Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ben Carson admits fabricating West Point scholarship
Politico ^ | 11/06/2015 | Kyle Cheney

Posted on 11/06/2015 8:33:42 AM PST by GIdget2004

Ben Carson’s campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The academy has occupied a central place in Carson’s tale for years. According to a story told in Carson’s book, “Gifted Hands,” the then-17 year old was introduced in 1969 to Gen. William Westmoreland, who had just ended his command of U.S. forces in Vietnam, and the two dined together. That meeting, according to Carson’s telling, was followed by a “full scholarship” to the military academy.

West Point, however, has no record of Carson applying, much less being extended admission.

“In 1969, those who would have completed the entire process would have received their acceptance letters from the Army Adjutant General,” said Theresa Brinkerhoff, a spokeswoman for the academy. She said West Point has no records that indicate Carson even began the application process. “If he chose to pursue (the application process) then we would have records indicating such,” she said.

When presented with this evidence, Carson’s campaign conceded the story was false.

“Dr. Carson was the top ROTC student in the City of Detroit,” campaign manager Barry Bennett wrote in an email to POLITICO. “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.”

“He was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC Supervisors,” Bennett went on. “They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission.”

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bencarson; cantbepresident; carson; carsonbio; elections; lies; mediabias; politicolies; scholarship; slander; smear; westpoint
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 541-560 next last
To: Vermont Lt
"Do we sacrifice Carson, and make a HUGE deal about lying?"

We have to make a big deal about lying. That is the thing we will hit Hillary on in the general no matter who our nominee is.

301 posted on 11/06/2015 9:48:40 AM PST by Amntn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 220 | View Replies]

To: stephenjohnbanker
Respectfully, there was nothing “hack” about it. This may be the most well thought out, finely structured Hit Piece I have ever read : )

LOL.

302 posted on 11/06/2015 9:49:15 AM PST by FreeReign
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 297 | View Replies]

To: SteveinSATX

“So now politico is being taken as the gospel truth??’

When the candidate admits it, it’s time
to let go of the rope, Steve.


303 posted on 11/06/2015 9:49:59 AM PST by sparklite2 (All will become clear when it is too late to matter.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 147 | View Replies]

To: FourtySeven

Yes, he did use the word scholarship. I still don’t see it as lying. A full ride is a scholarship. Look at the number of posts on this thread explaining that West Point comes with a full ride.

When writing a book for the masses, one would not be lying to use the term “full scholarship” instead of “offered an appointment that comes with a full ride.” The masses don’t care about the difference. This Politico story is horsesh*t.


304 posted on 11/06/2015 9:50:46 AM PST by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 279 | View Replies]

To: BlackFemaleArmyCaptain

Agreed. I’m sure it is an insult to you, and since I know several young men who are now at Westpoint, I am sure it is disrespectful to them, when the truth was plenty praise enough: that generals et al wanted him to apply!! Why not just say that?

Someone up thread said this was his Herman Cain moment, but Herman Cain didn’t lie about his military past! It is worse to lie about that, than to lie about cheating (though with Cain I think there were multiple women too, not great either).

Sadly, Hillary has lied about worse. And still gets no bad press. People DIED in Hillary’s lies.


305 posted on 11/06/2015 9:50:46 AM PST by Yaelle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 243 | View Replies]

To: All

The worst part of this is we can’t talk about the pyramids anymore.


306 posted on 11/06/2015 9:50:54 AM PST by jimbo807
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 303 | View Replies]

To: lee martell
Carson’s campaign team should have done due diligence on his resume! Why didn’t they check these claims out before? They should have known that any conservative black republican would be closely scrutinized!

Heard Herman Cain say in an interview the other day that anyone running for the presidency ought to have a "Crisis Management" Team, totally separate from their campaign team, to deal with vetting issues, and then to be proactive in dealing with these types of issues as they arise. Agree totally.

307 posted on 11/06/2015 9:51:15 AM PST by nfldgirl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

We should kick Iowa out of the Union. They always seem to pick the worst candidates. Buncha corn-fed idiots.


308 posted on 11/06/2015 9:51:37 AM PST by Godebert
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sparklite2

Yeah, he’s finished and he should be.

