The White House is not feeling super sorry for 2016 Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson over his ongoing complaints about being vetted.
In a daily briefing today, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he didn’t agree with that statement when asked about Ben Carson’s assertions that he has faced more scrutiny than any other candidate, including President Barack Obama. (You might remember the birther conspiracy.)
“Uh, I don’t agree with that statement,” Earnest told reporters, saying Carson shouldn’t be surprised that he’s going through a tough vetting process since he has risen to the top of the polls. (By the way, he is now matching Trump in South Carolina! All he needed was a little media “persecution” for the win.)
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And here is how the White House shredded Ben Carson with reporters. Earnest reminded everyone in the room, “I think many of you who have covered both the 2008 campaign and this campaign, I think, can obviously draw your own conclusions based on the work that all of you have done.”
Earnest knew exactly where that would go. It’s pretty hard to say that Carson is being vetted more than Obama. In fact, no rational person would even try that. They vetted people Obama had been in the same room with a few times, way, way back. They vetted his religion and church sermons he had listened to or might have heard. They vetted his preacher. They vetted anyone and everyone.
“It isn’t easy to run for president,” Earnest explained kindly. “When people make public comments, they are going to have their claims scrutinized, even if they’re claims about their own biography.”
Oh. Oh really?
President Obama has had to release two versions of his birth certificate because people like Dr. Ben Carson, actually Ben Carson himself, refused to believe that the President is who he says he is and that he was born here, and Fox News still begs the question about whether or not he is a Muslim or just sympathizes with Muslims, even though Obama is a Christian.
The White House must be quite amused listening to Ben Carson present himself as the martyr of all elections, in just the short time he’s been running for president with nary any actual experience in government.
You can watch the entire press conference at C-SPAN.
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