Ben Carson Officially Announces Run For President In 2016

[IDemo]

Source: Huffington Post

Celebrated neurosurgeon Ben Carson has officially announced his intention to run for president.

“I’m willing to be part of the equation and therefore, I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States of America," Carson told Ohio's WKRC.

USA Today reports Carson also told WPEC in Florida that he will be a part of the 2016 race. Carson is expected to speak on his presidential run at an event in Detroit on Monday.

A darling of the conservative movement, Carson enters a crowded Republican field jostling for position ahead of what is expected to be a very competitive primary. He maintains a large following with grass-roots conservatives, which is likely to put him on a collision course with other potential rivals who are popular on the right, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/03/ben-carson-president-2016_n_6481534.html

[LibDemAlways]

1. Add another seat to the clown car. Getting crowded in there!

[IDemo]

8. Car?

[chillfactor]

34. good one!

perfect picture of the clown car!

[Stuart G]

47. Love that picture...ain't no car,,,i is a bus..a big bus...

[RKP5637]

52. Now, a good wind will blow it over, these guys are so full of bullshit and wind, they'll

do it themselves.

[tclambert]

67. The first time they attempt a turn, over it goes.

So they're stuck on the course to Koch cuckoo land until voters laugh them off the road.

[99th_Monkey]

2. Welcome to the GOP Clown Car Ben. -nt-

[BlueJazz]

3. I thought he died. Wasn't he the one that had a late-night talk show?

[n2doc]

4. It's all a scam

The fringe GOP candidates all know they have no chance. He's just hoping to get bankrolled by some billionaires and then run off with the unspent campaign dollars once he gets crushed in the first primary. And probably to sell his book.

[shenmue]

5. Yep

[LoisB]

23. Exactly!

[nomorenomore08]

27. +3

I suspect you're right about that. But maybe the guy really is that delusional, who knows?

[notadmblnd]

30. that's what I was thinking

there has to be a money making scheme going on here. Scammers one and all.

[rurallib]

38. don'y forget that plum job as a Fox News analyst!

[BumRushDaShow]

41. +bazillion

[former9thward]

45. It doesn't work that way.

You can't take unspent dollars and "run off" with them. You can't convert them to personal use. Billionaires can't give more than the individual limit (about $2700). He may be using the campaign to sell books or some other purpose.

[n2doc]

54. Sorry. I guess I should have said "PAC" money

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/campaign-finance-senators-house-members-campaign-funds-retire/story?id=10203316

Turns out that despite strict Federal Election Commission rules, Bayh and other exiting elected officials do have ways to keep unspent political contributions.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, there are 25 senators and representatives this year who have announced their retirement and who are collectively sitting on $31 million in authorized campaign committee cash.

While the F.E.C. clearly says campaign committee cash can't be tapped for personal use, there are no such stipulations for certain political action committees, most controversially "leadership PACs" that elected officials can use to support various political causes other than their own.

Lucrative Loophole

Of the 25 members of Congress who have said they are stepping down, 18 have leadership PACs with a combined $850,000, according to CRP analysis.

"There's a wide gap, if not a gulf, between what lawmakers can do with regular campaign money versus leadership PAC money," said Dave Levinthal, communications director for the Washington, D.C.-based CRP. "The question comes up: What can politicians do with the leftover PAC money, and the answer is pretty much whatever they want."


See also

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2012/1111/The-election-is-over.-What-happens-to-all-that-campaign-cash

Lots of loopholes there

[Gothmog]

63. Every billionaire needs a candidate to support

[chillfactor]

6. wow! the clown car is really getting crowded....

when are any of these clowns going to have time to answer questions during a debate...will each candidate get one question? funny

[radiclib]

7. YES!

…...

[Historic NY]

9. They need clown bus...

[840high]

10. I guess I'm the only one

who admires Dr. Carson.

[BlueStater]

13. Uh, I'm betting you're right.

WTF?

