According to a new poll, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is now leading the Republican Presidential field in Iowa, the first state that will have to start making real decisions about the baker’s dozen-worth of GOP candidates.
Carson’s jump in the polls prompted famous rich person Donald Trump to bash his opponent for being “low energy” (which is apparently Trump’s most favored criticism of other candidates). Carson appeared Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and he countered Trump’s “low energy” claims by telling host Chuck Todd that he “has plenty of energy” before alluding to a weird scary incident in his past. “There was a time when I was very volatile,” said Carson.
What is Carson talking about here? Gawker kindly provides the reference from an interview last summer in The Daily Caller:
I had real anger issues. I would just fly off the handle and really become quite irrational and try to hurt people with baseball bats, hammers, whatever. In this particular case, I happened to have a large camping knife. And, you know, one of my friends angered me. And I just lunged at his abdomen with the knife. Probably would have seriously injured or killed him, but he happened to have on a large metal belt buckle under his clothing, upon which the blade broke. [Pols emphasis]
And, of course, he fled in terror. But I was more horrified than he was, because I realized that I was trying to kill somebody over nothing — and that I would never realize my dreams of becoming a physician. And I would end up in jail, reform school, or the grave. And I just locked myself in the bathroom and started praying…
WTF? This guy has a real chance of becoming the next President of the United States (we didn’t say he had a “good” chance, but he’s on the doorstep). Here’s how Carson elaborated on that story, from The Daily Caller’s Matt K. Lewis:
When I noted that his life could have turned out dramatically different — that he could have ended up in jail instead of becoming a doctor who helped people, Carson noted: “It’s very ironic. What could have ended a life for me, ended up being what gave life to thousands…a scalpel.”
Wow, that is ironic. Carson almost murdered someone with a knife, but instead became a surgeon! [cue nervous laughter]
…wait, that’s not irony. That’s completely insane.
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Could his present somnolent style be due to whatever personality flattening medication he's been on since that incident? Should we be worried about him going off his meds as Prez?
This is even weirder than his telling that anecdote about how he takes action when under threat by someone weilding a gun, like the time he pointed out that the guy behind the counter was the one the gunman really ought to be shooting. Gee… my hero.
I'm sorry. Carson is even loonier than Trump and if he's number one or two among Republicans then there is something seriously wrong with most Republicans. And not just their loony policy positions. They have to be out of their minds.
This guy sure is.
oops. "wielding". Not having spell check here is really annoying. Especially since I'm the world's worst typist.
He's just lucky that he didn't have a gun. Luckier still that the other guy didn't. Because, y'know, guns solve everything.
Seriously, who the hell says this? Nobody I know. Not normal. Don't pretend it is.
So what does Carson think about rehabilitation? What to do with a young person prone to violent reactions who did not hit the belt buckle? Second changes? Nothing on his web site about such things. Just Second Amendment, keep Gitmo open, the Russians are dangerous. Carson is lucky the guy he tried to stab was not carrying–you know, to keep himself safe from people like Carson–and defended himself by shooting his attacker.
A fuckup at wielding a knife, Carson turned to the scalpel instead.
He has a knack for ignoring Godwin's Law too (at least he's not an Ayn Rand afficionado for what it's worth):
Carson's go-to theorist, Skousen, is also a supporter and an apologist for the John Birch Society. He became Glenn Beck's inspiration.