GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson says questions about his West Point story are unfair
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — A defiant Ben Carson on Friday rejected the idea his past descriptions of receiving a scholarship offer to attend West Point were inaccurate, and called questions about the veracity of the story irrelevant to his campaign for president.
“I think what it shows, and these kinds of things show, is there is a desperation on behalf of some to try to find a way to tarnish me,” Carson told reporters at a news conference near West Palm Beach. “Because they have been looking through everything. They have been talking to everyone I have ever known and everybody I have ever seen. There has got to be a scandal.”
Carson, a newcomer to national politics, has developed a passionate following based in part on his inspirational personal story and devotion to Christian values. The only African-American in the Republican 2016 class, Carson grew up in inner-city Detroit and often speaks about his brushes with violence and poverty during his early years.
Following a story published by Politico earlier on Friday, his campaign sought to clarify Carson’s story about his interest in attending the U.S. Military Academy in his breakout book, “Gifted Hands,” in which he outlines his participation with the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, commonly known as ROTC, while in high school.
“I was offered a full scholarship to West Point,” Carson wrote in the 1996 book. “I didn’t refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn’t where I saw myself going. As overjoyed as I felt to be offered such a scholarship, I wasn’t really tempted.”
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Do the American people rely want a crybaby for a president? When hasn’t a presidential candidate’s image been up for grabs? If someone has ever run for President without an attack campaign from the opposition and the media I’ve no memory of it. Doesn’t Ben Carson realize that if not for a wide metal belt buckle on his victim, he would be a convicted murderer or at the very least convicted of attempted murder and be ineligible to run for President of the United States?
In the above comment, I wrote “really” not rely. I have an iPhone that loves to change my words!