Source: Ben Carson Is Endorsing Statehood For Puerto Rico Tomorrow On The Island

[Carling]

Great idea, Dr. Carson!  Let's add two more Dem senators, one more Dem in the House, and 3 more Dem electoral votes!  Which side is Carson on? 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/source-ben-carson-is-endorsing-statehood-for-puerto-rico-tom#.vfjggOVe

Ben Carson will endorse statehood for Puerto Rico tomorrow at an event with Ricky Rosello, a gubernatorial candidate for the pro-statehood party on the island, according to a source close to Rosello’s campaign.

The source said the condition for Carson speaking at the event was that he come out for statehood. A request for comment from Carson’s campaign on the endorsement was not immediately returned.

The issue of statehood for Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States, does not neatly breakdown along traditional Democrat and Republican lines on the island, which is also dealing with a financial and health care crisis.
Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have previously said they support statehood if Puerto Ricans vote for it. Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush have endorsed bankruptcy protections for the island, but Rubio does not.

While Puerto Ricans can’t vote in the general election, 23 delegates will be awarded on the March 13 primary. Presidential candidates also use the island’s politics to signal to Puerto Ricans in the U.S., particularly in Florida where they are a fast-growing group, that they care about issues that matter to them.

Carson’s support of statehood comes a week before 13 Republican candidates are set to appear at the Sunshine Summit in Orlando, where much of the Puerto Rican population growth is concentrated.

Clinton and the Obama administration have said they support bankruptcy protections and fiscal oversight that come short of a federal bailout. In senate testimony on October 22, Treasury counselor Antonio Weiss said Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis is escalating. “Without federal action it could easily become a humanitarian crisis as well,” he said.

Rossello, who is hosting the event Carson will attend, is a professor at the Metropolitan University of Puerto Rico running against the incumbent Alejandro Garcia Padilla, and has proposed a plan counter to the Obama administration. Writing in Forbes, he said he wants to dismantle the current government system, implement free market reforms and create an “independent mechanism” to manage the debt, a collaboration between Puerto Rico and the federal government.

Adrian Carrasquillo is a political reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact Adrian Carrasquillo at adrian.c@buzzfeed.com.

[Lando Lincoln]

Smacks of pandering for votes.  Certainly not a wise move in my view.  PR is drowning in debt.  It is mismanaged politically and financially. 

[sinkspur]

Does the fool support statehood for DC too?  What an idiot.  And it disappoints me that Rubio supports statehood for what would be a Democrat stronghold.

[NavyCanDo]

As the story says, Carson is not the only Repubican candidate to support it, so what we have here is just another cheap attempt to ridicule Trump's biggest competition.

In any case, the President can't make it a state, no matter what his opinion is. It is a far more difficult process, and it starts with the Purto Ricans wanting it, and polls show they don't.

[NavyCanDo]

Note to Carson bashers fearing his poll numbers ...... Ronald Reagan favored Statehood of Puerto Rico, and wrote a huge piece on it in the Wall Street Journal in 1980.

Puerto Rico and Statehood   By Ronald Reagan
When I formally announced my intention to seek the Replublican presidential nomination in 1980, my televised speech to the nation included a commitment to not only support statehood for Puetro Rico if the people of the island Commonwealth desired statehood. It also included a commitment that as President, I would initiate statehood legislation which really means that I would take the lead n persuading the people of Puerto Rico - the mainland United States - all American citizens - that statehood would be good for all of us......

http://www.puertoricoreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/President-Reagan-Puerto-Rico-Statehood.pdf


So stop treating Carson like some out-in-left-field candidate with strange unelectable beliefs. Your post here only shows he is more like the 1980 Ronald Reagan than I realized.

[sinkspur]

Ronald Reagan raised taxes three times and turned tail and ran out of Lebanon when 240 Marines were killed there by terrorists.   So Reagan made his share of mistakes.

As has been pointed out, Puerto Rico came to Congress this year and begged to be allowed to declare bankruptcy. Who was going to pay those debts?   Like many Caribbean countries, it is governed by corrupt people.  And, if statehood were approved, two Democrat Senators, three Democrat House members and a Democrat governor would come on the scene.

Carson is pandering, as is Bush and Rubio.  Advocating statehood for Puerto Rico is sheer lunacy.

[truth_seeker]

Ronald Reagan (and Goldwater) would be a rino to our purest type of contemporary "conservatives."

[kevindavis007]

Note to Carson bashers fearing his poll numbers ...... Ronald Reagan favored Statehood of Puerto Rico, and wrote a huge piece on it in the Wall Street Journal in 1980.

Puerto Rico and Statehood   By Ronald Reagan
When I formally announced my intention to seek the Replublican presidential nomination in 1980, my televised speech to the nation included a commitment to not only support statehood for Puetro Rico if the people of the island Commonwealth desired statehood. It also included a commitment that as President, I would initiate statehood legislation which really means that I would take the lead n persuading the people of Puerto Rico - the mainland United States - all American citizens - that statehood would be good for all of us......

http://www.puertoricoreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/President-Reagan-Puerto-Rico-Statehood.pdf


So stop treating Carson like some out-in-left-field candidate with strange unelectable beliefs. Your post here only shows he is more like the 1980 Ronald Reagan than I realized.

I also favor statehood for Puerto Rico.. They do send their blood and treasure when it comes to this country wars.

[kevindavis007]

Ronald Reagan (and Goldwater) would be a rino to our purest type of contemporary "conservatives."

Reagan yes.. Goldwater, I'm not sure..

[kevindavis007]

Ronald Reagan raised taxes three times and turned tail and ran out of Lebanon when 240 Marines were killed there by terrorists.   So Reagan made his share of mistakes.

As has been pointed out, Puerto Rico came to Congress this year and begged to be allowed to declare bankruptcy. Who was going to pay those debts?   Like many Caribbean countries, it is governed by corrupt people.  And, if statehood were approved, two Democrat Senators, three Democrat House members and a Democrat governor would come on the scene.

Carson is pandering, as is Bush and Rubio.  Advocating statehood for Puerto Rico is sheer lunacy.

I'm not sure what state are you from, to me Illinois has most corruption.. More than Puerto Rico..