Not about West Point, at any rate.
Politico‘s Kyle Cheney admitted that he fabricated a negative story about Ben Carson. At least, according to his own standards, he admitted the grievous journalistic sin.
In a story published early on Friday, Politico’s Kyle Cheney authored a piece headlined “Ben Carson admits fabricating West Point scholarship” with a subhed “Carson’s campaign on Friday conceded that a central point in his inspirational personal story did not occur as he previously described.”
There were at least five major problems with the story:
- The headline was completely false
- The subhed was also completely false
- The opening paragraph was false false false
- The substance of the piece was missing key exonerating information
- The article demonstrated confusion about service academy admissions and benefits
Some of the readers here were upset that I linked to a news piece without doing any due diligence concerning whether it was true or not. To them, I can only suggest that they avoid reading every single post here that contains a link, because I don’t ever do any due diligence on any link.
I am responsible for my own words. I am no more responsible for the words on a linked site than I am responsible for your comments on this one. I had no more reason to doubt that Dr. Carson said something stupid about his past than I have to doubt that he said something stupid about the Egyptian pyramids. Perhaps Politico made that up too. I don’t know because I am not the News Police.
Tom K asks why I would denigrate Dr. Carson:
I’m wishing you could explain why you would denigrate a man who is, as far as I can tell from the fact that the media hasn’t been able to trash his medical credentials, a truly inspiring black man who exercised the discipline necessary to become a fucking brain surgeon and an expert at separating conjoined twins.
Because he wants to be President of the United States of America. I wouldn’t have a word to say against him if he was content to continue being a surgeon or if he took up professional knitting. But I’d rather not see another affirmative-action anti-gun intellectually overmatched individual at the head of the US government in what are all but certain to be unusually interesting times.
Also, unlike many, I do not find inspiration in black individuals who manage to do what white people have already done. I wasn’t impressed by Herman Cain being a chairman of a regional Fed bank either. Fair or not, all accomplishments by black individuals will remain intrinsically dubious so long as affirmative action is a U.S. government policy.
Sometimes the vile hatred spewed out in the things I read on this site, posts and comments, turns my stomach. I don’t understand it. It makes no sense. What the fuck has Ben Carson ever done to hurt you? He’s got ideas you don’t like. Yeah. So? Argue the facts. Point out where he’s wrong. Hatred and contempt should be reserved for those with contemptible motives and evil goals.
Just because it doesn’t make sense to you does not mean it doesn’t make sense. Ben Carson’s motives are contemptible: he wants to rule over us despite being utterly unfit in almost every way. And Ben Carson has evil goals; he is absolutely wrong on both immigration and guns, the only two issues that matter. He absolutely merits contempt. The only reason he’s been treated with kid gloves until now is because he is a) black and b) as this campaign’s Token Black Republican Candidate, no one has been taking him seriously.
Stephen St. Onge doesn’t appear to have paid attention to previous elections:
Lots of you believed this Politico lie because you were pre-disposed to believe something bad about Carson. Which means you have typical human weaknesses. Try to overcome them.
It is admittedly possible that something legitimately disqualifying won’t surface about Carson by the time he ends his campaign. But the history of Token Black Republican Candidates strongly suggests otherwise.
Meanwhile, Phelps demonstrates that he doesn’t know what an SJW is:
Accepting any story from Politico was a serious own-goal. You get a soccer metaphor for acting like a SJW. I hope to see this embarrassment put you back onto your game.
Again, Politico is responsible for their error. Not me. If I were to stop linking to sites I know to have posted erroneous original material, I would not be able to link anywhere except Castalia House and iSteve. Phelps should give up the retarded rhetoric; also, he is fat. Sorry, no offense, but it’s true.
Meanwhile, for those who are seeking a more substantive reason to hold Ben Carson in contempt, the Token Black Republican Candidate helpfully provided it yesterday. Although perhaps I should not post this, given what I already know about the Wall Street Journal’s propensity for falsehoods:
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Friday that he supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement negotiated by the White House – aligning himself more with the GOP’s establishment wing than with the social conservatives who have powered his campaign.