Pediatric surgeon and GOPer Ben Carson has entered the Presidential nomination race. He has never served in a public office before. His On the Issues quiz suggests a mostly doctrinaire conservative, although he does oppose larger military budgets and invading Iran – good for him. His positions on gay marriage and marijuana, on the other hand, clearly indicates he’s out of touch on those issues.
The Atlantic and GQ have longish profiles of Dr. Carson. Neither is complimentary; the latter is entitled, “What If Sarah Palin Were a Brain Surgeon?”
The Baltimore Sun reports (amongst many) that Carson wants to redefine the role of SCOTUS:
Carson said Sunday that “we need to discuss” the court’s long-held power to review laws passed by Congress. That authority was established in the 1803 landmark case Marbury v. Madison.
Carson, the former head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins and a longtime resident of Baltimore County, announced his candidacy for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination last week in Detroit. He now lives in Florida.
He was asked on “Fox News Sunday” whether the executive branch is obligated to enforce laws that the Supreme Court declares constitutional.
“We need to get into a discussion of this because it has changed from the original intent,” he said.
Carson has said a president is obliged to carry out laws passed by Congress, but not what he called “judicial laws” that emanate from courts.
The New Civil Rights Movement also notes Carson’s stance and then references a rebuttal at the National Constitution Center in regards to a similar statement by Newt Gingrich:
It is a rarity for presidents to simply ignore decisions of the Supreme Court, although it has been done. President Abraham Lincoln famously ignored Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s order finding unconstitutional Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus rights in 1861, early in the Civil War.But the example of Roosevelt and the German saboteurs is more complex than the Gingrich summary implies. The saboteurs, convicted of war crimes by a military commission, actually had their day in a civilian court — in three courts, including the Supreme Court — as they pursued (unsuccessfully) a writ of habeas corpus. They were not executed until after the Supreme Court had upheld the President’s power to set up the military commission. There was never an occasion for Roosevelt to ignore the Court.
The Hill reports:
Republican White House candidate Ben Carson on Friday stood by his remark that President Obama is a “psychopath,” saying the president displays the associated personality traits.
“I said he reminds you of a psychopath, because they tend to be extremely smooth, charming people who can tell a lie to your face,” Carson told host John Harwood on CNBC’s “Speakeasy.”
“It looks like sincerity, even though they know it’s a lie,” he said.
Which reminds me of when REASON Magazine published an article on then-President Clinton and his alleged emotional damage. Just about as credible as an alligator subsisting on apples.
The Blaze reports Glenn Beck believes Carson’s ambitions are doomed:
Glenn Beck on Friday said Dr. Ben Carson’s presidential career is over before it began, after the famed neurosurgeon said on CNN that homosexuality is a choice.
“The answer here is, ‘Why is government involved in marriage in the first place?’” Beck said on his radio program. “Let the individual be free to make his choice. The only reason why the government is involved is so the government can get their grimy little hands on tax dollars. That’s the only reason. Why are we arguing about this?”
Beck said Carson’s explanation, that “a lot of people who go into prison, go into prison straight — and when they come out, they’re gay,” sounded like it came from a “10-year-old.”
ThinkProgress has a list of 7 things Carson believes, which makes him look ridiculous. Hard to disagree – Carson may be leaving this race early, if he has this much catch-up to do.