[IDemo]

14. Really?

-- In the ensuing months and years, Carson’s attacks grew sharper — deriding Obama’s signature health-care law as the “worst thing to have happened in this nation since slavery” and, in the pages of GQ, likening Obama to a “psychopath.” Carson’s 2014 book, “One Nation,” assails a decline of moral values in America and its government.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-ben-carson-bashes-obama-many-blacks-see-a-heros-legacy-fade/2015/05/02/b9ce53c8-e850-11e4-9767-6276fc9b0ada_story.html

[840high]

16. He'll never win - I don't pay attention

to his politics. There are other things to admire him for.

[DeadLetterOffice]

17. Such as...?

Genuine question. What do you admire about him?

[840high]

20. He was first surgeon to separate

co-joined twins at the head.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. That figures. Dividing people is what the GOP is all about.

[CountAllVotes]

87. bwahahahaaaa!!!

Thanks for the laugh! I needed that!!!

[Tom Ripley]

92. I really did laugh out loud

Nicely done!

[notadmblnd]

32. must not have been enough money in it for him

[rury]

36. I guess Dr. Carson qualifies as an idiot savant

Great at neurosurgery but pathetic at everything regarding public affairs and common sense about society.
The jackass said Obamacare is worse than slavery

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/10/11/ben-carson-obamacare-worst-thing-since-slavery/

and partially blamed the unrest in Ferguson, MO following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown on "feminism."

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/01/ben_carson_suggests_feminists_are_partly_responsible_for_ferguson/

Now if he believes either of these things he is seriously intellectually challenged and if he does not believe them but is saying them to pander to his right-wing racist base then he is seriously ethically challenged for making such irresponsible, outrageous claims that he KNOWS are false in order to win votes.

Either way, he's the token black candidate like Herman Cain was in 2012. No shot at winning but he's good at making the bigots in the Republikkkan Party feel like they "are not racists."
at Ben Carson!!

[IronLionZion]

84. Most Republicans separate people at the head

I'm glad the fringe candidates are running. It helps turn normal people away from their party and the extremists away from their eventual nominee, which will probably be Jeb.

[RufusTFirefly]

22. In fairness, before Carson morphed into a whack job, his biography was pretty inspiring

A poor kid with a strong-willed but illiterate mother, he grew up to become one of the country's most celebrated neurosurgeons. He obviously should've stuck to surgery.

[nomorenomore08]

28. "He obviously should've stuck to surgery." If he had, I'd probably admire him too. n/t

[rury]

42. In fairness, Carson is a HYPOCRITE who now decries

the food stamps and public assistance that HIS family had to rely on. Like most rightwingers he gives himself and his family a pass for the help they received, but berates and poverty-shames others who have to do the same.

http://wonkette.com/550031/ben-carson-so-glad-his-welfare-mom-wasnt-dependent-on-government
Ummm...yes his mom WAS!!

I cannot stand Dr. Ben Carson!!

[Cha]

81. The worst kind of hypocrite.. devoid of human compassion but can lie his damn head off at the drop

of hat.

It negates the legacy he had up until he decided to go all sociopath on his ass.

[Tom Ripley]

94. ^^^THIS^^^

[shaayecanaan]

21. Incredible work

To stop people from having mal seizures, he cuts half of their brain out. Half of their motherfucking brain! And the person wakes up as if nothing happened. Apparently there are a few language issues, but the other half of the brain picks up the stuff that the other half used to do.

That is some knock-on-your-arse amazing shit. Seriously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemispherectomy

He is overcompensating a bit, and is also displaying some very typically nouveau riche behaviour (I made it, so all the people I left behind must not be trying hard enough). Still, if he ever obtained the nomination, he would probably win the election.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. "he cuts half of their brain out."

He's creating Republican voters.

[rury]

46. +1 K&R

That would do it. Although many Republican voters seem to be missing their ENTIRE brain.

