The Washington Post recently interviewed Ben Carson — presumably only to exploit this, our exceptional season of GOP performance art — and, up to a point, the interview is a fascinating read. I give you, for instance, this brief exchange:
[WaPo]: It seems that six or eight weeks ago, your message broke through in a big way. You vaulted to the top of the polls, and people responded to that. Since then, it’s gone down. What do you think happened?
Carson: Unfortunately, Paris happened. San Bernardino happened. Somehow the narrative has been projected that if you’re soft-spoken and mild-mannered, there is no way you can deal with terrorism, with national security, that you’re not a strong person. That’s the narrative that is out there.
Carson's lack of self-awareness and concomitant inability to identify cause and effect are nothing less than astounding. He plummeted in the polls because his policy acuity is that of Donald Trump's without the personality. (Insert emphatic punctuation here.) Carson has to know this, or so I am tempted to think. Yet, having followed his oddball political career for several months now, my actual thinking is somewhat different — that Carson, most likely, believes his every word: He plummeted in the polls because of an unfair, media-driven "narrative."
The poor man is utterly untethered from himself.
Straightaway in the WaPo interview, Carson confirmed my diagnosis by comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln. Then, in all seriousness he added: "In terms of [my] missteps, I think that people simply can’t sometimes understand what I’m talking about."
No, Ben, we get it. Really, we do. And we feel so damned sorry for you.
Carson is using his presidential run as a book and self promotion tour modeled after Newt Gingrich's 2012 act. He'll make a pile of money and himself an even bigger star to the religious right. He's as serious as a hat full of assholes.
Posted by: Bob | December 28, 2015 at 12:52 PM
I think Carson is one of those people for whom perseverance in a limited field is mistaken for brilliance. They used to call such people overachievers which always begged the question about how one could achieve more than one was capable achieving. Perhaps a better term would have been a maximal achiever. My belief based on listening to him speak is that Carson is not particularly bright. He certainly could not be called informed, neither could he be characterized as a quick study. He worked hard no doubt to achieve some proficiency and manual dexterity as a surgeon. Good for him. But he is not bright. He doesn't know shit and clearly does not really suspect shit when it comes to anything beyond his very limited field of study. Not a polymath. The longer he speaks the more apparent this becomes. When you make clear that your claim to brilliance is hot air, and that's all you've got,down to your poll numbers.
Posted by: Peter G | December 28, 2015 at 02:18 PM
I agree. He's a world-class Gingrich-esque grifter. Gingrich never intended to win in 2012, just as Carson doesn't now. It's all about shearing the sheep.
Posted by: Jon Ponder | December 29, 2015 at 08:38 AM