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tangent4ronpaul
03-23-2013, 08:49 AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/us/politics/dr-benjamin-carson-obama-critic-have-conservatives-dreaming-of-2016.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Dr. Benjamin Carson was a political unknown just weeks ago.

Then with a single speech delivered as President Obama looked stonily on, he was lofted into the conservative firmament as its newest star: a renowned neurosurgeon who is black and has the credibility to attack the president on health care.

In his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast last month, Dr. Carson criticized the health care overhaul and higher taxes on the rich, while warning that “the P.C. police are out in force at all times.”

Overnight, he was embraced by conservatives including those at The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which proclaimed, “Ben Carson for President” — a suggestion Dr. Carson helped feed at a high-profile gathering last weekend, the Conservative Political Action Conference. He was interrupted by sustained cheers when he coyly said, “Let’s just say if you magically put me in the White House...”

In an interview in his office at Johns Hopkins University, he said he had been told for years that he could have a political career. It would be built on his compelling personal story that began in poverty in Detroit, leading to fame through pioneering work separating conjoined twins and his own self-help and inspirational books, including “America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great.”

While Dr. Carson, 61, said that there were better candidates out there, he did not rule out a presidential run in 2016. “Certainly if a year and a half went by and there was no one on the scene and people are still clamoring, I would have to take that into consideration,” he said in the interview. “I would never turn my back on my fellow citizens.”

He is in some ways a dream candidate for Republicans. But he also fits nicely into the realm of fantasy where the very early jockeying over 2016 now plays out. No modern contender without a political résumé has ever gotten close to a major party nomination.

But political strategists said that outsiders can have an impact, especially when they expose the shortcomings of conventional candidates.

“I think it speaks to the vacuum not just in the Republican Party but in politics,” Alex Castellanos, a Republican consultant, said of Dr. Carson’s appeal. “Anybody who is serious and thoughtful and an antipolitician is the opposite of the mess we’ve got now. If you can separate two Siamese twins, maybe you can separate Democrats and Republicans in Washington.”

Dr. Carson has been all but overwhelmed since his speech at the Feb. 7 prayer breakfast, which exploded on YouTube and was fanned by his follow-up appearances on Fox News.

“If you are calling with remarks regarding that speech, please do not leave a message on this voice mail,” his office recording instructs callers, referring them to a fax line and e-mail address. The recording, nearly seven minutes long, also includes instructions for speaking requests, media interviews, school visits and autographs, as well as how to buy Dr. Carson’s books “and other merchandise.”

Sales of “America the Beautiful,” his latest book, soared to 46,000 in the six weeks since his prayer breakfast speech, from fewer than 1,000 sold this year before to the speech, according to Nielsen BookScan.

“People all over the nation are starved for honesty and common sense,” Dr. Carson said in his office. He had seven pens jammed in the pocket of his physician coat, which he wore over blue scrubs and scuffed white sneakers. He spoke very softly, but not because he is shy or self-deprecating. He told the CPAC audience that some of his most poignant feedback came “from older Americans who said they had given up and they were waiting to die and now they felt a sense of revival once again.”

In speeches and writings, Dr. Carson describes growing up with a divorced mother whose education stopped at the third grade and who worked two, and sometimes, three jobs. He was teased as “dummy” because his grades were so bad. But his mother insisted that he and an older brother turn off the television and read, writing weekly book reports that she could only feign understanding.

He went to Yale and the University of Michigan Medical School, and at 33, became director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. He gained fame for a series of operations separating conjoined twins, long and risky procedures that did not always succeed. His 1996 autobiography, “Gifted Hands,” became a movie starring Cuba Gooding Jr.

“He is one of the acknowledged leaders of pediatric neurosurgery,” said Dr. Donlin Long, a retired chairman of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, who first brought Dr. Carson to the department.

Dr. Carson said he was a “flaming liberal” in college but became conservative through his own climb to success. “One thing I always believed strongly in was personal responsibility and hard work,” he said. “I found the Democrat Party leaving me behind on that particular issue.”

