I have no doubt Ben Carson is a very intelligent guy.
But he sure can say some weird, off-the-cuff stuff.
Read below.
Out for now.......
Matt
1. On Nazi Germany and guns
"I think the likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed," Carson said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday. "I'm telling you there is a reason these dictatorial people take the guns first."
The comment followed Blitzer's reading of a passage from Carson's new book, “A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do To Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties," in which the retired neurosurgeon wrote that "German citizens were disarmed by their government in the late 1930s, and by the mid-1940s Hitler's regime had mercilessly slaughtered 6 million Jews and numerous others whom they considered inferior. Through a combination of removing guns and disseminating deceitful propaganda, the Nazis were able to carry out their evil intentions with relatively little resistance."
Carson explained what he meant in subsequent interviews the next day.
"This is a general pattern that you see before tyranny occurs. There are many countries where that has occurred where they disarm the populace before they impose their tyrannical rule," he said on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" Friday. "That’s not a rare situation and that’s something that we don’t want to ever even think about and that’s one of the reason that Daniel Webster said what he said. He said there will never be tyranny in the United States because the people are armed."
2. On how he would handle an active-shooter situation
The candidate gave his take in a Tuesday segment with "Fox and Friends" in which he said that if a gunman like the one at Umpqua Community College in Oregon had walked up to him and asked his religion, he would not go along.
"Not only would I probably not cooperate with him, I would not just stand there and let him shoot me, I would say, ‘Hey guys, everybody attack him. He may shoot me, but he can’t get us all,'" Carson suggested.
3. On solving the crisis of gun violence
In a Facebook post on Monday, Carson answered a question from an email in which he was asked whether the shooting in Oregon had altered his feelings on the issue.
"I grew up in the slums of Detroit. I saw plenty of gun violence as a child. Both of my cousins were killed on the streets. As a Doctor, I spent many a night pulling bullets out of bodies," he wrote. "There is no doubt that this senseless violence is breathtaking — but I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away. Serious people seek serious solutions," he added.
4. On how progressives think he's an 'Uncle Tom'
In an interview with conservative radio host Dennis Prager earlier this week and posted by BuzzFeed News on Friday, Carson claimed that most of the racism in the United States comes from the left.
“I’m not sure I agree that there isn’t a fair amount of racism here," he said in response to a statement from Prager that the U.S. is the least racist country of those with multiple races.
"There is, but it’s not where you would expect it to be," Carson continued, "it is mostly with the progressive movement who will look at someone like me, and because of the color of my pigment, they decide that there’s a certain way that I’m supposed to think. And if I don’t think that way, I’m an Uncle Tom and they heap all kinds of hatred on you. That, to me, is racism.”
5. On comparing the D-Day invasion to his presidential campaign and movement
Speaking to the National Press Club on Friday, Carson drew an analogy between his presidential campaign and the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War II.
"What if on D-Day, our soldiers, invading the beaches at Normandy, had seen their colleagues being cut down — a hundred bodies laying in the sand, a thousand bodies laying in the sand — what if they had been frightened and turned back?" he asked, in concluding his speech.
"Well, I guarantee you they were frightened, but they didn't turn back. They stepped over the bodies of their colleagues, knowing in many cases that they would never see their homeland or their loved ones again. And they stormed those Axis troops, and they took that beach, and they died. Why did they do that? They didn't do that for themselves. They did it for you -- and they did it for me. And know it's our turn," he went on.
"And what are we willing to do for our children, and our grandchildren. Are we willing to stand up? Or are we afraid that somebody's going to call us a nasty name? Or that we're going to get an IRS audit? Or that somebody's going to mess with our job?" he asked. "You know, we have a lot less to lose than they did. And the people who are always telling me to hang in there, don't let them get to you. Believe me: Do not worry about it, because the stakes are much too high."
6. On whether a Muslim should be president or nominated to the Supreme Court
"I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that," Carson told NBC News' Chuck Todd during the episode of "Meet the Press" that aired Sept. 20.
