I’ve heard him say that “some people” said he could get in West Point “real easy”, to him saying “representatives” told him, to him claiming Westmoreland personally told him. Who will it be today? O’Reilly got him to admit last night that he was never offered anything. O’Reilly pushed him on it and told him maybe his wording could have been a little different in the book and Carson agreed with him. But of course not before saying “well that’s how I took it”. In other words he lied in his books. If Carson is such a smart man, why did he personally mislead people for years into thinking he was offered a full “scholarship” to West Point. I’ve also noticed he never misses a beat to tell someone how smart he was as a kid and how he did things faster than anyone else so of course the world was impressed with his genius. He reminds of Steve Urkel, the nerdy black kid who couldn’t find a girl friend but was always the teacher’s pet, and 50 years later he’s not changed.
Spot on. He’s not telling the truth about a lot of his past, IMO.
He’s not humble either. He never misses a chance to reinforce how much smarter he was than everyone around him. That would include us, the little people.
This guy is a egomaniacal jerk.
“You were never formally offered any kind of accommodation to West Point, is that correct?”
“Right I was just told that would be very easy for me.”
“So that should have been a little clearer on page 57 of your book, is that correct?”
“I guess it could have been more clarify....I told it as I understood it.”
Operative word — “Formally”. Used more than once by BOR.
If I were a military leader during Vietnam and met a kid as sharp as Ben, who had clearly excelled far beyond his peers in ROTC, I too would have told him that he’s just the kind of kid the service academies are looking for. And if the kid went home and told his parents that he was offered a “scholarship” to a service academy based on our conversation, I would tell the parents that’s not exactly true, there is a formal process involved — but I would reiterate that their son is just the kind of candidate the service academies look for.
And it’s totally believable that any of a number of military leaders, from his ROTC commander, to Medal of Honor heroes, to General Westmoreland would have also told him so.
By the way BOR was wrong in his interview of Dr. Carson — congressmen do not “appoint” cadets to West Point. They nominate them, as part of the appointment process. He was quick to lecture Dr. Carson on the process, but got it wrong himself. BOR never called Dr. Carson a liar (like he did to George Will) and never established the claims made by Politico, or taken up by the MSM.
But you prefer to be an active participant in the smear campaign, for reasons unknown (and I’m being charitable).
Here are Carson’s words.
Bill, that is true. I was the highest student ROTC member in Detroit and was thrilled to get an offer from West Point. 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.
West Point has no record of course. Carson is full of it.