is without fault, in my opinion, on this matter.
Easy to believe Carson. Who believes the lame stream media...I mean...anything they say? Yeah, I wouldn’t put him in a room against Putin, but to hell with Politico and the left. They can burn and the sooner, the better.
This is idiotic leftist attack propaganda .... Anything the liberal media says about a GOP candidate should be replied to with this: you failed to do your due diligence with candidate Obama you never followed up on his Gay sex affair with Drug addict Larry Sinclair now we have legal gay marriage, and states that have legal drugs, You failed to follow up about Bill Ayers, Rev Wright and Frank Marshall Davis now we have a resurgence of Communism in the world, you failed to demand Obama school transcripts and allowed him to hide his entire past, you played along with Obama marginalizing people reporting that he wasn’t born in the USA... by all measures you failed so stop attacking people and start reporting on Obama’s failures as President.
“Because I had done so extraordinarily well you know I was told that someone like me [could] get a scholarship to West Point,” Carson told the New York Times. “It was, you know, an informal ‘with a record like yours we could easily get you a scholarship to West Point.’”
However, there’s no such thing as an “informal offer” (or even a “full scholarhip”): an application to West Point begins with a nomination by a member of Congress or another prominent government or military official, Ben,and don’t you know that only a Democrat like Hillary can get out of one lie by telling another lie, but that never works for a Republican? It’s part of the double standard imposed by the Democrat-PAC Media.
Oh and you don’t suppose Donald’s hand is on the invisible sword that’s hacking Carson to pieces right now, do you? Trump didn’t get rich by wasting money unnecessarily: hoisting Carson on his own petard and letting the media crucify him for free is WAY cheaper than paying for a bunch of TV ads. (BTW, we haven’t seen the end of the Carson Revelations yet. I predict there’s more to come.)
And it’s pretty clear the Democrat Super-PAC media were building up Carson and Fiorina as GOP heroes, hoping they’d be juicy targets down the road to chop to pieces like they did with Herman Caine, etc. Looks like Trump is beating them to the punch before media-heroes Carson and Fiorina could do much damage to the GOP with their lies and wackiness.
http://www.westpoint.edu/admissions/shared%20documents/wp_prospectus.pdf
IT STATES:
ADMISSIONS DECISIONS
West Point has a rolling admissions policy. Outstanding, qualified, nominated candidates will be offered admission as their records become complete. All admissions files must be complete, to include nominations, by the last workday in February.
Financial and Service Obligation
As a cadet, you are a member of the U.S. Army and receive a full scholarship and an annual salary of more than $10,000 from which you pay for your uniforms, textbooks, a laptop computer, and incidentals. There is no tuition charge, but there is a requirement for an initial deposit. Room, board, and medical and dental care are provided by the United States Government.
Kyle Cheney of Politico is clearly a graduate cum laude of the Dan Rather school of journalism.
Here a notion. Rather then waste our time with these emotion based flatulent personal attack posts every day, try making a case FOR your candidate once.