The Ben Carson Show (Reality Curve)

This is why it matters:

During the aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, for example, Carson―then, a junior at Detroit’s Southwestern High―claims to have heroically protected a few white students from anger-fueled attacks by hiding them in the biology lab, where he worked part time. But The Wall Street Journal could not confirm the account through interviews with a half-dozen of Carson’s classmates and his high school physics teacher. All of the students remembered the riot, but none could recall white students hiding in the biology lab.

It’s one of several biographical claims upon which Carson has relied in an effort to appeal to evangelical voters, who value the retired neurosurgeon’s personal journey from troubled youth to pious doctor. As Carson has shot to the front of the Republican presidential pack, however, parts of that narrative have been called into question.

(Margolin; boldface accent added)

It just seems that in this time of religious identification and public displays of piety in order to be seen by others, the degree to which false witness has helped Dr. Carson’s fame becomes significant. Launching his campaign, Ben Carson would have had us believe that he is “not a politician”. Watching his campaign try to fashion a response to the cracking and crumbling of the superficial Ben Carson myth, one might be tempted to suspect otherwise.

The Ben Carson Show (Liar)

Something about epistemic closure goes here. That is to say, here is another part of the Ben Carson Show―and, to a certain extent, a larger Republican motif and malady―that seems hard to comprehend in the context of how conservatives expect this part to work:

Amid a giant uproar over his comments on “Meet the Press” that he would be uncomfortable with a Muslim being elected president, Ben Carson is trying to recast what he said by using that most-convenient of scapegoats: the media.

Carson insisted Tuesday that he was talking about radical forms of Islam, not the religion more broadly. “It’s on the record on NBC. On ‘Meet the Press.’ Did anyone pick up on that? Of course not, because that wasn’t the juicy story,” he said at an event in Ohio.

And, you know, with a setup like that, there is only one place for Chris Cillizza to go:

So, Carson said what he said. (And, it appears to have won him plaudits from many on the right.) His blaming of the media is smart―he’ll get a double bounce from people who agree with him on a Muslim being president and from those who hate the media.

But, it’s just not accurate.

It’s a double death-pang, so to speak; a fierce voice for Christian advocacy wallows in sin. Dr. Carson would lie to us, and in order to turn his back on his own word.

Or, maybe, you know, he’s a politician.

____________________

Image note: Source photo ― Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson officially launches his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in Detroit, Mich., on May 4, 2015. (Photo: Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

Cillizza, Chris. “Sorry, Ben Carson, you weren’t misquoted about a Muslim president. That’s ridiculous.” The Washington Post. 22 September 2015.