November 9, 2015--Cadet Carson

At the risk of piling on, I can't resist a word about Ben Carson's West Point fable.

It was revealed last week in Politico that GOP front-runner, Dr, Ben Carson, lied about his military experiences. Like all his leading Republican rivals but Lindsay Graham, he managed to avoid service. But in his 1990 autobiography, Gifted Hands, a new edition of which he and his wife have been hustling while campaigning, he claimed that he applied to and was admitted to the U.S. Military Academy.

He wrote, "I was offered a full scholarship to West Point."

Then, in his more recent book, You Have a Brain, he repeated the falsehood and on his Facebook page this past August, he posted that he was "thrilled to get an offer from West Point."

It turns out that this is totally false as appear to be his assertions about his "violent past." (See Tuesday's post about this.)

He never applied to West Point, was never admitted, and the whole thing is, to put it mildly, made up.

At least Hillary Clinton, when First Lady, in 1996 was in Bosnia when she lied about having to zig-zag on the tarmac to avoid machine gun bullets. Unlike Carson, she didn't fake the entire incident.

Confronted with the fact, Carson's campaign (not the candidate himself), refreshingly, fessed up. They didn't do any zigging and zagging.

But they left hanging the good doctor's assertion that after he turned down the commission to West Point it remained available to him. In other words, he was accepted, he turned them down, but still they held a place for him. To quote him, there was a "standing offer"of admission.

I have an idea that should appeal to the redemption-minded Carson--

Take up West Point on its offer since they may still be holding a place for him. The army could use a good surgeon. And he will need something to do after not winning the nomination much less the presidency.