[RVN VET]

71. Doc Carson was brilliant at his trade

Pol Carson is irrational, illogical, and delusional. His medical brilliance will not cover up his political dimness. I admired tremendously his achievements, admired even more the mother who guided and helped him succeed and who, despite her own illiteracy as an adult, was able at an advanced age to learn and, through immensely hard work, earn her High School diploma.

Bravo to them both!

But it was with much chagrin that I discovered Dr. Carson's entry into politics to be filled with tired and ludicrous right wing fantasy and, sadly, a disdainful abhorrence of serious inquiry into issues that tear at the heart and soul of the Country.

As a doctor, he was an angel. As a politician, a buffoon. I do not believe that he would offer a challenge to any -- any -- Democratic nominee.

[shaayecanaan]

78. Like I said, typical nouveau riche behaviour

He's pulling down seven figures a year being a neurosurgeon, mostly everyone else from his childhood is probably still dirt poor. He can rescue his mum, maybe his immediate family, but then what do you do? You can still go to your childhood best friend's birthday party if you like, but only certain people have the panache to pull something like that off. If not its pretty bloody awkward pulling up in your Maybach.

Most people in that situation try and put as much mileage between themselves and the poverty of their childhood as they can, and unfortunately that's what he's doing. Bit tragic really.

[erpowers]

73. I Doubt That

You wrote that if he were to win the nomination he would likely win the election. I doubt he would win the election. Most Americans are opposed to his views. He pretty much so wants to get rid of the entire safety net system. If he just wanted to get rid of TANF and SNAP maybe he would have a chance. However, he also wants to get rid of Medicare and Medicaid. He may also want to get rid of Social Security. In 2012 two guys like him ran for election and they got stumped. I do not see how his being a neurosurgeon would make a difference for him.

[shaayecanaan]

75. Thats easy, he'll just swing back to the centre like Hillary will

if she wins the nomination. Goodbye to the Apple-esque ads of gay couples and minorities and hello to soft focus shots of hardworking white Americans in truckers' hats.

[erpowers]

76. I doubt That Too

I doubt that Dr. Ben Carson would change his views, or begin to express different views. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan run in the general election with the same ideas. First, I just to not think he would move to the center to win. Second, if Romney/Ryan did not move to the center on those issues what makes you think Carson would move to the center?

[notadmblnd]

31. you're being funny. Right?

[840high]

48. Nope. Medical

skills are not funny.

[notadmblnd]

49. As I said down thread, there must not have been enough money in it for him

Sad huh? That he does what ever it is he does for money and not to help humanity. Not a lot to admire there if you were to ask me.

[840high]

65. He's 63 - I don't blame him

for retiring. While he worked he was an amazing neurosurgeon. I will not take that away from him because he's not a Dem.

[notadmblnd]

66. I didn't take anything away from him

I said it is sad that money is his motivation.

[840high]

68. How do you know what

his motivation is? Honest question. I know more about his medical career than his political career.

[gwheezie]

79. neurosurgery is grueling work

I don't doubt that he may have assessed his ability to perform at the level he had reached and decided it was time to retire. I think its more than money for him. He came from humble beginnings and became a hero and savior. I think he can't live without that.

[840high]

88. You might be right.

[Tom Ripley]

93. Why? Because he's a credit to his rage?

[BlueStater]

11. Well, the GOP has their token black guy for this presidential election cycle.

I expect his chances of winning the nomination will be about as good as Alan Keyes and Herman Cain's were.

[svpadgham]

50. According to Republican logic...

He should get about 97% of the black vote, because the oooonly reason black people voted for Obama was the color of his skin. I wonder how much of the black republican vote Herman Cain received in the primaries?

[IronLionZion]

85. They actually thought Palin would get the women's vote

They're never going to learn

[DonViejo]

56. And two,...count 'em; two Latinos!...

Carnival Cruz and Rubio. Oh, and a white guy who speaks fluent Spanish. The GOP big tent; tokens.

[NorthCarolina]

69. The GOP base won't know whether to vote for him

or shoot him. What a conundrum.

