Ben Carson: ‘Problematic’ Donors Fill Debate Audience

[HAPPY2BME]

7 Feb 2016

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson told Breitbart News that it is “problematic” if establishment donors and special interests fill the audience at GOP debates, as GOP frontrunner Donald Trump suggested during the Saturday debate, and again during his Sunday campaign rally.

“Do I recognize that we have big money involved in just about everything that has to do with politics? Absolutely. Do I detest that? Absolutely,” Carson told Breitbart News. “As president, I wouldn’t deal with them either. Obviously, if that is in fact true, I think that’s problematic.”

Trump – when booed by the audience during an exchange with Bush during Saturday’s debate – suggested the audience is filled with donors and special interests that support establishment-backed candidates, such as former governor Jeb Bush.

Trump made the same charge during a campaign rally Sunday afternoon at Plymouth State University.

“The room was loaded up … all the rich donors and special interests and the lobbyists got all the tickets,” Trump told the supporters at his rally. He personally knows most of the big, wealthy donors because he was one of them in the past, he said, adding that angry faces were looking at him, thinking, “How could you do this to us?”

A source from the RNC told Breitbart News that 75 attendees were RNC donors. The various candidates, the state party, plus St. Anselm, ABC, IJ Review, WMUR and Google all got ticket allocations for the 1,000-person room.

Trump said the donors should have donate money to veterans instead of sending their cash to Bush’s campaign.

Trump used the drug companies as an example of special interests in politics. He said the head of Johnson & Johnson is one of Bush’s top fundraisers.

“I blame the RNC for this,” Trump said about filling audience with donors. “I’m the one that brought all the action,” he added, referencing that he only receives 20 tickets to give to people for the debates.

“I’m a self-funder. I’m putting up my own money,” he reminded his supporters. “I’m $40 million maybe $50 million under budget, isn’t that nice?”

“You’re my friends,” not the donors, he told his audience. “Self-funding is a big deal.”

http://www.alipac.us/f9/ben-carson-%91problematic%92-donors-fill-debate-audience-328492/

[Longiron]

Carson is trying to be a Trump mini-me and it does not fit him well.  He comes across like slow talker Al Gore who was also a sore loser.

To bad what he said is TRUE? No he is not a sore loser THAT is RUBIO, JEB !

[Luis Gonzalez]

Lord Almighty.

Our candidates are about to start talking about the need for a safe space, aren't they?

[NavyCanDo]

His ignorance astounds me.   This is the way it has always been, where people active in the party (active year round), are on the top of the list for events like this, such as Precinct Captains and County Chairpersons and Party volunteers, phone bank callers, etc. They simply earn their invitation and right to be first because they get involved.  And yes, most donate either to the RNC or to a candidate or Super Pac directly. 
When President George W. Bush came to Seattle limited invitations for the departing handshake line were sent out in this same way. I got my invitation because I was a Precinct Captain, and volunteered for his campaign.  I got Christmas Cards from the Bush’s for 2- years in a roll, and was sent official invitations to his Inauguration and some of the D.C.  Balls in the same way. 
This is why I found it a personal insult when Trump called them nothing but a bunch of donors.   

[HAPPY2BME]

Trump claims GOP donors bought scalped tickets to debate

PLYMOUTH, N.H. — Donald Trump on Sunday continued to push his claim that the audience at Saturday's GOP debate was stacked with "wealthy donors." The Republican presidential hopeful even suggested that some donors purchased scalped tickets from Saint Anselm students who'd received them at no cost.

"They went out, because they're rich, and they bought the tickets from the kids that were giving the tickets," Trump said of the elder members of the audience. "The kids made a fortune last night."

Trump drew heavy boos from the audience Saturday evening when he criticized the the crowd from his lectern, claiming many were financially backing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

"That's all of his donors and special interests out there," Trump said.

"You could see their pockets," he added Sunday, during his campaign rally at Plymouth State University. "I looked at that audience and I said, 'This is really tough,' because I have an audience and I am their worst nightmare because I'm not taking their money."

"I'm richer than they are," he added, reassuring his supporters that he's self-funding his presidential campaign.

Seconds later, after suggesting students had scalped their tickets, Trump turned around and accused the Republican National Committee of not distributing any tickets to students of the host campus.

"I was told, 'Oh no, we gave them to the children of the college.' They didn't give them to the children of the college, unless the child is 50 or 40 years old and lives on Park Avenue," he said.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-claims-gop-donors-bought-scalped-tickets-to-debate/article/2582689