He went on to say that Muslim members of Congress are a different situation, but that it depends who that person is and "what their policies are, just as it depends on what anybody else says, you know."
"And, you know, if there's somebody who's of any faith, but they say things, and their life has been consistent with things that will elevate this nation and make it possible for everybody to succeed, and bring peace and harmony, then I'm with them," he explained.
Weeks later, Carson addressed his stance toward the third branch of the government.
"If I were the one nominating such a person, I would spend a good deal of time looking at their background and seeing if it is consistent with the kinds of standards that we expect from such a position," Carson told Hugh Hewitt in an Oct. 1 interview. "I would take that into account much more than what they had to say. It’s been part of the problem, I think, with some of the selections. We listen to what they say and not what they have done."
Carson said that he would not have a problem with nominating a Muslim to a judicial position so long as her or she is "willing to accept the principles and values of America and our Constitution."
7. On whether being gay is a choice
Two months before he declared his candidacy, Carson sat down on CNN's "New Day" and in the course of the interview remarked that being gay was a choice, citing the example of people who go to prison straight and come out gay.
"A lot of people who go into prison straight and when they come out they’re gay, so did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question," he told Chris Cuomo.
Carson apologized later in the day.
"I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended," he said.
8. On the worst thing since slavery
At the Values Voter Summit in October 2013, Carson remarked that "Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery."
"And it is in a way, it is slavery in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to the government, and it was never about health care. It was about control," he said.
On a separate occasion, Carson suggested that Obamacare was worse than 9/11, though he walked back the comments back the next day.
9. Americans are living in a 'Gestapo age'
At a March 2014 event in New York, a reporter for Breitbart News asked Carson, "I've been told that he [Carson] said we're living in a 'Gestapo age'. What do you mean by that?"
“I mean very much like Nazi Germany — and I know you’re not supposed to talk about Nazi Germany but I don’t care about political correctness — you know, you had a government using its tools to intimidate a population,” Carson said. “We now live in a society where people are afraid to say what they actually believe, and it's because of the PC police, it's because of politicians, because of news — all of these things are combining to stifle people's conversation.”
(from: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/ben-carson-controversial-quotes-214614)
"I think the likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed," Carson said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday. "I'm telling you there is a reason these dictatorial people take the guns first."
The comment followed Blitzer's reading of a passage from Carson's new book, “A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do To Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties," in which the retired neurosurgeon wrote that "German citizens were disarmed by their government in the late 1930s, and by the mid-1940s Hitler's regime had mercilessly slaughtered 6 million Jews and numerous others whom they considered inferior. Through a combination of removing guns and disseminating deceitful propaganda, the Nazis were able to carry out their evil intentions with relatively little resistance."
Carson explained what he meant in subsequent interviews the next day.
"This is a general pattern that you see before tyranny occurs. There are many countries where that has occurred where they disarm the populace before they impose their tyrannical rule," he said on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" Friday. "That’s not a rare situation and that’s something that we don’t want to ever even think about and that’s one of the reason that Daniel Webster said what he said. He said there will never be tyranny in the United States because the people are armed."
2. On how he would handle an active-shooter situation
The candidate gave his take in a Tuesday segment with "Fox and Friends" in which he said that if a gunman like the one at Umpqua Community College in Oregon had walked up to him and asked his religion, he would not go along.
"Not only would I probably not cooperate with him, I would not just stand there and let him shoot me, I would say, ‘Hey guys, everybody attack him. He may shoot me, but he can’t get us all,'" Carson suggested.
3. On solving the crisis of gun violence
In a Facebook post on Monday, Carson answered a question from an email in which he was asked whether the shooting in Oregon had altered his feelings on the issue.
"I grew up in the slums of Detroit. I saw plenty of gun violence as a child. Both of my cousins were killed on the streets. As a Doctor, I spent many a night pulling bullets out of bodies," he wrote. "There is no doubt that this senseless violence is breathtaking — but I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away. Serious people seek serious solutions," he added.
