Although I'm agnostic on the issue, I think it's a real possibility that the Carson campaign started as a direct mail scam, and then he unexpectedly ended up being a front runner. I don't know if that is what really happened, but it makes a good story.
But regardless whether Carson decided to run for president as a money-making scheme or if he actually wanted to hold the office from the beginning, he should have expected to get some media scrutiny of his past. Carson's past was a major part of what made him famous to begin with. To the extent he has an argument that he should be president, it is his story of how he emerged from humble beginnings. That's why Carson has talked so much about how he stabbed someone, robberies happening around him, turning down a scholarship to West Point, or being honored as the "most honest student in the class" when he was at Yale. He tells these stories because they all speak to how he emerged from humble beginnings and became a well-respected surgeon, all because of his exemplary character. If that's his pitch for the presidency, Carson should not be surprised at all if reporters start checking to see if anything he says isn't complete bullshit. I bet a lot of people's personal history would not hold up if the media bothered to investigate those stories. But most people are not running for president. You would have to be a complete moron to think that running for president would not come with media scrutiny.
The fact that virtually nothing in his personal story is holding up, might not hurt him with the ideologues who vote in the GOP primary. But it will eventually make him a joke to everyone else.
But regardless whether Carson decided to run for president as a money-making scheme or if he actually wanted to hold the office from the beginning, he should have expected to get some media scrutiny of his past. Carson's past was a major part of what made him famous to begin with. To the extent he has an argument that he should be president, it is his story of how he emerged from humble beginnings. That's why Carson has talked so much about how he stabbed someone, robberies happening around him, turning down a scholarship to West Point, or being honored as the "most honest student in the class" when he was at Yale. He tells these stories because they all speak to how he emerged from humble beginnings and became a well-respected surgeon, all because of his exemplary character. If that's his pitch for the presidency, Carson should not be surprised at all if reporters start checking to see if anything he says isn't complete bullshit. I bet a lot of people's personal history would not hold up if the media bothered to investigate those stories. But most people are not running for president. You would have to be a complete moron to think that running for president would not come with media scrutiny.
The fact that virtually nothing in his personal story is holding up, might not hurt him with the ideologues who vote in the GOP primary. But it will eventually make him a joke to everyone else.