[Tom Ripley]

95. ^^^THIS^^^ AKA "He's a good one"

[Thespian2]

12. Carson

can't help being completely unhinged...that's why the radical right loves some Ben.

[mountain grammy]

15. It's all about the book.

[maindawg]

18. He is the black

Mr Magoo

[Ruby the Liberal]

19. He must have a book coming out.

I can't wait for debate season.

[LiberalElite]

24. oh it gets better and better -

SRO on the clown bus.

[Paper Roses]

26. Geeze, another one? Imagine how much $$$ will go into all those coffers.

Will they all debate together? What a dog and pony show that will be.

[nomorenomore08]

29. K&R just for the freak show spectacle of it all.

The GOP primary fight this time around should be amusing to say the least.

[jalan48]

33. Is he different than the pizza guy?

[IDemo]

59. Yes, that was Herman Cain n/t

[jalan48]

70. Thanks-I thought the role might be type cast.

[Suji to Seoul]

35. So, let's see. . .that's Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Christie, Walker, Santorum, Huckabee, Trump, Bush,

and now Carson. Am I forgetting any of them?

What a gaggle of worm infested shit that side is offering? And each one is considered electable by the media. But Bernie Sanders is not.

Amazing.

[IDemo]

37. Carly Failurina

[Suji to Seoul]

43. How could I forget that uber lightweight yutz? What a pile of shit the GOP is offering

And they will still get at least 40% of the vote.

[TexasTowelie]

51. Jindal and Perry are still on the sidelines,

but expect at least one of them to join in.

[Suji to Seoul]

57. Rick Roll and Howdy Doody too? Twenty candidate, four collective brain cells between them.

And I am being generous on giving all of them four brain cells.

[Jim Lane]

82. John Kasich and Rick Snyder are reported to have some interest.

Either of them, as the Governor of a large Midwestern state (Ohio and Michigan, respectively), would have a better chance in November than some of the wackier right-wingers.

Fortunately, neither has much chance of getting the nomination. Aside from their low name recognition, each has committed heresy in the eyes of the conservative base. Kasich supported Medicaid expansion. Snyder supported anti-discrimination protection for gays and lesbians (I don't know if it would include transpersons).

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

39. Right this way Ben

[Katashi_itto]

44. He has the KKK vote sew up.

[RKP5637]

53. Now, it's time for Donald Trump to get his hair in a knot and announce. n/t

[cindyperry]

61. he has to

take it out of it's box and have it fumigated

[RKP5637]

62. Yep, and getting crusty, all tangled and all. He's gotta get it ready for the flyaway look. n/t

[douggg]

55. Tea Party/GOP will not run a black candidate.

Keyes, Cain and West are living proof of that.

[Gothmog]

64. I agree

[MosheFeingold]

86. They ran West

Also a guy on the Texas border, who was something big at Texas AM.

I participated in a large study of TEA party rallies for a liberal organization.

They took lots of photographs of crowds and did random surveys of the participants. Black males (generally ex-military), Protestant Hispanics, and Jewish people were over-represented at the TEA Party rallies. Asians and non-church going, but self-identified Catholic, Hispanics were under-represented.

No one could ever figure out why, or at least they didn't share that info with me.

They do do a good job at crushing the overt racist types (e.g., David Duke, etc) so the bad press is averted.

[douggg]

89. "They ran West"

What year did they run West for President?

That's the office involved.

[MosheFeingold]

91. Sorry, I misunderstood

But don't challenge them. They are dumb enough to run West even though he couldn't muster a second term in Congress.

[Skittles]

58. Amazing he is able to squeeze into the clown car

[cindyperry]

60. wow

another dumb ass

[Bartlet]

72. And the clown car posse

gets another pandering tool.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

77. It's not a clown car any more; it's a clown 747.

[silvershadow]

80. And I would like to officially announce his failure to survive the primary.

I would like to, but I am not in any way affiliated with his campaign.

[RBInMaine]

83. Put another helping of CRAZY on the GOP clown plate.

[olddad56]

90. I think I will throw my hat in the ring also.