The Attempted Character Assassination of Ben Carson

Sometimes atmospheric conditions are such that the weather forecast can say, “100% chance of rain.” The current political atmosphere is such that even before it happened there was a 100% chance the media would attempt to assassinate Dr. Ben Carson’s character, honesty, and integrity. The liberal media will do everything it can, including lies, fabrications, distortions, and flagrant exaggerations to anyone they consider threats to their power and control.

Ben Carson is clearly such a person. Unfortunately for liberals he may be the hardest target they’ve ever faced. He is unquestionably brilliant, and is obviously a person of impeccable character. His life story is amazing and inspiring. America could certainly use a little inspiration about now.

The recent attempts to destroy Carson’s candidacy have been bizarre. In his book, Gifted Hands, he relates episodes in his young life of violence and an out-of-control temper. CNN went to great efforts to interview his childhood friends and neighbors to insinuate the stories were false. In other words, a person who admitted that he was once a juvenile delinquent with a violent temper is somehow accused of making it all up. CNN is essentially saying, “You say you were once bad, but that’s not true. In fact, you’ve always been good.” What a weird thing to accuse someone of lying about.

The fact that Dr. Carson has fewer vulnerabilities than most candidates isn’t necessarily a problem for those who fear him and would like to destroy him. Liberals have the unique ability to make something out of nothing. They never hesitate to make assertions, no matter how baseless and nonsensical, broadcast them, and have them accepted by large segments of their viewers and listeners. For example, the liberal media and the Democrat party have sold the fantastical assertion that Republicans are waging a war against women. Many of their supporters actually believe it’s true.

Having a complete lack of integrity, as does Politico, can be a competitive advantage. However, it can also play against you. CNN’s and Politico’s ham-handed attempts to take out Ben Carson may be too transparent to be effective. CNBC’s widely criticized performance in the recent Republican debate apparently blew up in their faces. The population of people who now recognize the blatant bias of the media has grown. Dr. Carson could very well end up more popular than he was before the fraudulent stories reported about him in the Politico and CNN.

Supporters of Hillary Clinton have every reason to fear Ben Carson. He could well be her worst nightmare. Although it was before the latest brouhaha, a Fox News poll last week found that 60 percent of voters say Carson is honest, 25 percent said not honest. His net honesty score is a positive 35 — “No other candidate comes even close to that,” according to Fox. “Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s ratings are record setting — in a bad way. Her net honesty score is negative 26.” In terms of honesty Clinton and Carson are polar opposites.

Carson is extremely easy to like. Hillary is almost impossible to like. Even her supporters admit as much. In head-to-head matchups against Hillary, Carson does better than any other Republican, beating her by as much as ten points. If she were running against Dr. Carson, Hillary would have to hope that honesty and integrity simply don’t matter to voters. That’s possible but not likely.

If Carson happens to secure the Republican nomination it’s conceivable he’d get as much as twenty percent of the black vote. If that happens Hillary Clinton would be a dead-candidate-walking. (Mitt Romney got less than five percent of the black vote.)

The one valid criticism of Dr. Carson is that he has no elective-office experience. However, in the context of today’s political atmosphere that may be more of an asset than a liability. Furthermore, even if lack of experience is a negative, voters will weigh it against other important attributes. Every bit as or even more important are a candidate’s judgment, values, and intelligence. From that perspective it appears voters like what they see in Ben Carson, especially the fact that they see him as sharing their values.

He has, for example, made opposition to political correctness one of his main campaign themes. Many of us see political correctness as a cancer on our culture and society. Having someone in the White House who is willing to use “the bloody pulpit” to make that case would be like a breath of fresh air.

Here’s another prediction with a 100% probability — the character assassination attempts on Ben Carson have only just begun. The left, the media, the Democrats know what an existential threat he is to them. It’s been ugly, and it’s going to get uglier. Remember the Boy Scout motto —“Be Prepared.”

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◼ The Attempted Character Assassination of Ben Carson November 13, 2015

Ron Ross Ph.D. is a former economics professor and author of The Unbeatable Market. Ron resides in Arcata, California and is a founder of Premier Financial Group, a wealth management firm located in Eureka, California. He is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma and can be reached at rossecon@gmail.com.