Free Republic

It was the 1960s. Ben Carson, 14-year-old ninth grader, was growing up rough in Detroit. And, one fateful day, the future neurosurgeon and Republican presidential contender got very, very angry. The argument, like many among teenagers, was about nothing: what radio station to listen to. Carson's friend Bob dared turn the dial on the transistor radio. "You call that music?" Bob said. "It's better than what you like!" Carson yelled back, grabbing for the dial. That could have been it - good friends have argued about greater things and quickly made up. But Carson found himself consumed by rage. "In...

Ben Carson, the soft-spoken, Yale-educated brain surgeon who has surged in the GOP presidential race, has written and spoken powerfully of divine intervention at several pivotal moments in his life. At the core of his narrative of spiritual redemption are his acts of violence as an angry young man - stabbing, rock throwing, brick hurling and baseball bat beating - that preceded Carson's sudden transformation into the composed figure who stands before voters today. In his 1990 autobiography, "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story," Carson describes those acts as flowing from an uncontrollable "pathological temper." The violent episodes he has...

Ben Carson's presidential campaign is many things. A curiosity, an oddity, a fascinating yet disturbing commentary on today's Republican Party? Absolutely. But there's also some reason to believe that it's a giant confidence game. That isn't to say that Carson isn't genuinely trying to become president. He has even moved into the lead in a couple of recent national polls. But the inner workings of his campaign will look awfully familiar to those who understand how one right-wing movement has been bilking gullible conservatives over the last half-century. Like many outsider candidates, Carson is relying on small donors to raise...