4. On how progressives think he's an 'Uncle Tom'
In an interview with conservative radio host Dennis Prager earlier this week and posted by BuzzFeed News on Friday, Carson claimed that most of the racism in the United States comes from the left.
“I’m not sure I agree that there isn’t a fair amount of racism here," he said in response to a statement from Prager that the U.S. is the least racist country of those with multiple races.
"There is, but it’s not where you would expect it to be," Carson continued, "it is mostly with the progressive movement who will look at someone like me, and because of the color of my pigment, they decide that there’s a certain way that I’m supposed to think. And if I don’t think that way, I’m an Uncle Tom and they heap all kinds of hatred on you. That, to me, is racism.”
5. On comparing the D-Day invasion to his presidential campaign and movement
Speaking to the National Press Club on Friday, Carson drew an analogy between his presidential campaign and the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War II.
"What if on D-Day, our soldiers, invading the beaches at Normandy, had seen their colleagues being cut down — a hundred bodies laying in the sand, a thousand bodies laying in the sand — what if they had been frightened and turned back?" he asked, in concluding his speech.
"Well, I guarantee you they were frightened, but they didn't turn back. They stepped over the bodies of their colleagues, knowing in many cases that they would never see their homeland or their loved ones again. And they stormed those Axis troops, and they took that beach, and they died. Why did they do that? They didn't do that for themselves. They did it for you -- and they did it for me. And know it's our turn," he went on.
"And what are we willing to do for our children, and our grandchildren. Are we willing to stand up? Or are we afraid that somebody's going to call us a nasty name? Or that we're going to get an IRS audit? Or that somebody's going to mess with our job?" he asked. "You know, we have a lot less to lose than they did. And the people who are always telling me to hang in there, don't let them get to you. Believe me: Do not worry about it, because the stakes are much too high."
6. On whether a Muslim should be president or nominated to the Supreme Court
"I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that," Carson told NBC News' Chuck Todd during the episode of "Meet the Press" that aired Sept. 20.
He went on to say that Muslim members of Congress are a different situation, but that it depends who that person is and "what their policies are, just as it depends on what anybody else says, you know."
"And, you know, if there's somebody who's of any faith, but they say things, and their life has been consistent with things that will elevate this nation and make it possible for everybody to succeed, and bring peace and harmony, then I'm with them," he explained.
Weeks later, Carson addressed his stance toward the third branch of the government.
"If I were the one nominating such a person, I would spend a good deal of time looking at their background and seeing if it is consistent with the kinds of standards that we expect from such a position," Carson told Hugh Hewitt in an Oct. 1 interview. "I would take that into account much more than what they had to say. It’s been part of the problem, I think, with some of the selections. We listen to what they say and not what they have done."
Carson said that he would not have a problem with nominating a Muslim to a judicial position so long as her or she is "willing to accept the principles and values of America and our Constitution."
7. On whether being gay is a choice
Two months before he declared his candidacy, Carson sat down on CNN's "New Day" and in the course of the interview remarked that being gay was a choice, citing the example of people who go to prison straight and come out gay.
"A lot of people who go into prison straight and when they come out they’re gay, so did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question," he told Chris Cuomo.
Carson apologized later in the day.
"I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended," he said.
8. On the worst thing since slavery
At the Values Voter Summit in October 2013, Carson remarked that "Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery."
"And it is in a way, it is slavery in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to the government, and it was never about health care. It was about control," he said.
On a separate occasion, Carson suggested that Obamacare was worse than 9/11, though he walked back the comments back the next day.
9. Americans are living in a 'Gestapo age'
At a March 2014 event in New York, a reporter for Breitbart News asked Carson, "I've been told that he [Carson] said we're living in a 'Gestapo age'. What do you mean by that?"
“I mean very much like Nazi Germany — and I know you’re not supposed to talk about Nazi Germany but I don’t care about political correctness — you know, you had a government using its tools to intimidate a population,” Carson said. “We now live in a society where people are afraid to say what they actually believe, and it's because of the PC police, it's because of politicians, because of news — all of these things are combining to stifle people's conversation.”
(from: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/ben-carson-controversial-quotes-214614)