Meet Ben Carson: First Republican to Throw His Hat in 2016 Ring

Anyone that attracts the ire this early of those who "lean left" on the political spectrum certainly interests me.

a reply to: muse7

What great social strides have we accomplished in the past thirty years? Just curious. Because I don't see any.

a reply to: StoutBroux

No. I'm basing that on things that have actually come out of his mouth.

So where is his birth certificate? Oh, it also looks like his college records are sealed, what is he hiding?

The guy is not electable. Find a new guy. Prolly a governor.

Obama was electable because he never did anything. You could not point out any flaws in his bills because he never presented any. Didn't publish anything in the Harvard law review even though he was the president of the review.
Just saying its hard to point out how clueless he was when he never did anything.

a reply to: DuckforcoveR

I understand. He has not persuaded me yet. Mr. Carson does not have my vote as of yet. I am happy to hear that he is going to give it a shot because I feel he is fresh blood. He's not a lifelong politician (McCain, Romney) and I think the party needs new blood, new ideas, and new ways of looking at things. I think both parties need that in fact. I think the man has integrity and that counts for a lot in my book. He's (so far) been outspoken and honest (afaik) in his opinions without fear from pissing off either party... He doesn't seem to care. I admire that.

I don't vote on party lines. I have also been known to change my mind right when I get to the polling station. So he hasn't earned my vote yet and he may not, but I absolutely look forward to hearing what he's running on, what he wants to improve, etc. So to be clear.... I like what I know of the man so far. He has me interested enough to be glad he's thrown his hat into the ring, but no... He has a long way to go to get my vote, but not being a career politician thus far has earned him a few more points than he would have started with otherwise.

originally posted by: hellobruce
So where is his birth certificate? Oh, it also looks like his college records are sealed, what is he hiding?

Well he was born in Detroit (allegedly).

So maybe those records have been destroyed by water damage.

Yes he needs to be vetted.

www.realclearpolitics.com...< br />

For your viewing pleasure.

There are a few reasons why he would be unelectable.
First the NRA would be against him. He wants to ban semi automatic weapons in big cities so he's anti gun.
Second he's against insurance companies making profit and wants the government to run a health fund which is paid for by the insurance companies. This is what he said about them.
Ben Carson

In a 1996 Megadiversities interview, he said: "The entire concept of for profits for the insurance companies makes absolutely no sense. 'I deny that you need care and I will make more money.' This is totally ridiculous. The first thing we need to do is get rid of for-profit insurance companies. We have a lack of policies and we need to make the government responsible for catastrophic health care." In 1992 Carson wrote "The most natural question is, who will pay for catastrophic health care? The answer: The government-run catastrophic health care fund. Such a fund would be supported by a mandatory contribution of 10 to 15 percent of the profits of each health insurance company, including managed care operations.

Anti profit? This guy sure won't be running as a Republican even the Democrats would turn him down with that attitude.
His views on homosexuality.

“Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn’t matter what they are. They don't get to change the definition.”

Comparing gays to pedophiles and people who have sex with animals is a real good way to get those who are gay to support you. He later whined that his words were taken out of context but after watching the video I would say he is a liar who put his foot in his mouth.

I like what little I have heard and he seems to be less DC politics and more people and practical oriented. That being said in watching a few interviews he does not have the charisma that I think will be needed to un seat the dems candidate.

Perhaps now that he has announced his run he will show more. Time will tell.

a reply to: TDawgRex

It's not a knee-jerk reaction. I've been keeping up on him since that prayer breakfast that made him a Conservative darling... I knew that instant he would probably run in 2016.

He's anti-abortion... unelectable since a huge chunk of GOP news in the past 6 years has focused on the push to restrict abortion, remove birth control from health insurance, women just aren't going to go for it. Any GOP candidate is going to have be on record as being pro-choice because women will vote for Hillary out of fear of any GOP advancement in restricting reproductive rights.

He's anti-welfare... unelectable with the current job market.

He's anti-marriage equality... all around dumb in the age of State after State being slapped down on gay marriage bans. He'll probably change his tune on this one. If he's honest, he will state that he believes it's wrong but the Court, the American people and the Constitution have spoken.

Partial glimpse of my researched opinion... just because people don't like what I'm saying doesn't mean it flew out of my ass, unlike certain other posters (not you) around here.

originally posted by: buster2010
There are a few reasons why he would be unelectable.
First the NRA would be against him. He wants to ban semi automatic weapons in big cities so he's anti gun.
Second he's against insurance companies making profit and wants the government to run a health fund which is paid for by the insurance companies. This is what he said about them.
Ben Carson

In a 1996 Megadiversities interview, he said: "The entire concept of for profits for the insurance companies makes absolutely no sense. 'I deny that you need care and I will make more money.' This is totally ridiculous. The first thing we need to do is get rid of for-profit insurance companies. We have a lack of policies and we need to make the government responsible for catastrophic health care." In 1992 Carson wrote "The most natural question is, who will pay for catastrophic health care? The answer: The government-run catastrophic health care fund. Such a fund would be supported by a mandatory contribution of 10 to 15 percent of the profits of each health insurance company, including managed care operations.