With his wife, Candy, Dr. Carson founded the Carson Scholars Fund, which awards $1,000 to students to help pay for college. He has also endowed Ben Carson Reading Rooms at schools that serve disadvantaged students.

Although Dr. Carson is a registered independent and has declined to identify himself as a Republican, his views are solidly conservative. He belongs to a Seventh-day Adventist church and says churches are better mechanisms for taking care of the poor than government.

He draws on the Bible’s description of tithing to argue in favor of a flat tax, a perennial favorite of conservatives. “You make $10 billion, you put in a billion; you make $10, you put in 1,” Dr. Carson explained at the prayer breakfast. “Now some people say that’s not fair because it doesn’t hurt the guy who made 10 billion as much as the guy who makes 10. Where does it say you’ve got to hurt the guy?”

Dr. Carson said that he was in the new top federal bracket for family income above $450,000.

Dr. Carson also advocates an alternative to the Affordable Care Act. Most people could pay most of their medical bills through health savings accounts, he said in his office. He would eliminate Medicaid and Medicare, and for the poor, government would make the contributions to their health accounts.

He estimated that the cost of his treatment of a child with cancer could run as high as $300,000 including hospital and chemotherapy costs. No individual could afford so much from a health savings account, he said, but the difference could be made up by catastrophic care insurance. At CPAC, Dr. Carson told conservatives that he would retire this year, because “there are so many more things that can be done.” The hint of a political future drew appreciative cheers.

But he said in his office that he had decided a while ago to step back from medicine after noticing that neurosurgeons he knew died young, which he attributed to stress. His immediate plans include public speaking and promoting his education foundation.

As for politics, he said, “I would like to have a voice.”

-t

cheapseats
03-23-2013, 09:29 AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/us/politics/dr-benjamin-carson-obama-critic-have-conservatives-dreaming-of-2016.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

...Although Dr. Carson is a registered independent and has declined to identify himself as a Republican, his views are solidly conservative...


Rand AND Rand's base are eyeing the REPUBLICAN nomination, right?

If he should NOT secure the nomination, as Ron did not, wouldn't THE SCREWED & OPPRESSED prefer to have a credible Independent in the wings...in case the GOP nominee is (again) no match for the Democratic Santa?

ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo 15m
@RealBenCarson: If you DO throw hat in presidential ring, you'll do yourself & bipartisanship a great service by doing so as an INDEPENDENT.

ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo 12m
@RealBenCarson: You can THINK you'll stay independent in PartyPolitics, you can MEAN to, but legions of well-intended have thought the same.

ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo 10m
@RealBenCarson: Know this: If YOU get sucked into "playing the game" like Obama did, we will not hesitate to ridicule and lambaste YOU, too.

FrankRep
03-23-2013, 09:35 AM
http://g.christianbook.com/g/ebooks/covers/w185/3/332909_w185.png (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310332907/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0310332907&linkCode=as2&tag=libert0f-20)



A remarkable book titled Gifted Hands (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310332907/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0310332907&linkCode=as2&tag=libert0f-20) tells the personal story of Benjamin Carson, a black kid from the Detroit ghetto who went on to become a renowned neurosurgeon.


Gifted Hands (http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/14826-gifted-hands)


Thomas Sowell | The New American (http://www.thenewamerican.com/)
19 March 2013


A remarkable book titled Gifted Hands (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310332907/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0310332907&linkCode=as2&tag=libert0f-20) tells the personal story of Benjamin Carson, a black kid from the Detroit ghetto who went on to become a renowned neurosurgeon.

At one time young Ben Carson had the lowest grades in his middle school class, and was the butt of teasing by his white classmates. Worse yet, he himself believed that he was just not smart enough to do the work.

Fortunately for him, his mother, whose own education went no further than the third grade, insisted that he was smart. She cut off the television set and made him and his brother hit the books — books that she herself could scarcely read.

As young Ben's school work began to catch up with that of his classmates, and then began to surpass that of his classmates, his whole view of himself and of the wider world around him began to change. He began to think that he wanted to become a doctor.