Looks like a Trump/Rubio ticket is coming into view.


309 posted on 11/06/2015 9:51:48 AM PST by Rutles4Ever (Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia, et ubi ecclesia vita eterna!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 303 | View Replies]

To: FreeReign
Lets see, first you suggested POLITICO is an ally of Trump and implied they did this to Carson to help Trump?

And now you tell me you don't lie or bull sh*t?

LOL! You're FOS FreeReign.

310 posted on 11/06/2015 9:52:18 AM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 299 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

Isn’t it great that Dr. Carson gets a real anal in the media vetting process, yet the messiah got a free ride from the lame stream media.


311 posted on 11/06/2015 9:52:22 AM PST by kenmcg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

I hope this brings to a close the whole Carson chapter. I know the gop white guilters will cry, curl themselves into a fetal position, and suck their thumbs. Hopefully, they don’t go out and drag Herman Cain into the race, or any other unqualified black.


312 posted on 11/06/2015 9:52:49 AM PST by euram
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nuconvert

‘I know what I am but so are you’ doesn’t help.
We aren’t looking for a Pee Wee Herman presidency.


313 posted on 11/06/2015 9:52:50 AM PST by sparklite2 (All will become clear when it is too late to matter.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 154 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

I KNEW they had something on Carson and were just waiting for the right moment to spring it on him.


314 posted on 11/06/2015 9:52:57 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009 (You can't spell Hillary without using the letters L, I, A, & R)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004
This is just a shame. Why can't someone put the screws like this to the DNC's Grandmother? Couple this with the transgender bathroom comment from yesterday and he's turned into brown bread = TOAST!



(No racist comments were thought of when typing this comment :-)
315 posted on 11/06/2015 9:53:54 AM PST by italyconservative (If we elect a milk-toasted GOPe, we will be left with out the milk!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Yashcheritsiy

The “concede the story was false” is not a quote from the campaign but editorializing by Politico. Let’s stick with the facts and not get sucked in to accepting editorialization as fact.

We have to ask:

1. Is it true Carson said in his book that he was offered a “scholarship” to West Point? That is, did he use the word “scholarship”’there? I don’t know I don’t have his book and I’m not taking Politico’s word for anything.

2. Is it true that West Point doesn’t offer “scholarships” but rather “appointments”? (This much seems true, which makes answering #1 all the more important)

3. Are appointments to WP only offered to those who start the application process first?

4. Is it true that Carson did NOT start the application process to West Point?

If the answer to all these questions are “yes” then he is lying and his campaign is over (or it should be. We aren’t Democrats). We need to get more independent verification than Politico though. That’s all I’m saying. It seems a distressing number of FReepers are willing to take Politico’s word for this. We can’t let them get away with another Herman Cain moment despite how we may feel about Carson. (I’m not a Carson supporter)


316 posted on 11/06/2015 9:54:10 AM PST by FourtySeven (47)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 291 | View Replies]

To: FreeReign

“This is POLITICO working hard to bury Carson.”

POLITICO is equal opportunity in slandering conservatives.


317 posted on 11/06/2015 9:54:14 AM PST by odawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 104 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

Carson has to learn how to, “cackle like Hillary.”

Somehow that cackling makes all of Hillary’s endless list of lies just disappear.


318 posted on 11/06/2015 9:55:13 AM PST by JohnG45
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tennessean4Bush

“Wow, what a hit piece. After reading the article, Carson never claimed to have applied to West Point, and his story in both books is consistent with a casual conversation with Westmoreland where the General might have encouraged him to apply and with his grades and success in ROTC he probably would have earned an appointment, which is a full-ride but not technically a scholarship, I suppose.”

I agree, but his campaign failed him again by putting out that statement. Just like the pyramid grainary story, it would have been easy to overcome it but they doubled down on it. I mean he could have swatted both of those away easily but the campaign did not.


319 posted on 11/06/2015 9:56:01 AM PST by Parley Baer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: GIdget2004

His life story was already inspirational, why embellish it?
I don’t understand.


320 posted on 11/06/2015 9:56:08 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 541-560 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson