Ben Carson: Waaahhh, The Media ‘Misinterpreted’ Me By Quoting Me In Full

Image courtesy Gage Skidmore, available via a Creative Commons-Noncommercial license
Image courtesy Gage Skidmore, available via a Creative Commons-Noncommercial license

It seems that since at least 1992, Republicans seem to have had a knee-jerk inclination to attack the media. But Ben Carson recent gave us a lovely example of how far this mentality has gone. Carson is whining that a reporter “misinterpreted” his comments about the Terri Schiavo case–even though the reporter merely quoted the good doctor verbatim.

Last Saturday, Carson had a chat with Tampa Bay Times political editor Adam C. Smith. The conversation turned to the Terri Schiavo case. When asked about whether he thought the government should have forced the re-insertion of Schiavo’s feeding tube, Carson reiterated what he said at the time–he didn’t think it should have gotten that far.

Carson said he doesn’t believe in euthanasia, but does understand that there’s nothing that can really be done for people in Schiavo’s condition. As Carson saw it, a doctor in that situation should know that he should not “treat everything that comes up.” As he saw it, the whole Schiavo affair was “much ado about nothing” because it was no different from dozens of other situations that doctors face every day. A rare bit of common sense from a man who, in the past year-plus, seems to be falling all over himself to sound as unhinged as possible. But oh, how the religious right howled.

Schiavo’s brother, Bobby Schindler, rushed out the following Monday with a burning press release saying that Carson “owes every pro-life advocate an apology” for displaying “a warped sense of the ethics of medicine and humane law.” The executive director of the Schindlers’ Life and Hope Network, Tom Shakely, said Carson’s statement raised serious questions about the “moral character” of his bid for the White House. Operation Rescue’s Troy Newman went further, saying that Carson had “disqualified” himself from running for president.

Carson got the message loud and clear. In an interview with the pro-life news site LifeSiteNews, Carson claimed his comments had been “taken out of context and misinterpreted.” He claimed that when he said the Schiavo affair was “much ado about nothing,” he was calling out the media for portraying pro-lifers as “nutty and going way overboard” in the effort to keep Schiavo’s feeding tube in her.

When Smith got word that Carson was going into full spin mode, he responded by posting the full transcript of his exchange with Carson. This was the question that ultimately prompted Carson’s “much ado about nothing” comment:

“Dr. Carson, a few years ago when Gov. Bush was in charge of the state, he and the Florida legislature moved to overturn the court decision on Terri Schiavo to force the feeding tube to be reinserted. What was your view of that as a doctor at the time?”

Hmmm–nothing about the media portrayal of the religious right here. If anyone has the right to complain about being misinterpreted, it’s Smith.

Now here’s something that makes for a good laugh over the weekend. Carson’s attempt to spin his way back into the religious right’s good graces doesn’t appear to have worked. Newman said that Carson’s clarification seemed “dubious.” His BFF, Cheryl Sullenger–best known as the woman who gave George Tiller’s number to Scott Roeder–said that Carson had forfeited her support because he didn’t seem to understand that Schiavo “was brain damaged, but not terminally ill.” Never mind that Schiavo had repeatedly stated that she did not want to be kept alive via artificial means if there was no prospect of recovery. Bobby Schindler, for his part, claimed that Carson’s comments could be used to “validate” the assisted suicide movement.

So Carson has pulled off a rare trifecta–angering his base, making himself look like a fool with the reality-based world by falsely saying he was “misinterpreted,” and not being able to make nice with his base. With apologies to the Times’ sister project, Politifact, all Carson accomplished in all of this was setting his pants on fire.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.