The Truth behind Ben Carson's Candidacy: Why Winning May Not Be his Goal

[eridani]

http://nomadicpolitics.blogspot.com.tr/2015/11/the-truth-behind-ben-carsons-candidacy.html

Chait believes he has the answer. Today's conservative movement is no longer as much about politics or principles as it is about money-making schemes.

A Republican campaign speech sounds more and more like an infomercial for a brand with the product as the candidate. So why be a politician at all, you might ask.

Declaring yourself a presidential candidate gives you access to millions of dollars' worth of free media attention that can build a valuable brand. So the mere fact that Carson calls himself a presidential candidate does not prove he is actually running for president rather than taking advantage of the opportunity to build his brand.

Book deals, speaking tours, appearances on Fox News and other lucrative contracts can make even a failed candidate into a multi-millionaire.

Say what you like about Sarah Palin, but she - a woman of high ambition but little political skill- was able to turn her dismal failure in 2008 into quite a nice nest egg.

Think it's not possible?

According to one source, her net worth was $1 million before the 2008 election. However, now she is reportedly worth an estimated $12 million.

That's pretty good considering she is currently an unemployed failure who string more than four words together without sounding like a patient with political Tourette's.

There's more evidence that things are not what they seem in the Carson camp.

Carson is doing a lot of things that seem puzzling for a presidential campaign, but quite logical for a brand-building exercise. He is taking weeks off the campaign trail to go on a book tour. His campaign itself is structured much more like a scamming venture than a political one. An astronomical 69 percent of his fund-raising totals are spent on more fund-raising. (Bernie Sanders, by contrast, spends just 4 percent of his intake on fund-raising.)

Another bit of evidence cited in the article is the fact that Armstrong Williams, the person running Carson's campaign has the official title of "business manager" and not "campaign manager."

A minor point, you could say, but that may also reflect a larger philosophy. It suggests, the writer says, that Carson is engaged in a for-profit venture.

[Chemisse]

1. I am hoping this backfires on him.

The spat of news stories about his invented tales make him a laughingstock. His book may come off as a big joke after all is said and done here.

[PearliePoo2]

2. If this is the case (for profit venture) I don't think he anticipated...

the intense scrutiny.
The peeling back of the onion and lifting of rocks has begun!
Dr. "Sleepy-eyes" Ben now has the press and his opponents up his ass with a microscope (and it's going to hurt like hell)
Bye..bye good doctor.

[gwheezie]

3. Following in the footsteps of grifters

Jesus told him to make money.

[RKP5637]

4. The guy is a jackass, but in it for money? Yep, I could see that, in fact, one of my friends was

saying that recently too. And, he attracts the faithful herd who believe with little proof and send money too.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. Also other recent candidates, including Perry, who needed $$$$ for lawsuits against him

One advantage of the overly long primary season is many can get in and get out with some bucks.
No other reason for the field to be as big as it was.
Grab a slice of the pie while you.
and Palin STILL has Sarah Pac going, with no laws against how much you spend on yourself.

[Moliere]

5. Best book launch tour in history!

- Write a book
- Declare your run for the presidency
- Raise cash from idiot donors to fund your book tour
- Spend all that free cash on said book tour while you rack up the appearances
- Sell most of your of books back to your superpac so they can send them out and more importantly to launder some of said cash back to you
- Withdraw from the race richer than before with a fake hit book and a national following

Amazing! What could go wrong?

[vinny9698]

6. Newt Gingrich set the business model

Past GOP presidential elections, he was right in there promoting his books, DVDs,.
Other people have followed suit.

[saltpoint]

7. It would be comforting if very soon

we see Carson's polling tank in the wake of his assertions about pyramids and grain and West Point scholarships etc.

It's unsettling to think that he's leading the GOP field at the moment, because it means some signifiant percentage of the Republican base believe someone as vacuous and deceitful as Carson would make a good president.

[KoKo]

8. Carson isn't the only one...but, seems the most blatent..

since he supposedly spends more time on his Book Tour than getting out on the stump and campaigning.

Thanks for the post!

[NomadicView]

9. There's yet another layer to this onion.

By the way, there's good reason to doubt his prostate cancer too. He (mis)diagnosed himself and in a Youtube clip of a speech he made a few years back he admits that an MRI scan revealed it to be a "congenital anomaly of the bone marrow." I am no doctor but that doesn't sound like prostate cancer to me.
This leads to an even more intriguing possibility. He faked it, then peddled quack pills that he claimed cured a cancer he never had. An Ebony magazine interview with him 2003 makes no mention of him taking any supplements (only that he recommended organic fruits and vegetables) so chances are he lied about taking the medicine too.
Let's add this up. Now he is lying about endorsing a quack pill he never took for a cancer he never had.

[smirkymonkey]

12. Interesting, I hadn't heard that before.

Maybe he is really smart after all and this is all just a put on for some larger plan he has in mind.

[TalkingDog]

10. The Spousal Unit called it. Exactly this.

n/t

[Initech]

13. Like I said - it's all about the sale.

The Republicans couldn't give two shits about the quality of the product. If they can sell shit, they will hawk it endlessly.

[Wounded Bear]

14. Not sure why this would surprise anybody...

It's become a Republican model. There used to be Repubs who gave a shit about the country. Now those, what few that are left, can't elbow their way in between the grifters.

[Octafish]

15. Works for Mike Huckabee.

Guy's a bum. Lots more grifting, like Caribu Barbie.

[dickthegrouch]

16. Can we complain to the FEC about it?

*Try* to get him indicted for misuse of election funds?

[Monk06]

17. Not to mention that the Republicans have turned American politics into a reality show. A for profit

enterprise.

That's why there are so many contestants/

There is big money in this game which is why Amercian political campaigns never end. One bleeds into another every two years/

[L. Coyote]

18. Fearing Ben Carson might steal his job, alien guy has recanted:

[Dalai_1]

19. Carson's Candicacy..,

makes no sense at all on the surface;I believe the GOP has propped him up;given him talking points ;directed him all the way.. at the appointed time his "followers" will all be.,following Ted Cruz...I think his campaign is no more than a front that will morph into Cruz's campaign.

[Andy823]

20. It's the money alright

Carson, Huckabee, Paul, hell it's pretty much all of them. Some are there for their ego, like Trump, and Jeb I think feels obligated to this family to run even if he is terrible at it.

I think the grifter mentality rules the clown car. Rake in the money, funnel to your family somehow, live a lavish lifestyle while you run, maybe even start a PAC you can raid later on down the road and then do it again the next election.

No way Carson is going to be the nominee, and my money is on him dropping out when more of his lies catch up to him.