Dr. Ben Carson Running for Prez

[n david]

Not on the bandwagon.

From statements he's given and what I've read, he has some explaining to do on a few issues.

Abortion - He endorsed a pro-abortion candidate and when asked why he did, he compared the issue to barnacles on the side of a ship headed over the Niagara Falls.

You have to be savvy because if you just do everything based on your principles in a political world, you’ll always be doing it from the sideline…. It means re-arranging your priorities. If the ship is about to go off Niagara Falls, which is the analogy I like to use, you probably shouldn’t spend all your time dealing with the barnacles on the side. What you need to do is get the ship turned around first and once it’s sailing in the right direction, that’s when you begin to concentrate more on the other issues.

Source Link

He also said he's against "abortion for convenience." I have yet to find anything - a statement or paper - where he's said or written opposition to abortion in general.

Healthcare In his book, America the Beautiful, he gave an example of assisting with a patient's death, promoting patient-assisted suicide if they choose.

I remember a case of a prominent individual who had been in an automobile accident and was rendered a C-1 quadriplegic, which means not only was he paralyzed from the neck down, but he could not breathe without assistance. We could have made the decision to keep him alive at all costs, but through a unique system of communication that we were able to work out with him, he indicated that he wanted to die. After much debate, we yielded to his wishes and withdrew ventilator support. In the long run, I think our course of action was both compassionate and pragmatic. If we integrate compassion and logic into our decision-making processes, I am convinced that we will deal with newly emerging ethical dilemmas appropriately.

Free Speech: Again, in his book, he draws a line on free speech and supports curtailing it, if it becomes "hate speech."

Of all the wonderful freedoms that characterize life here in America, freedom of speech is one of the most important. This was most dramatically demonstrated in a recent Supreme Court decision, which upheld the rights of members of the Westboro Baptists Church to display extremely offensive signs and shout obscenities during funeral services for veterans. They are an intolerant hate group that despises homosexuality and are angry with the military because gays are allowed to serve. There is almost no one who agrees with the Westboro Church, but because of the Supreme Court's decision to strictly interpret the Constitution, the rights of the church members could not be denied.
I actually have some doubts about that legal decision, because the signs, obscenity, and noise infringe upon the rights of other Americans to assemble peacefully for the burial of one of their loved ones. If my right to free speech causes you actual harm, it becomes time to curtail my speech.

Gun Control He's for gun rights, and even for semi-auto weapons...as long as you don't live in a city.

But when asked whether people should be allowed to own "semi-automatic weapons," the doctor replied: "It depends on where you live. I think if you live in the midst of a lot of people, and I'm afraid that that semi-automatic weapon is going to fall into the hands of a crazy person, I would rather you not have it," Carson elaborated. However, if you live "out in the country somewhere by yourself" and want to own a semi-automatic weapon, he added, "I've no problem with that."

I remember when obama first won in 2008. The Republican Party immediately voted in Michael Steele as the Party leader. He was terrible. IMO, the only reason they voted him in was because he was a conservative black man...the antithesis of obama.

I hope conservatives fully vet Dr. Carson, and don't just jump on his bandwagon because he's a conservative black man. This reminds me of the hype surrounding Colin Powell, until people found out what his political beliefs were.

[Jason B]

Wow. That was a wet blanket.

I was going to post that I didn't think he'd really have much of a chance to begin with. But after you vetted him I have no interest.

Mitt 2016

[Pressing-On]

I like him, but the gun control is a big issue for me.

And no, Jason, no Mitt for 2016. Go away, Mitt. Just go away.

If we have to do this Mitt thing again, I am going to have to stop posting here.

[Michael The Disciple]

Yeah not looking very good from here.

[KeptByTheWord]

Thanks ND for sharing those points with us.

[Originalist]

Rand Paul 2016

[crakjak]

Ben Carson would be a great blessing as president of this country. Read his book, then you will get a better view of what he believes. Sounds bites will distort.

We need wisdom in the oval office. He is right, if you don't get an opportunity to govern, because of hard views, you give the office to someone like Obama.

Mitt Romney would have been infinitely better for this country than the damage the current bunch has perpetrated on this country, and those that sat on your hands better wise up, and always vote for the lesser of the evils.

[n david]

Originally Posted by crakjak

Ben Carson would be a great blessing as president of this country. Read his book, then you will get a better view of what he believes. Sounds bites will distort.

We need wisdom in the oval office. He is right, if you don't get an opportunity to govern, because of hard views, you give the office to someone like Obama.

I agree sound bites and even brief excerpts of writings may distort the actual message being conveyed. Unfortunately, there are these sound bites and excerpts of what he's said or written, and honestly none of it is very good. If what's online isn't accurate, he needs to address it.

