Ben Carson: bastion of common sense

[tazber]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 6:39am

On proof that being gay is a choice:

"Because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question," Carson said.

Well there you go! Case closed. Carson/Walker 2016
Link

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 10:52am

Oh. My. Lord. - I just saw this online. Some people really need to be slapped upside the head into next week. Can't wait for the skeletons to come tumbling out of his closet.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 10:55am

One more idiot in the world.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 2:33pm

And if one simply ignores the insanity, what sort of politician makes this a 50 state strategy? I mean, he can't get the Cheneys votes, or what I call Blue State Republicans. This delusional belief in playing to a rarefied and yes delusional base as a calculated means to getting the nomination is off the charts in terms of political savvy. How can anyone get behind someone so out of touch with electability?

[HorseTears]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 5:25pm

All I have to say is, God bless Ben Carson and Donald Trump and Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. I hope they ALL run for President and do exceedingly well in the early Republican primaries.

[javero]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 6:50pm

"How can anyone get behind someone so out of touch with electability?"

How can such a bright and highly-acclaimed retired neurosurgeon be so godda... idiotic when it comes to where someone lands on the Kinsey scale. I'm stunned that an aspirant for the office of POTUS today would utter such f*ckery.

I'm now embarrassed to admit outside this forum that I admired the guy many years ago.

Updated On: 3/5/15 at 06:50 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 4:07am

Does he genuinely believe what he says or is he saying it for political expedience?

Having posited that, surgeons can be incredibly stupid. I used to work with a surgeon who turned up drunk for an operation. To paraphrase the brilliant line in Follies, he's now President of a Foundation.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 10:48am

In his Washington Post column this morning, Jonathan Capeheart "tips his hat ever so slightly" to Carson for his apology.

I'm not as forgiving as Capeheart, but I do prefer Ben Carson's apology to that of, say, the average politician or celebrity.


WASHINGTON POST: Capeheart: Hat tip to Ben Carson for apology on prison and gays

[tazber]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 11:08am

F*CK him and F*CK his apology.

Updated On: 3/5/15 at 11:08 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 11:35am

Leaving aside the multi-level platinum surface idiocy of Carson's statement, it's important to look at the dangerous underpinnnings of his rationale.

He's maintaining that "choice" is the gravamen of a basis for unlawful discrimination.

If that's the case, then he would necessarily advocate denying equal protection claims based on religious discrimination.

After all, religion is something the great majority of people certainly have, in his own words, "control" over.

Looking beyond this, let's say people had easy cheap means to transition race, would he demand that they did so in order to fit in with the majority and be completely franchised?

Asshole.

Updated On: 3/5/15 at 11:35 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 12:56pm

What tazber said.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 1:25pm

"…he won't be addressing gay rights issues for the duration of his presidential campaign"

He wouldn't need to. We wouldn't forget

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 2:28pm

He won't be having a presidential campaign. At all. He'll drop out before New Hampshire.

He has very little support from the conservative wing of the party (which prefers Rand Paul, Scott Walker and Ted Cruz) and ZERO support from the big-money donors in the establishment wing of the GOP.

If you want to read a very smart takedown of Carson, James Hamblin in the Atlantic calls him out on his faulty science, his rhetorical cliches, his plagiarism, his hucksterism, and his lack of intellect and ethics. Whew.


THE ATLANTIC: The Politics of Sexuality Ben Carson's simplistic approach to homosexuality reflects an impoverished understanding of human behavior.

[javero]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 3:01pm

Thanks for sharing, PJ.

The big takeaway for me is...

"Carson's eminence within the field of pediatric neurosurgery is not disputed, but the procedures he did so well for so many years lend no credence to his intellectual prowess or ethical standards outside of the surgical theater."

[lovebwy]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 3:31pm

It's a good sincere apology. I accept it. Move on.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 3:33pm

lol

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 3:47pm

If I were personally offended, I might accept his apology.

But it's not about being personally offended.

It's about whether someone who would say such a grossly stupid thing has anything remotely resembling the skill set necessary for someone running for the most powerful political position on Earth.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 4:11pm

LOL I accept his apology but that doesn't mean I'm gonna vote for him!

[javero]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 4:13pm

I suspect that he's also blown any chance at nabbing the nomination for Surgeon General of US by the next POTUS from the GOP. If I'm proved wrong, he'd likely be the most polemical Surgeon General in US history. That position has been highly politicized for some time now.