Dogging retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson are growing inconsistencies in his biographical story published in his popular books and articles. Carson’s been on a rampage against the “liberal media” claiming he’s embellished his history on the campaign trail, making up whatever he thinks advances his presidential ambitions. Republican front-runner real estate mogul Donald Trump thought the barrage of inconsistencies in Carson’s narrative seemed “strange,” not sure how to respond to Carson’s on attack on the left-wing press. Carson claims he’s been scrutinized more than other presidential candidates, blaming the press for an ongoing witch hunt. Today’s controversy involves less about his past outrageous remarks about homosexuals or abortion but about factual errors in his background. Carson claimed in his 1992 biography “Gifted Hands” he was offered a full-scholarship to the U.S. Army Academy West Point.
Asked by the press to show proof of his acceptance and scholarship offer, Carson’s campaign complained the press had harassed the 64-year-old presidential candidate. Carson tells a tall tale of him meeting Gen. William Westmoreland in Detroit1969, offering him acceptance and full-ride to West Point. “Dr. Carson was the top ROTC student in the city of Detroit,” said Barry Bennett, Carson’s campaign manager. “In that role he was invited to meet General Westmoreland. He believes it was at a banquet. He can’t remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson’s performance as ROTC city executive officer,” said Bennett, trying to explain the inconsistency of West Point officials having no record of Carson applying or acceptance to West Point. When CNN checked Carson’s claim in “Gifted Hands” he met Westmoreland at an event in Detroit, investigators found Westmoreland was in Washington, D.C.
Carson’s rags-to-riches story in “Gifted Hands” studying pre-med at Yale University [1969-1973], graduating University of Michigan Medical School [1970-1974] and completing his residency in pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical School [1974-1977] is impressive enough without embellishment. Uncovering Carson’s fish-stories and defensiveness with the press has thrown his colleagues and voters for a loop. Carson rose to the top of the GOP field recently on the strength of his “Christian” credentials, pandering to evangelical voters in early voting states, ripping abortion and calling for an end to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion. Politico found that Carson’s claim to have met Westmoreland in a 1969 Detroit Memorial Day parade wasn’t credible. Army records found by Politico found Westmoreland’s schedule in Washington, D.C. making the chance meeting and offer to West Point even more unlikely.
Calling attacks on his background a “witch hunt,” Carson hopes to appeal to the conspiracy crowd tending to distrust the government and “liberal media.” Show me somebody, even from your business, the media, who is 100 percent accurate in everything they say that happened 40 to 50 years ago,” Carson told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, referring to recent fabrications by respected broadcast journalists. When NBC’s Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was caught making up stories about the 1998 war in Kosovo, it cost him his job Feb. 7, 2015. More searching showed Williams fibbed about his youth, claiming he was robbed at gunpoint in his church. When Fox News Bill O’Reilly ripped Williams, his detractors dredged up his own embellishments covering the 1982 Falkland Island War, claiming he was in the “war zone,” when in fact he reported on rioting in Buenos Aires, not the Falkland Islands some 1,100 miles away.
Carson’s embellishments show that he’s riddled with insecurities, prompting him to exaggerate his experience and credentials. Carson boasts of being one of the first neurosurgeons to separate conjoined twins, a remarkable medical feat to be sure. But he almost never mentions he was part of 60-member medical team accomplishing the feat. Carson also claimed in his 1992 biography that, while attending Yale psychology class “Perceptions 301,” he was named the most honest student, for not walking out of a professor’s hoax. Whether that happened or not, saying he was certified “most honest” raises even more doubts about the trail of serial exaggerations leaving Carson’s credibility damaged. “Please show me that person. I will sit at their knee and I will learn from them,” Carson told Stephanopoulos, regarding recalling events factually about one’s life. What bothers the press are mounting inconsistencies in Carson’s background, not a few innocent mistakes.
Carson’s story-telling raise eyebrows at his tendency to get basic facts wrong about his background, then trying to explain things away, blaming it on ordinary human error or a co-author getting her wires crossed. When that doesn’t work, Carson goes after the “liberal press,” trying to discredit his conservative presidential campaign. Rushing to Carson’s defense, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, ripped the “liberal press.” “The Politico story is an outright lie,” adding, “the campaign never admitted to anything,” said Kelly, regarding accusations that Carson lied about meeting Westmoreland and getting a scholarship to West Point. Carson likes to accuse the press of taking his words out of context. But when they come from his own biography, there’s only so many ways to deny the misstatements. “We tell the truth, we deal with the issues,” Carson told Stephanopoulos, insisting voters see through the media’s attempt to discredit his conservative presidential campaign.
