Photo credit: Dave Davidson – Prezography.com
I believe Dr. Ben Carson has just effectively ended his presidential campaign. He’s already seen a sharp drop in the polls because of recent miscues. In the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, CO, Carson essentially parroted the talking points of the left when doing the Sunday morning talk show rounds.
First Carson was on CBS’ Face the Nation:
JOHN DICKERSON: I would like to ask you about a domestic political event or what some people see has a political element to it, and that’s the shooting at a Planned Parenthood location in Colorado Springs. Some abortion rights supporters have said that the rhetoric has led to that kind of violence. What’s your view on that?
BEN CARSON: There is no question that hateful rhetoric, no matter which side it comes from, right or left, is something that is detrimental to our society. This has been a big problem. Our strength in this country has traditionally been in our unity. And we are allowing all kinds of circumstances to divide us and make us hateful toward each other. And the rhetoric is extremely immature, divisive, and is not helpful. When you have outside forces, global Islamic radical jihadists who want to destroy us, why would we be doing that to ourselves? We at some point have got to become more mature. No question the hateful rhetoric exacerbates the situation, and we should be doing all we can to engage an intelligence, civil discussion about our differences. That’s how we solve problems. We don’t ever solve them with hateful rhetoric.
DICKERSON: Should abortion rights — excuse me — should those who oppose abortion rights tone down their rhetoric?
CARSON: I think both sides should tone down their rhetoric and engage in civil discussion.
DICKERSON: All right.
Certainly his campaign will try to spin this, but how could any reasonable person not see this as a condemnation of pro-life rhetoric prior to the shooting?
Exactly what hateful rhetoric did the pro-life community engage in? Calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood? Calling abortion for what it is – state-sanctioned murder?
Carson should provide some examples of mainstream pro-life organizations engaging in “hateful rhetoric.” I won’t say the pro-life community isn’t without its fringe element – every group has those folks, but to paint the entire community with a broad brush is outrageous.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t finished.
He also had an appearance on ABC’s This Week:
MARTHA RADDATZ: But first, your reaction to what happened in Colorado Springs.
BEN CARSON: Well, obviously, you know, any hate crime is a horrible thing, no matter from where it comes, and should be condemned very strongly.
RADDATZ: Dr. Carson, the Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains’ Vicki Cowart said that extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country. Do you agree with that?
CARSON: Unfortunately, there’s a lot of extremism coming from all areas. It’s one of the biggest problems that I think is threatening to tear our country apart. We get into our separate corners and we hate each other; we want to destroy those with whom we disagree. It comes from both sides. So, you know, there is — there is no saint here in this — in this equation. But what we really have to start asking ourselves is, what can we do as a nation to rectify this situation? How can we begin to engage in rational discussion? You know, all you have to do is go to the — an article on the Internet and go to the comments section; you don’t get five comments down before people start calling each other names and acting like idiots, you know. What happened to us? What happened to the civility that used to characterize our society?
Where is the extremism in the pro-life community? Is calling for an end to abortion extreme? Is calling for defunding Planned Parenthood of taxpayer money extreme? Please I’d love to see what Carson is identifying as extreme in the pro-life community. Was the release of the videos by Center for Medical Progress extreme?
No Dr. Carson, desiring abortion on demand and expecting taxpayers to pay for it is extreme. Killing children in the womb violating the very 5th and 14th Amendment rights given to any human being born in this country is extreme. Selling dead baby parts is extreme.
I agree that we should have civil discourse in our society, but to put it extremely mildly these comments were ill-advised.
Dr. Ben Carson has a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease and it may very well be fatal to his campaign.
HT: Breitbart News & The Pulse 2016