There were a lot of obstacles to overcome along the way, including the fact that his mother had to be away from time to time for psychiatric treatment, as she tried to cope with the heavy pressures of trying to raise two boys whose father had deserted the family that she now had to support on a maid's wages.

In many ways the obstacles facing young Ben Carson were like those faced by so many other youngsters in the ghetto. What was different was that he overcame those obstacles with the help of a truly heroic mother and the values she instilled in him.

It is an inspiring personal story, told plainly and unpretentiously, including the continuing challenges he faced later as a neurosurgeon operating on the brains of people with life-threatening medical problems, often with the odds against them.

To me it was a personal story in another sense, that some of his experiences as a youngster brought back experiences that I went through growing up in Harlem many years earlier.

I could understand all too well what it was like to be the lowest performing child in a class. That was my situation in the fourth grade, after my family had moved up from the South, where I had been one of the best students in the third grade — but in a grossly inferior school system.

Now I sometimes found myself in tears because it was so hard to try to get through my homework.

But in one sense I was much more fortunate than Ben Carson and other black youngsters today. The shock of being in a school, whose standards were higher than I was able to meet at first, took place in an all-black school in Harlem, so that there was none of the additional complications that such an experience can have for a black youngster in a predominantly white school.

By the time I first entered a predominantly white school, I had already caught up, and had no trouble with the school work. Decades later, in the course of running a research project, I learned that the Harlem school, where I had so much trouble catching up, had an average IQ of 84 back when I was there.

In the predominantly white school to which I later went, I was put in a class for children with IQs of 120 and up, and had no trouble competing with them. But I would have been totally wiped out if I had gone there two years earlier — and who knows what racial hang-ups that might have led to?

Chance plays a large part in everyone's life. The home in which you are raised is often a big part of luck being on your side or against you. But you don't need parents with Ph.D.s to make sure that you make the most of your education.

The kinds of things that statisticians can measure, such as family income or parents' education, are not the crucial things. The family's attitude toward education and toward life can make all the difference.

Virtually everything was against young Ben Carson, except for his mother's attitudes and values. But, armed with her outlook, he was able to fight his way through many battles, including battles to control his own temper, as well as external obstacles.

Today, Dr. Benjamin Carson is a renowned neurosurgeon at a renowned institution, Johns Hopkins University. But what got him there was wholly different from what is being offered to many ghetto youths today, much of which is not merely futile but counterproductive.

kathy88
03-23-2013, 09:49 AM
VP

ZENemy
03-23-2013, 09:50 AM
*everyone wait for 2016.....pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.....2016, 2016 (don't do anything now, take no action) 2016...2016*

cheapseats
03-23-2013, 09:50 AM
VP


Two doctors, one with no political experience and one with one term in office?

2young2vote
03-23-2013, 09:53 AM
The savings account would be no different in concept than social security. Government steals your money in the hopes that you die early and don't use it. And it does absolutely NOTHING to reduce the actual COST of healthcare.

kathy88
03-23-2013, 10:04 AM
Two doctors, one with no political experience and one with one term in office?
You're right. Career political dynasty's have done such a great job. I think people are tired of politicians in enough numbers to try something different, finally.

belian78
03-23-2013, 10:05 AM
The savings account would be no different in concept than social security. Government steals your money in the hopes that you die early and don't use it. And it does absolutely NOTHING to reduce the actual COST of healthcare.
I'm a big supporter of savings accts vs insurance, but I would want gov to have nothing to do with it of course. It would be an acct tied directly to you, that would move with you from employer to employer. This way, its' your money and you get to decide where and on what you use it. Bringing competition back to healthcare would do wonders for quality of care, and costs.

cheapseats
03-23-2013, 10:08 AM
You're right. Career political dynasty's have done such a great job.

No, they haven't.

Something avid "Paulers" should bear in mind while "enthusiastically" pimping Ron's son directly after Ron's third failed bid.




I think people are tired of politicians in enough numbers to try something different, finally.

You'd THINK, is right.

