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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

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To: Tennessean4Bush
I agree, I'm just saying that when you run for Pres, you have to go through and double check everything. You're right, a ghost writer probably helped do this and because in CARSON'S mind it "was" a scholarship, he never thought to change it. I agree it was a minor thing (relatively minor), and it is amazing how your memory plays tricks on you. I won't go into details, but I personally have had an event in the past where I was SURE it happened "this way" and met the other parties and they could pretty much prove it happened another way.

What I keep saying is that this attack is NOT a surprise to me, nor its viciousness, nor its universal acceptance by the drive bys because this was the plan all along to somehow knock Trump out of the lead with another candidate (one of the outsiders), then quickly take out that outsider. I knew the minute Carson got a lead in several polls he would be hit. I had no idea it would come this fast---I thought the drive bys and the other GOPe consultants would wait a few weeks to make sure Trump was "good and dead." I think they blew it. Trump is not only quite alive, but this will gain Carson a number of supporters who, perhaps prior to this were waivering with some of his comments about the pyramids and illegals.

I do think this will knock him down a few points, but will not be the knockout the GOPe hoped.

My constant caution to Cruz supporters is that to some extent I think his numbers have been just as manipulated and inflated as Carson's, and if he gets anywhere near the lead, you won't believe the crap storm that will descend on him.

481 posted on 11/06/2015 3:55:01 PM PST by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: GIdget2004

Firstly, forgive me if previous posters have already stated this.

Politico reporters are partisan hacks that should never be taken for anything but lying shills.

This, in my view, boils down to a question of semantics.

There are two distinct steps when seeking to attend a service academy: nomination and appointment.

Nomination: a nomination to the academy must be procured as part of the application process— with the exception of the children of Medal of Honor winners, who are automatically nominated. Members of Congress can give out nominations. JROTC units that score certain scores in national reviews can hand out nominations to qualified cadets. The Vice President can also give out nominations.

Appointment: a future cadet is considered having obtained an appointment when he or she has completed the application process which includes physical aptitude tests, a full physical, home interviews, and all qualifications (test scores, grades, etc) are met.

ALL service academy applicants are technically “on full scholarship” because their tuition, room, board, books, etc are all paid for by US taxpayers.

It sounds like Ben Carson was told that he would qualify for a JROTC nomination to West Point. He did not receive an appointment (acceptance). In fact it appears he did not even seek a nomination.

I know all of this because I received a JROTC nomination to the US Naval Academy. I had my home initial visit/interview and completed my physical fitness test. However, I chose to resign my nomination before matters progressed any further. (Biggest mistake of my life? Maybe.)

Honestly, I feel that this story is ridiculous nitpicking over semantics. Dr. Carson was obviously an excellent JROTC cadet who was eligible to receive a nomination. He chose not to. My only concern with this story is if Dr. Carson was somehow trying to say that this experience gives him some insight into military life and affairs. However, I understand that the point being made in his book was that JROTC saved him from a life of violence and poverty— AS IT DOES FOR THOUSANDS. In that case, Dr. Carson is without fault, in my opinion, on this matter.


482 posted on 11/06/2015 3:55:34 PM PST by brothers4thID ("We've had way too many Republicans whose #1 virtue is "I get along great with Democrats".")
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Hook. Line. Sinker. Congrats.


483 posted on 11/06/2015 4:07:00 PM PST by Jacquerie ( To shun Article V is to embrace tyranny.)
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To: gdani
I cannot believe they let this idiot work on peoples brains.

I wonder if he really did. They ought to check..
484 posted on 11/06/2015 4:07:15 PM PST by over3Owithabrain
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To: GIdget2004

Politico telling a lie about their initial lie.

Who’d a thunk it?

This is typical witch hunting and dung digging by the MSM to find any shred of anything they can spin into a scandal.

He was an extremely gifted kid, who was the top ROTC candidate in Detroit that year.

From his perspective an offer to get him an appointment would have sounded like a scholarship to any kid from the projects.

In essence, an appointment is a full ride scholarship...but it is different because it requires a senatorial/congressional backing. But he never went that far...at all.

He was going on what people were telling him as a teenager...but he mad it clear then, and it is clear now that he had no interest. His own record of what he did speaks for itself.

They will do anything to bring him down...just like they did Herman Cain.


485 posted on 11/06/2015 4:18:54 PM PST by Jeff Head (Semper Fidelis - Molon Labe - Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: Amntn; 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.
Absolutely. No hypocrisy. We slam Hilary for lying, we need to do no less to the liars on our side.

Better we find this out now before it goes any further. Drop out now, Ben, and let somebody else pick up the slack.
486 posted on 11/06/2015 4:26:43 PM PST by highball ("I never should have switched from scotch to martinis." -- the last words of Humphrey Bogart)
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To: Tennessean4Bush; All

As the mother of a West Point graduate, I understand completely what Carson was saying, as I was up front and there during my son’s application and appointment to the USMA.