Why promote a pro-abortion politician? Is Dr. Carson a proponent of assisted suicide? Does he really believe there should be any law against free speech? What are his beliefs on gun rights?

And there are more excerpts written which cast a very ugly shadow on Dr. Carson

Death Panels???

"As our general population continues to age and as our technical abilities continue to improve we will find ourselves in a position of being able to keep most people alive...well beyond their 100th birthday. The question is "Should we do it simply because we can? It is well known that up to half of the medical expenses incurred in the average American's life are incurred during the last six months of life....rather than putting them in an intensive care unit, poking and prodding them, operating and testing them ad nauseam, why not allow them the dignity of dying in comfort, at home, with an attendant if necessary?...Decisions on who should be treated and who should not be treated would clearly require some national guidelines.

Source - Harvard Journal of Minority Public Health, [Vol 2 (1), 1996. Carson BS, Washington H: Health Care Reform -- A Paradigm Shift]

After all the screaming by conservatives against obama for the so-called death panels allegedly in obamacare, I hope conservatives push Dr. Carson to state whether or not he still believes what he wrote almost two decades ago. Combine this apparent death panel reference with his book excerpt about helping a disable man die, Dr. Carson is looking like Dr. Death.

Domestic Terrorism???

[At Yale in the late 1960s], I was proud to see groups such as the Black Panthers standing up to brutal police tactics, and though I never joined any radical student organizations, I kept abreast of the activities of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Weathermen, and other groups willing to use aggressive tactics to accomplish "social justice."

Source - America the Beautiful [book written by Dr. Ben Carson]

Again, conservatives have given obama grief over his association with Bill Ayers; yet here is Dr. Carson writing that he was proud of black power groups who were "willing to use aggressive tactics to accomplish 'social justice.'" Just how aggressive is he writing about?

And on top of all these excerpts which cast a dark shadow on Dr. Carson, there's the absence of any real qualifications to be the leader of the free world, the President of these United States. He's a retired Surgeon and a former medical Professor. That's it. He's held no leadership positions in any company or corporation; he's never been elected to any political office. Besides being a surgeon and professor, the most he's done is sit on the boards of Kellog, Costco and the Academy of Achievement. He's also an Emeritus Fellow at the Yale Corporation.

At least obama was elected to the Illinois State Legislature and US Senate. What has Dr. Carson done which qualifies him to govern anywhere, much less the highest office in the land?

Even if Dr. Carson said and believed 100% what I wanted a candidate to say and believe...no way I vote for a guy with zero experience or qualifications to be the President. There are far too many serious foreign and domestic issues which the next President has to fix for it to be left to a novice and some dude getting on the job training.

Originally Posted by crakjak

Mitt Romney would have been infinitely better for this country than the damage the current bunch has perpetrated on this country, and those that sat on your hands better wise up, and always vote for the lesser of the evils.

I agree. Hopefully the next election won't require conservatives to just vote for the lesser of two evils.

[Pressing-On]

Recently Rick Perry and Scott Walker made comments that only Governors make better Presidents.

I agree with Mark Levin on this.

"Republican governors running for president, although unannounced, insist that only governors know how to serve as president because they’ve actually run a state. So, they hope to re-define the qualifications for the presidency to exclude all other competition. That’s really stupid. They would have excluded,among others, George Washington, the father of the country, and James Madison, the father of the Constitution. They would have excluded Abraham Lincoln, considered by many our greatest president, and Dwight Eisenhower, one of our greatest generals. Don’t get me wrong,there were some great presidents who’d served as governor, including Ronald Reagan. But there were some pretty awful presidents who’d served as governors as well. For example, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Andrew Johnson,Rutherford B. Hayes, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter.

The point is that Republican governors are going to have to do much better than expect all of us to accept their self-serving definition of presidential qualifications; they’re actually going to have to tell us how their records justify us promoting them to the presidency, as will all other candidates. And I don’t care what political office they’ve held. If they’ve supported big-spending and big-government, and reject the constraints of constitutional government, they’re not qualified by any measure." - Mark Levin

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by crakjak

Ben Carson would be a great blessing as president of this country. Read his book, then you will get a better view of what he believes. Sounds bites will distort.

We need wisdom in the oval office. He is right, if you don't get an opportunity to govern, because of hard views, you give the office to someone like Obama.
would have been infinitely better for this country than the damage the current bunch has perpetrated on this country, and those that sat on your hands better wise up, and always vote for the lesser of the evils.

Awww the "lesser of two evils" meme.

But what does that actually mean?

It means that you, yourself, abandon and betray your very own principles. Not only that, if it isn't bad enough, you also abandon any hope of this country having a government that will respect, uphold and defend freedom and liberty.