But the comparative popularity of Jeb Bush, the incredible popularity of Hillary Clinton, and the perverse systematic return of SHITTY INCUMBENTS to office sez otherwise.

tangent4ronpaul
03-23-2013, 10:18 AM
The savings account would be no different in concept than social security. Government steals your money in the hopes that you die early and don't use it. And it does absolutely NOTHING to reduce the actual COST of healthcare.

You are sooo wrong on this one!

HSA's are like 401K's - you set it up at your local bank and arrange deposits into it. Whatever you deposit is not taxed if used for medical care. You can withdraw money from it if you need to for other purposes, but are taxed on those earnings if you do. When you die, you can leave the money to whoever you wish.

It would do a lot to reduce the cost of health care. Insurance companies dictate how much practitioners have to bill out to patients and if they don't have insurance, that amount is REALLY high! They are of course, not compensated anywhere near this amount. Remember that insurance companies are in business to make money. Get rid of them (other than catastrophic coverage) and you've reduced health care costs by at least 10%. That's just the insurance companies cut. You also get rid of the small army of people in the doctors office employed to fill out the asinine forms and the the insurance companies demand and get rid of hours of charting every day that docs are forced to do in order to get compensated.

It would save TONS of money!

-t

itshappening
03-23-2013, 10:20 AM
Unknown's do not win nominations and he's not a conservative. He's against the 2nd amendment. Good luck with that.

itshappening
03-23-2013, 10:21 AM
I am sure if Rand gets the nomination they will find an independent with no hope to run, maybe this is their guy.

He's definitely up to something. They don't just invite anyone to speak to the president like that and he's retiring soon. i can smell a setup here.

bolil
03-23-2013, 10:22 AM
Rand AND Rand's base are eyeing the REPUBLICAN nomination, right?

If he should NOT secure the nomination, as Ron did not, wouldn't THE SCREWED & OPPRESSED prefer to have a credible Independent in the wings...in case the GOP nominee is (again) no match for the Democratic Santa?

ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo 15m
@RealBenCarson: If you DO throw hat in presidential ring, you'll do yourself & bipartisanship a great service by doing so as an INDEPENDENT.

ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo 12m
@RealBenCarson: You can THINK you'll stay independent in PartyPolitics, you can MEAN to, but legions of well-intended have thought the same.

ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo 10m
@RealBenCarson: Know this: If YOU get sucked into "playing the game" like Obama did, we will not hesitate to ridicule and lambaste YOU, too.

and Carson becomes the target of fingers grasping after pawns.

Tod
03-23-2013, 10:22 AM
Paul/Carson
The doctors are IN.


(just talking....don't know anything about Carson)

cheapseats
03-23-2013, 10:24 AM
and Carson becomes the target of fingers grasping after pawns.

Some outside the PAUL BUBBLE are ridiculing Rand supporters for the same thing...you know this, yes?

Are you so confident that Rand will prevail on the GOP nomination?

If he DOESN'T, you wouldn't want a credible Independent poised to OFFER A CHOICE? You'd rather go with whomever Big Money & Big Media anoint as the 'R' standard-bearer?

FrankRep
03-23-2013, 10:25 AM
Unknown's do not win nominations and he's not a conservative. He's against the 2nd amendment. Good luck with that.

Thanks for pointing that out.


Dr. Benjamin Carson On Gun Control: "It Depends On Where You Live" (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/03/04/dr_benjamin_carson_on_gun_control_it_depends_on_wh ere_you_live.html)


Real Clear Politics
March 4, 2013



When asked by Glenn Beck if people should be allowed to own semi-automatic weapons, Dr. Benjamin Carson said: "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." (Glenn Beck Show, March 1, 2013)

tangent4ronpaul
03-23-2013, 10:30 AM
Unknown's do not win nominations and he's not a conservative. He's against the 2nd amendment. Good luck with that.

No he's not! He said his personal belief is that long guns are more appropriate in rural areas but he'd rather see them out of cities. That is equivalent to Ron Paul's stance on abortion - his personal view, but it would be a state issue.

