Ben Carson, the GOP’s Long Shot

[mystery-ak]

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/423255/print

 Ben Carson, the GOP’s Long Shot
By Ian Tuttle — August 29, 2015

Editor’s Note: The following article is adapted from one that ran in the July 20, 2015, issue of National Review.

Corning, Iowa — There are 40 chairs set out in the foyer of the Corning Opera House. For the record, Corning, Iowa, does not seem like a big opera town. Just 1,600 people live here, and just 4,000 stouthearted Iowans reside in Adams County, making it the least populous county in the Hawkeye State. For a political event, 40 chairs should be plenty.

By the time Ben Carson begins to speak, at 8:30 a.m. on a June Friday, some 130 people have arrived. We’ve abandoned the foyer for the opera house itself, where the crowd takes up every seat on the main floor and has forced a handful of listeners into the balcony.

This is my fifth stop with Dr. Ben Carson, neurosurgeon, New York Times bestselling author, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and now Republican presidential candidate, and this is not a new experience. In Rock Rapids, in Sioux Center, in Missouri Valley, in Lamoni (that’s luh-MOAN-eye), they’ve also underestimated. Former Texas governor Rick Perry recently spoke to about 40 people at Frontier Bank in Rock Rapids, so planners figured that, for Carson’s appearance, two pots of coffee should be plenty. Eighty-five people showed, at 8 a.m. on a Thursday, some from across the South Dakota border.

continued

[mountaineer]

References to “socialism” and “totalitarianism” creep into his speeches (an oblique reminder that he has said contemporary America is “very much like Nazi Germany”). He talks about the “wars” the president has tried to stir up: “race wars” and “age wars.” He recommends framing policies not as “conservative” or “liberal,” but as “pro-American” or “anti-American.” Even if you know what he’s getting at, it’s a bit much.

Carson does not deliver a stump speech, exactly, as much as touch on a handful of points, complemented by a set of anecdotes and historical allusions (a Daniel Webster quote here, a Thomas Jefferson citation there), in a loosely structured 15- to 30-minute address. Perhaps it feels “genuine,” but it also can feel meandering and undisciplined. ...

The sign of a non-politician, in both a good and bad way. Maybe my brain is just too organized, but I prefer that a candidate tell me clearly and concisely where he or she stands on certain key issues. No anecdotes, no hyperbole.

[Fishrrman]

Long Shot (Steep Canyon Rangers):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIfMLHliAE0