Ben Carson announces he is running for presidential GOP nod

[lilwriter85]

Lori Alexander is probably wetting her fangirl panties right now.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/neu ... nt-n353026

[ILoveJellybeans]

Wow, what a change in career. He once worked with brains. Now he works somewhere there is no brains in sight.

[Toothfairy]

See guys we aren't racist or against blacks, we have one black friend.

The Republican party are using him, I hope Ben sees that. Well maybe not.

[Trynn]

If seventh day adventists gain power, not gonna lie, this time I really WILL flee the country. 18 years of the stuff was enough, thanks.

[CelticGoddess]

See guys we aren't racist or against blacks, we have one black friend.

The Republican party are using him, I hope Ben sees that. Well maybe not.

Actually, they have 2 black friends. Tim Scott (R-SC, moron). The republican party (and tea party) is using Tim Scott also and Tim doesn't see it either. They are both cut from the same cloth

[Jana814]

Wow, what a change in career. He once worked with brains. Now he works somewhere there is no brains in sight.

Haha but so true!!

[Queen Of Hearts]

See guys we aren't racist or against blacks, we have one black friend.

The Republican party are using him, I hope Ben sees that. Well maybe not.

I'm sorry, but I take offense to that statement. As a Republican myself, I am sick and tired of the constant accusations about being racist, It's getting old. Real old.

[FloraKitty35]

Wow, what a change in career. He once worked with brains. Now he works somewhere there is no brains in sight.

:lol:

[2xx1xy1JD]

I'm sorry, but I take offense to that statement. As a Republican myself, I am sick and tired of the constant accusations about being racist, It's getting old. Real old.

I've seen folks on both the right and the left use tokens as a shield against allegations of racism, or do a bizarre "so and so from your group agrees with us" as if you musf agree with something because someone else who shares one characteristic supports it.

[goldfishgoddess]

I saw him interviewed on gay issues and his responses were ignorant and prejudiced. I really think a large part of the US has grown up and won't accept his kind of tripe.

What a shame because apparently he was a gifted pediatric neurosurgeon.

[GeoBQn]

Lori Alexander is probably wetting her fangirl panties right now.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/neu ... nt-n353026

She would if she believed in women's suffrage.

[BrownieMomma]

Huckabee just tossed his hat in the ring.

[CloakNDagger]

Ben Carson is a very middle of the road candidate... can't see a lot of the fundies really voting for him when he supports things like forced vaccinations.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Did my 2 min. of Google research on Ben Carson.

I feel bad.

He's a genuinely great pediatric neurosurgeon. He worked really hard to get there, and his list of professional accomplishments is really impressive. If that was his life's work, it would be enough. In his retirement, he could also be a great mentor and inspiration to others.

But no - he's got this great background in one area, and he's running for a completely different job. Knowing how to separate conjoined twins at the head is truly impressive, but it doesn't mean that you know fuck all about the lives of gay people, or that you understand what socialism is or is not, or that you have any real idea how to run a country.

Look - I love doctors. My husband is a doctor. Some of my best friends are doctors. (See, this works for more than just race!) My husband would be an awesome person to see if you had a complex multi-systemic illness of the sort that they use on Mystery Diagnosis. He would not be an awesome person to contact if you want to, say, manage a complicated economy, because he knows nothing about macroeconomics. He's really smart, but the smartness isn't distributed equally over all areas.

My guess is that the more sensible Obama critics would say that electing someone who didn't have a lot of experience was a mistake. If so, why would they repeat it?

[salex]

I think more than a few out of the herd of republicans tossing their hats in the ring are not expecting to win, but are using it to build up pac money to either have when they quit or use to buy favors from other candidates by donating to their campaigns. I also suspect Huckabee is running to try to stay relevant so that he can keep working in the media. He mothballed his radio show to run, I believe, but can see him using his campaign (and please tell me he has zero chance of being the Republican nominee) to bolster his career as a commentator for Fox or religious broadcasting.

I suspect Ben Carson of this as well.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I think more than a few out of the herd of republicans tossing their hats in the ring are not expecting to win, but are using it to build up pac money to either have when they quit or use to buy favors from other candidates by donating to their campaigns. I also suspect Huckabee is running to try to stay relevant so that he can keep working in the media. He mothballed his radio show to run, I believe, but can see him using his campaign (and please tell me he has zero chance of being the Republican nominee) to bolster his career as a commentator for Fox or religious broadcasting.

I suspect Ben Carson of this as well.

Weird way of becoming Surgeon General?

[Walking Cat Bed]

Oh, I agree with the assertion that most of these candidates are in it for the attention and its benefits on their careers and paychecks. I think that's true of how presidential elections are now.