Carson’s memory as a high school graduate rings true. West Point decides who will be eligible to apply for admission. That is the first step in a long process. WP sends the list of the applicants they down to the local level, where applicants are interviewed by local Army officers, and sent on to their local congressperson, who has a committee to review the already screened applicants.

Based on Carson’s writing, it is entirely consistent that he was told, based on his scores and performance in ROTC, that he could “win a scholarship/appointment if he decided to apply and go through the process. He decided not to do so, eventually.

Everyone who is accepted, then offered an appointment, wins a “scholarship”, in effect, as there is no charge for attending West Point, and in fact cadets are paid a stipend, out of which they must purchase their uniforms and other essentials.

I hope this helps to clarify the issue.


487 posted on 11/06/2015 4:29:12 PM PST by jacquej ("You cannot have a conservative government with a liberal culture." (Mark Steyn))
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

What difference does it make?


488 posted on 11/06/2015 4:30:33 PM PST by Libber Tee
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To: Jacquerie

Another enlightening statement. I think happy hour is over. :-)


489 posted on 11/06/2015 4:36:54 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: GIdget2004
As I said before, Dr. Jeckel versus Mr.Hyde! Done! See ya Dr. Ben Strange Carson.
490 posted on 11/06/2015 4:47:14 PM PST by djstex
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To: djstex

As I said before, Dr. Jeckel versus Mr.Hyde! Done! See ya Dr. Ben Strange Carson.

Sorry....scratch my comments on Carson!! Sorry if its Bogus!!


491 posted on 11/06/2015 5:08:28 PM PST by djstex
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To: jwalsh07
Trump supporters would turn their mothers in for smoking in their cars if it accrued to Trumps benefit.

I noticed that too.

492 posted on 11/06/2015 5:09:24 PM PST by celmak (GO TED CRUZ !!!)
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To: highball

He did not lie.

He says he was offered and he turned it down. That he ended up at Yale says that he had the academic background to have been encouraged to attend West Point.


493 posted on 11/06/2015 5:17:47 PM PST by xzins (HAVE YOU DONATED TO THE FREEPATHON? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: gdani

“I can’t believe they let this idiot work on peoples’ brains.”

Better him than you.


494 posted on 11/06/2015 5:28:08 PM PST by fanfan ("If Muslim kids were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war.")
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To: Timber Rattler; Attention Surplus Disorder; 9YearLurker; gdani; Zuben Elgenubi; Tijeras_Slim; ...
DO NOT CALL YOURSELVES CONSERVATIVES - CONSERVATIVES ARE A H*LL OF A LOT MORE INTELLIGENT THAN TO BELIEVE THIS POLITICO DEMORAT HACK PIECE !!!
495 posted on 11/06/2015 5:28:13 PM PST by celmak (GO TED CRUZ !!!)
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To: celmak

DO NOT CALL YOURSELVES CONSERVATIVES - CONSERVATIVES ARE A H*LL OF A LOT MORE INTELLIGENT THAN TO BELIEVE THIS POLITICO DEMORAT HACK PIECE !!!

Bump to the top!
BTTT!


496 posted on 11/06/2015 5:29:55 PM PST by fanfan ("If Muslim kids were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war.")
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To: GIdget2004

As this hatchet job has unfolded, today, I have been utterly amazed at the number of self-declared “conservatives” who just lapped it up; swallowing the entire thing hook, line, and sinker, and threw Ben under the bus without so much as a second guess.

THINK about this:
TOO MANY just wholly bought into the LIE spewed by their political opponents, and — on the basis of that LIE — turned RIGHT around and skewered a guy who’s a friend to the overarching conservative cause.

I’m just blown away at the overt display of SHALLOW thinking, and the exhibited readiness to react in total IGNORANCE of the facts. There were those who posted the facts on this thread; they were in the shockingly small minority. Most everyone else smelled blood in the water and went in for the feeding frenzy, duplicating in hypocritical exactitude the very behavior they regularly and roundly pillory the left for.

So much for conservatives being a better, more well-reasoned group.


497 posted on 11/06/2015 5:33:34 PM PST by HKMk23 (You ask how to fight an idea? Well, I'll tell you how: with another idea!)
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To: fanfan

Excellent answer.


498 posted on 11/06/2015 5:36:33 PM PST by mountainfolk ((The past is prologue))
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To: HKMk23
Ditto what you wrote - real conservatives are smarter than to believe this Politico DemoRAT hack piece!
499 posted on 11/06/2015 5:36:34 PM PST by celmak (GO TED CRUZ !!!)
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To: HKMk23
So much for conservatives being a better, more well-reasoned group.

These are not true conservatives, they would not be jumping to conclusions so quickly with such an obviously DemoRAT hack piece.

500 posted on 11/06/2015 5:39:12 PM PST by celmak (GO TED CRUZ !!!)
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