There is no way he would run with gun control being a platform issue. And he's said he is a conservative and conservatives are taking a lot of interest in him.

-t

cheapseats
03-23-2013, 10:30 AM
Dr. Benjamin Carson On Gun Control: "It Depends On Where You Live"


Does he sound better than Democrats?

itshappening
03-23-2013, 10:31 AM
What do you think Frank? This guy is retiring and will have time on his hands. Then he gets invited to speak in front of the president and give him a "dressing down".

Now he's all over the media...

Sounds like a setup to me.

If Rand gets the nomination the elites could run him as a spoiler.

itshappening
03-23-2013, 10:33 AM
No he's not! He said his personal belief is that long guns are more appropriate in rural areas but he'd rather see them out of cities. That is equivalent to Ron Paul's stance on abortion - his personal view, but it would be a state issue.

There is no way he would run with gun control being a platform issue. And he's said he is a conservative and conservatives are taking a lot of interest in him.

-t

Why would conservatives care about a doctor from Maryland? He's a nobody politically and will never get anywhere in a GOP primary. The only use to the elites is to run as an independent spoiler for whoever the GOP nominee is.... and they've given him a boost by getting him to dress down the president and put him all over the media. He's retiring and has plenty of time on his hands . i think that's the plan.

fearthereaperx
03-23-2013, 10:34 AM
Ben Carson called himself a "Flaming Liberal" back when he was in college. So, he does have some progressive tendencies and we can see it when he talks about the 2nd Amendment and Education.

tangent4ronpaul
03-23-2013, 10:34 AM
In the comments to the OP someone mentioned meeting him several years ago and asking if he had any interest in politics. He said that he had been approached for a high profile possition in the gvmt and turned it down, but wouldn't elaborate.

That would be under the Obama administration.

-t

itshappening
03-23-2013, 10:36 AM
Ben Carson called himself a "Flaming Liberal" back when he was in college. So, he does have some progressive tendencies and we can see it when he talks about the 2nd Amendment and Education.

Of course he's a progressive, he's lived and worked in Maryland for years and grew up in Detroit!

That's no bastion of conservatism. Although it wouldn't surprise me if he poses as one to steal votes from the GOP nominee on behalf of his masters. He will be well paid of course.

tangent4ronpaul
03-23-2013, 10:37 AM
Ben Carson called himself a "Flaming Liberal" back when he was in college. So, he does have some progressive tendencies and we can see it when he talks about the 2nd Amendment and Education.

as were most of us, but we took the same path he did. If you continue the sentence you are quoting he said he became increasingly conservative as he got older.

What has he said about education that you don't like?

-t

tangent4ronpaul
03-23-2013, 10:41 AM
Of course he's a progressive, he's lived and worked in Maryland for years and grew up in Detroit!

That's no bastion of conservatism. Although it wouldn't surprise me if he poses as one to steal votes from the GOP nominee on behalf of his masters. He will be well paid of course.

He was recruited to run a neuro-surgery unit in the number 1 neuro-surgery hospital in the country. If you are a MD, you don't pass opportunities like that down.

-t

cheapseats
03-23-2013, 10:42 AM
Ben Carson called himself a "Flaming Liberal" back when he was in college. So, he does have some progressive tendencies and we can see it when he talks about the 2nd Amendment and Education.



as were [many] of us, but we took the same path he did. If you continue the sentence you are quoting he said he became increasingly conservative as he got older.



Winston Churchill: "Show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains.”

anaconda
08-01-2014, 04:48 AM
That's no bastion of conservatism. Although it wouldn't surprise me if he poses as one to steal votes from the GOP nominee on behalf of his masters. He will be well paid of course.

Carson does not strike me as a dishonest or greedy man. And then there's this....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LtlyZ1giIQ

56ktarget
08-02-2014, 05:42 PM
So apparently being a doctor means your qualified to be president?

Christian Liberty
08-02-2014, 05:50 PM
I like Carson better than Cruz, but that isn't saying much.