[Queen Of Hearts]

I think more than a few out of the herd of republicans tossing their hats in the ring are not expecting to win, but are using it to build up pac money to either have when they quit or use to buy favors from other candidates by donating to their campaigns. I also suspect Huckabee is running to try to stay relevant so that he can keep working in the media. He mothballed his radio show to run, I believe, but can see him using his campaign (and please tell me he has zero chance of being the Republican nominee) to bolster his career as a commentator for Fox or religious broadcasting.

I suspect Ben Carson of this as well.

Hucklebeee had a successful show on Fox, which I believe he quit to focus on his Presidency bid. So in his case I don't think he is in it to bolster his media career.

[Howl]

Read an article today that noted that in the past (prior to the previous election), big money was only thrown at the candidate most likely to win both his party nomination and the general election. Now there is great big money being thrown at a LOT of these candidates, improving the chances for a dark horse to get to the front of the pack, in front of the other dark horses. Um, Mitt Romney?

Also, perhaps jockeying (staying with the horsey analogy) for position and getting name recognition might improve chances for being nominated for VP or a cabinet position or (as previously noted) surgeon general.

Here's some interesting stuff on Mike Huckabee: http://realchange.org/huckabee.htm

It would also be interesting to get a show of hands from these guys on how many felt that god told them to run for president.

[doggie]

love this

[ILoveJellybeans]

I wonder what all the Republicans who complain about Obama being black and use that as proof that he is not Christian and isn't a real American, are going to say about a black Republican presidential candidate? I bet it will be suddenly okay and totally different as he is on their side.

[salex]

I wonder what all the Republicans who complain about Obama being black and use that as proof that he is not Christian and isn't a real American, are going to say about a black Republican presidential candidate? I bet it will be suddenly okay and totally different as he is on their side.

I'm not sure. I have not heard or seen as much overt racism from people ----in this case the more right wing/tea party inlaws, but also on line and from the pundits-- as I have seen since Obama was elected. I doubt this can be turned off overnight, even toward their "black friend". Note, not all the republicans are birthers or racists but I have been amazed at how much I've seen.

It makes me wonder how anti woman some of these people will get if a woman wins the presidency.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I'm not sure. I have not heard or seen as much overt racism from people ----in this case the more right wing/tea party inlaws, but also on line and from the pundits-- as I have seen since Obama was elected. I doubt this can be turned off overnight, even toward their "black friend". Note, not all the republicans are birthers or racists but I have been amazed at how much I've seen.

It makes me wonder how anti woman some of these people will get if a woman wins the presidency.

It's still possible that all but the worst racists would go the token route - embracing the one person from group X that happens to support them, insist that they aren't really against group X at all, and criticize everyone else from group X for supporting the wrong policies and failing to be as enlightened.

Like I said, I've seen this technique from both the right and the left. It sucks. Is there a name for this logical fallacy - Appeal to Token or something like that?

Now, this is NOT to say that a member of group X can't honestly support a different position from the majority of group X. There is more to a person than being part of a group, and there's no reason to expect that individuals won't have their own opinions.

[CloakNDagger]

I wonder what all the Republicans who complain about Obama being black and use that as proof that he is not Christian and isn't a real American, are going to say about a black Republican presidential candidate? I bet it will be suddenly okay and totally different as he is on their side.

A lot of GOP / Republicans are NOT racist in regards to Obama, they just hate his policies. Where do you see them using his being black as "proof" that he isn't a Christian or a real American? Neither of those issues are race dependent at all. If he was a white guy he'd be just as hated, no kidding. Don't forget that the original "birther" questions came from a Democrat on Hillary's team. The issue of whether or not he is a "Christian" rests on it's own merits as well. I'm not in the "Obama is a Muslim" camp, but he's certainly no evangelical Christian.

[salex]

A lot of GOP / Republicans are NOT racist in regards to Obama, they just hate his policies. Where do you see them using his being black as "proof" that he isn't a Christian or a real American? Neither of those issues are race dependent at all. If he was a white guy he'd be just as hated, no kidding. Don't forget that the original "birther" questions came from a Democrat on Hillary's team. The issue of whether or not he is a "Christian" rests on it's own merits as well. I'm not in the "Obama is a Muslim" camp, but he's certainly no evangelical Christian.

I think that one of the downsides of the internet (and I love the internet and making my living from the internet), and 24 hour sound bite news and just where we are in society now is that disagreeing with a person's policies is expressed by not as much be offering alternatives to thes policies as much as attacking the person to show why that person is not valid in any way. I asked a guy the other day who said "Obama is destroying our way of life" for an example of how his life was being destroyed. Instead of a list of specifics, he said "well, the country has been going downhill for ages" and "You know we are losing rights" which showed me he was more comfortable attacking the strawman of obama (this particular patriot thinks or at least posts, that Obama is gay and Michelle is a man, that Obama is muslim, etc) So, whatever policies they dislike, many seem more articulate attacking the man than the policies.

Yes, this happens on both sides... but I think it is getting worse and worse throughout our society and lately the most verbal are the anti Obama types.