Ben plays it coy

Yesterday, I stumbled across something Ben Carson said that brought me to a screeching halt.

In an interview with The Hill in which Carson defended his decision to endorse the guy who compared him to pathological pedophiles, Carson said:

“I needed to know that he could listen to other people, that he could change his opinions, and that some of the more outlandish things that he’s said, that he didn’t really believe those things,” Carson said.
 
When asked which statements Trump might back away from, Carson demurred.
 
“I’ll let him talk about that because I don’t think it’s fair for me to relay a private conversation,” he said.

Oh, really? So, Donald Trump really doesn’t believe some of the things he said, but you aren’t going to tell us which of the things he said that he doesn’t believe?!

That’s like saying, “Here’s a plate of cookies a friend of mine baked. Help yourself. He put poison in one of them and pointed it out to me, but because he pointed it out to me in private, I’m not going to tell you which one it is.”

Why is it people who know the things Donald Trump is bullshitting on don’t want to gives us a heads up?

Shouldn’t that be part of the vetting process?

Don’t voters have a right to know the truth before they head to the polls?

For all his talk about We the People, Ben sure doesn’t mind keeping We the People in the dark.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m making more of this that I should, but it just seems bizarre that Carson felt that he needed his concerns allayed, but doesn’t think we the voters should have the same opportunity.

Carson also waxed on about how Ted Cruz is just do damn polarizing (as if Trump isn’t?!) to win over Democrats and Independents in the General Election. I guess Ben hasn’t seen the polling that shows Cruz’s numbers among Democrats and Independents are far better than those of Donald Trump.

I touched on that back in late January in my column Do these numbers matter?:

The truth is, among Independents, only three Republicans have a positive net favorability: Ben Carson (+5), Marco Rubio (+4) and Carly Fiorina (+1). The two frontrunners both have a negative net favorability among Independents: Ted Cruz (-3) and Donald Trump (-27).
 
Naturally, among Democrats every single Republican is in the red. And only John Kasich has single-digit negative net favorability (-4). Frontrunners Cruz and Trump hold double-digit negative favorability among Democrats (-37 and -70 respectively).
 
In truth, among Republicans only Jeb Bush (+13), Chris Christie (+23) and John Kasich (with a sorry +7) have lower net favorability than Donald Trump (+27). Cruz is far and away the leader with +51 among Republicans followed closely by Carson (+47) and Rubio (+46).

There was one other thing Carson said in this interview that stunned me. Explaining how Cruz couldn’t win because he is a conservative, Carson said, “You’ve got to be able to expand. The country has changed and we have to change with it.”

I see. So, in other words, forget your principles. Don’t make the case for limited government and Individual Liberty. We just need to change with the times.

You know. Like Democrats.

You may not have managed to stab your friend, Ben. But as far as I’m concerned, you just managed to shoot yourself in the head with that comment.

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