-By Gary Krasner
Glad you asked.
He’s not a practiced politician, and it shows. at least in one respect, it’s a deficit.
We just saw a story from a mainstream organ–Politico.
The story alleged that Carson fabricated an event. which event? An event he’s discussed and wrote about in his book.
Carson has written and stated (e.g. Charlie Rose recently) that he was offered a scholarship to West Point, but that he never applied to West Point and instead went to medical school.
Instead of conveying that fact accurately, Politico falsely wrote that Carson claimed to have APPLIED to West Point, and West Point states there was no application by Carson.
THEREFORE, according to Politico, Carson lied!!!
And when contacted by Politico, Carson’s people repeated the facts as Carson wrote it.
Including that part that all who enroll at West Point do not have to pay tuition, which West Point refers to as “scholarships” on its website.
So Politico compounds its fabrication about Carson APPLYING, by writing that his campaign ADMITS that he never actually APPLIED!!
Get it? Carson writes that he was OFFERED a scholarship, but ultimately never applied. Politico write that he OBTAINED a scholarship, and had APPLIED as well.
So in effect, Politico fabricated a story that Carson lied, then falsely claimed that the campaign, when contacted, ADMITS that he lied!!!
And that attempt to destroy Carson is adopted by the mass media, who by that time had already learned of Carson’s rebuttal to Politico.
This is how MSM presented it: Carson lied. Here’s how he lied. And after spending 2 minutes describing how he lied, they report, “but Carson disputes the Politico story.
Had it been Hillary, the drive bys would have shamed Politico and demanded a retraction.
That is what I’m getting to–Carson’s weak campaign team. It’s too passive. It’s too polite. It’s too, may I say, Canadian in temperament.
Carson appeared on the Sunday news shows–ABC, CBS, and NBC. People who have not been following this in conservative media would come away thinking Carson did not do well.
Carson didn’t adequately explain the wrong that was committed on him. Not clearly enough. He needed to practice it. No way he did. Amateur night.
This was a pivotal event for him. It was textbook journalism fraud. He could have won a lot of points had he explained in simple words what Politico had done.
He also failed in the followup. There was no followup!! Once you describe a libelous attack on you, you demand an apology and a retraction (from Politico).
That’s Politics 101. It’s political malpractice to fail to counterattack and force the guilty parties back on their heels, in defensive mode.
I’ve watched Carson’s campaign. The people running it need to explain to a few things to Carson.
They must tell him what happened to President GW (dumb as a doorknob) Bush, who took the high road of not responding to attacks.
Same with the other dumb-ass candidates–McCain and Romney.
Pols must be shameless self-promoters. Carson has that attribute. What he hasn’t perfected is the science of the counterattack.
You portray yourself as the injured party, then demand compensation.