Ben Carson is getting pretty tired of his coverage in the mainstream press. The pediatric neurosurgeon and likely Republican presidential candidate appeared at the Republican National Committee’s Winter Meeting on Thursday where he fired up the crowd by lambasting what he sees as his unfair treatment by the political media.
Carson has been subject to a variety of criticisms in the media for what many regard as his over-the-top attacks on the president and his administration.
“Among the particularly divisive claims he believes have been overblown by media: Calling Obamacare ‘the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery’; suggesting last year’s Veterans Affairs scandal was a ‘gift from God’; and saying present-day America ‘very much like Nazi Germany,’” wrote Mediaite’s Andrew Kirell.
According to Carson, he is not ashamed of those comments in the least. He told Republicans in attendance at the RNC meeting that he is happy to “stand by” those remarks. “I don’t think there’s anything crazy at all,” he added.
“Still, the significant time devoted to explaining and debunking these incidents suggests Carson is keenly aware of the damage they could do to his White House run,” The National Journal speculated.
Even in this report, Carson’s point is proven legitimate. The National Journal asserted that Carson courted controversy even amid an attempt to convince an audience of establishment Republicans that he was not a controversial figure.
At one point, after discussing the bravery of America’s founding fathers—who were “willing to die for what they believed”—Carson said the country has lost that sense of urgency. Meanwhile, he argued, enemies such as the Islamic State have gained it.
“They’ve got the wrong philosophy but they’re willing to die for what they believe,” Carson said of ISIS, “while we’re busily giving away every value and every belief for the sake of political correctness.”
Carson, suddenly realizing the implications of his statement, quickly added that the media would take his remark out of context. “They are just so ridiculous,” he said of the reporters in back of the room.
It’s pretty unlikely that many audience members genuinely thought that Ben Carson was unfavorably comparing the fundamental values of the United States of America to those of the Islamic State. In order to make that claim, one would have to be either in an absurdly uncharitable mood or consumed by bias.
Republicans, and particularly conservative Republicans, know they will never receive the benefit of the doubt from the press. They know that they cannot take a strong position on virtually any issue of importance without running afoul of the center-left editorial culture in America’s newsrooms. Some conservative speakers court the media’s ire in the belief that it will confer some short-term political benefits. They might be right, but that approach exposes a lack of foresight and media savvy. Winning the primary at the expense of your chances in the general is no victory at all.
Ben Carson is a brilliant surgeon and a compelling speaker, but he is not ready to be the president. His lack of executive experience and penchant for stepping on rhetorical landmines is testament to the fact that 2016 is not his year. But Carson is touching on a theme that will resonate with Republican voters. His frustration is one shared by the millions of conservatives he is courting.
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