Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:37 pm
It’s turning out to be a bad few days for top polling Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson.
While he was defending himself to CNN and accusing them of lying about him, throwing the typical Republican “liberal media” tantrum, Ben Carson’s campaign was also admitting to Politico that he “fabricated” another part of his life story: The West Point scholarship story didn’t actually happen.
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Kyle Cheney reported in Politico:
Ben Carson’s campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
The academy has occupied a central place in Carson’s tale for years. According to a story told in Carson’s book, “Gifted Hands,” the then-17 year old was introduced in 1969 to Gen. William Westmoreland, who had just ended his command of U.S. forces in Vietnam, and the two dined together. That meeting, according to Carson’s telling, was followed by a “full scholarship” to the military academy.
West Point, however, has no record of Carson applying, much less being extended admission.
Just in case Carson and the Republicans circling his lying wagons are hiding in a Fox bunker somewhere, Dr. Carson mentioned the West Point story in both of his books, “Gifted Hands” and “You Have A Brain”.
And when asked directly by a voter if the West Point story was true, Dr. Ben Carson assured them it was in a Facebook post dated August 13 of 2015, in which he laments “an attack launched on me today by the left and the media.” Sadly, Carson didn’t manage to blame Obama for this “attack”, but then it was only August. As the pressure has mounted, Carson has taken refuge in blaming Obama like a grown up Republican should.
Now lets get to answering your questions.
…The next question is from Bill. He wanted to know if it was true that I was offered a slot at West Point after high school.
Bill, that is true. I was the highest student ROTC member in Detroit and was thrilled to get an offer from West Point. But I knew medicine is what I wanted to do. So I applied to only one school. (it was all the money I had). I applied to Yale and thank God they accepted me. I often wonder what might have happened had they said no.
Carson got 88,924 shares for blaming the media. Republicans just love a fictional boogeyman to hate. Carson can’t really blame the media for this one since his books and his Facebook post are his own words, but he’ll find a way.
Ben Carson may or may not have been a “violent” Detroit youth saved by Jesus in his tiny bathroom, but he was not, contrary to his prior claims, accepted and offered a scholarship to West Point.
Not to worry, conservatives on Twitter have already decided that this is a Politico attempt to derail a Republican, because no one gets a scholarship to West Point. This is true, but it is also addressed in the Politico article they are pretending to have read and understood.
An application to West Point begins with a nomination by a member of Congress or another prominent government or military official. After that, a rigorous vetting process begins. If offered admission, all costs are covered for all students; indeed there are no “full scholarships,” per se.
But see, that did NOT happen.
Can you imagine if President Obama had lied about being offered a scholarship to West Point? OMG, y’all. End of the world times. But if a Republican does it, it’s totally okay. Probably Obama’s fault.
This morning Carson was accusing CNN of being “Full of lies” and now he’s been busted lying about another fundamental part of his story. Conservatives might be defending him, but in reality this is a disaster for the Republican Party. One candidate after another getting down, and Donald Trump is left standing. Republicans can defend Carson all they want, but it won’t make what he’s done palatable to the general public.
Update 6:08 PM EST: Politico has taken the word “fabrication” out of their title.
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