Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:05 pm
During the most recent broadcast of Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace spoke to neurosurgeon Ben Carson about Carson’s possible Presidential run in 2016. Wallace had to break it to Carson that he really doesn’t have any shot at winning in 2016. Wallace also highlighted Carson’s complete lack of experience in the political world as a huge negative if he were to go through with a White House run in 2016. He basically pointed out that those on the right who complained about Barack Obama’s relative lack of experience prior to his first POTUS term.
Below is from the transcript, courtesy of Fox News Sunday (emphasis mine):
WALLACE: You are thinking about running for president in 2016. And I want to talk to you about that in a moment, but it has brought attention back to some of your comments as it does to any candidate potentially running for president. You said recently that you thought that there might not actually be elections in 2016 because of widespread anarchy. Do you really believe that?
CARSON: Well, I hope that that’s not going to be the case, but certainly there is the potential. Because you have to recognize that we have a rapidly increasing national debt. A very unstable financial foundation. And you have all these things going on like the ISIS crisis that could very rapidly change things that are going on in our nation. And unless we begin to deal with these things in a comprehensive way, and in a logical way, there is no telling what could happen in just a matter of a couple of years. And particularly in a situation where we have a Senate and a Senate leader who has over 300 bills sitting on his desk will not bring them to the floor for a vote, thereby thwarting the will of the people. And this country was supposed to be a country where the government conformed to the will of the people, not the people conform to the will of the government.
WALLACE: Let me pick up on that. Because — and talk specifically about a candidacy. You say, and this is your quote, “The likelihood is strong” that you will run for president in 2016. Do you really want to spend the next two years begging people for money, shaking hands, eating a lot of bad meals, when I think you would agree at best you are a distinct long shot?
CARSON: Well, let me put it this way. It would be much more pleasant to put my feet up, to relax. You know, I’ve made plenty of money, I can live a very comfortable life, and that would be my preference. However, given the state of our nation, looking at what’s going on, and understanding that sometimes we’re called to do things that we don’t want to do because we have to do them, and we look at the future of our children, our grandchildren, all the people who come behind us, if we all run for the hills, if we all run for the most comfortable place and just allow whatever to happen happen, then we get what we deserve.
First off, did Carson really say that he thinks we are going to devolve into a state of anarchy before the next general election? Seriously? Sigh.
Poor Ben Carson. He had so much smoke blown up his butt by Fox News and the right-wing media that he honestly began to think that he was a legitimate 2016 candidate. Every appearance on Hannity or The O’Reilly Factor or Fox and Friends emboldened Carson to push forward with his Quixotic quest towards the White House. Did the Fox News contributor really think making Nazi analogies, comparing the ACA to slavery and spewing anti-gay rhetoric was going to pave an easy path to the presidency? Sure, agreeing with old white guys that Beyonce and rap are the major problems facing the black community might appeal to the bigoted core of Fox’s audience, but that doesn’t play so well when you are trying to win a national general election.
Of course, since Carson has been put up on a pedestal by the conservative media, he doesn’t think he is a long shot. He also doesn’t think his lack of political experience should be held against him. In fact, he believes it is a positive.
WALLACE: I have about a minute left. I’m going to be transparent here. You and I are friends, I have great regard for you, and we’ve had this question I’m about to ask you we’ve talked about in private, but after looking at Barack Obama, and what’s happened with his lack of political experience over this last six years, wouldn’t putting Ben Carson in the Oval Office be akin to putting a politician in an operating room and having him perform one of your brain surgeries?
CARSON: I don’t think so. I think what is required for leadership is wisdom and the ability to assemble an appropriate team, ability to listen and an ability to make wise decisions. And we also have to recognize what I said a little bit earlier. Our system was designed by our founders, with the people in mind, and with the will of the people in mind. Not with the will of the government. If you want the will of the government, yes, you need people who spend their whole lives in politics, and they are people who are much more likely to be able to impose the will of the government, but I don’t think that that’s what we need. And Jefferson said when things got so bad the people would actually make a correction. I think it’s time to make that correction now.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that someone who believes government is the enemy thinks that what the people need now is someone with absolutely no legislative, judicial or executive experience to run this country. However, while there is an obvious anti-government vein running through the Republican Party, the American people at large aren’t going to jump to elevate someone whose lack of experience and political knowledge rivals that of Donald Trump and Herman Cain. In fact, even Republicans are going to be wary to go down that road again.
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