Anti profit? This guy sure won't be running as a Republican even the Democrats would turn him down with that attitude.
His views on homosexuality.

“Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn’t matter what they are. They don't get to change the definition.”

Comparing gays to pedophiles and people who have sex with animals is a real good way to get those who are gay to support you. He later whined that his words were taken out of context but after watching the video I would say he is a liar who put his foot in his mouth.

Lol! I think you just cost Dr. Ben Carson the ATS vote!

If he is on the ballot Hilliary will win for sure.

Is it now a litmus test that any republican that runs for president must be conservative, or is this just the tea party folks? Name one conservative politician that would have broad appeal???

Small world - I used to work for him doing contract work for Johns Hopkins.

I think it's easy to say that his stance on guns easily sources back to Friday and Saturday nights in the ER in Baltimore; Johns Hopkins is very much a central city location and the gun shot wound cases were an hourly occurrence. The man has seen a lot of reality up close and personal.

I lean far, far left but I'd vote for him before I'd vote for Killary, any other Bush, and anyone else on the Republican side at this point.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

What if he picked Rand Paul for his running mate? Interesting combo.

Let's be brutally honest. Ben Carson appeals to a narrow demographic within the conservative ranks. He's a guy that conservatives can use as the proverbial "black friend" (I'm not a racist, one of my best friends is black!) but he's got 0 chance of getting the GOP nomination.

He sure does talk the stupid empty talk that conservatives love to hear though. Here's a quote from a couple days ago in the Washington Times:

“Fortunately, the fit is pretty good,” he added. “I believe in reasonable sized government. I believe in personal responsibility. I believe in individual freedom. And I believe in creating an environment to let free markets grow our economy. And all of that is very consistent with being a Republican.”

What was that BC? Blah blah blah? Blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah?

"Reasonable [sic] sized government?" What's a reasonably sized government? Whatever seems.. ermm.. reasonable? That's an even more subjective claim than support of "small government."

"I believe in personal responsibility" Congratulations! It's funny how many conservatives I know who say similarly stupid s# but can't really point to how they put this credo into practice anymore than a non-conservative. It's not because any of them would nobly decline unemployment checks if they found themselves unemployed. Let's just drop the BS. When a conservative says this, what he's really saying is, "I think welfare recipients are lazy mooches." Cool story bro.

"I believe in individual freedom." Remarkable! Newsflash, this is another of those traits that are not exclusive to right-wingers and if we're being totally honest, he's not even really a big supporter of liberty in the first place! Try reconciling a professed love of liberty with being a vocal opponent of gay marriage. Hypocrite.

"And I believe in creating an environment to let free markets grow our economy." Blah blah, free market, blah blah. Guess what? The Democrats have basically the exact same neoliberal relationship with the "free market" as the GOP. There are some differences — the Democrats will subsidize alternative energy development for one — but mostly what he's really saying is that he'd support dismantling the EPA so there's nobody to fine the Koch brothers when Georgia Pacific drains a bunch of hazardous materials into some canal behind a housing development and causes the kids to development strange diseases.

"And all of that is very consistent with being a Republican." Hard to argue! Blabbering meaningless platitudes filled with the appropriate buzzwords is certainly consistent with being a Republican!

I'd go for Rand Paul over this guy if I was ever to vote Rep and should he move ahead of the pack Hiliary will spank that azz..ps not of fan of Hiliary.

a reply to: buster2010

If he existed and ran, I would love to see that

Him versus carson would be very interesting

Two highly intelligent men

(sheldon is from texas)

Science would be the big winner
And Sheldon and Carson would have some very interesting debates over science
(winner NASA and science and education)
Also in an earlier thread I responded over science be a key issue neither side can claim

Both men could claim this

Ben Carson is the GOP candidate who can reference the pope's view on science and NOT be a hypocrite
he can steal the thunder because he is a .. what was that again


I think it would be an awesome election and america would win on that issue

a reply to: buster2010

Based on his gun and healthcare views, I would say he looks just like Obama.

"Look, we got us one of those O'Bama's too.", said the GOP.

All you liberals knocking this guy are a bunch of racists! It's not about his policies or positions you just don't like him because he is black.

Obama, did I do that right?