Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Ben Carson speaks after announcing he will endorse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a news conference at the Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 11, 2016.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Lynne Sladky, AP)
Donald Trump may insist that his comments about the judge in charge of his Trump University case were “misconstrued” —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trump said the judge is biased because of his “Mexican heritage”<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Judge Gonzalo Curiel was born in the U.S.) —<span style="color: Red;">*</span> but that’s not what he says in private, according to surrogate Ben Carson.
Carson told Politico in an interview posted Friday that privately Trump “fully recognizes that that was not the right thing to say.”
“He was probably talking out loud rather than thinking. That’s not a good thing to do when everything you say is going to be analyzed,” he added.
Here’s the problem with that comment: Trump issued a lengthy defense on Tuesday that doesn't exactly correspond with Carson's assessment.
Carson has a habit of saying things that go directly against the message of the Trump campaign. Here are five other times the retired neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate was an exceptionally bad surrogate:
[h=2]Trump not a 'straight-down-the-line'<span style="color: Red;">*</span>conservative[/h]As Trump battled for the Republican nomination and fought to assure Republicans that he really did share their values, Carson told ABC News’ Powerhouse Politics podcast that Trump probably wasn’t a complete conservative.
“Are all of his beliefs straight-down-the-line conservative? Probably not,” Carson said March 31. “But the way I kind of look it at it is anyone who is a thinking individual really shouldn’t be straight-down-the-line anything.”
[h=2]Trump ‘has some major defects’[/h]In an interview with talk show host John Catsimatidis<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on April 3, Carson said that Trump had “some major defects” but was willing to listen to other people, even if he wouldn’t admit that publicly.
"Does it mean that he's perfect? No, he has some major defects, there’s no question about it, just like the rest of us. But I think he is willing to listen to other people,” Carson said. “He may not say that publicly because there is a humility issue there that perhaps could use some polishing. But in private, you know, he is willing to actually listen and consider and actually think about things deeply.”
[h=2]Trump’s Twitter problem[/h]In April, Carson said that Trump’s “particular” Twitter problem was being worked on,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and he knew it was a problem.
“I think a number of us are working on that particular problem, because, you know, the liberal media in particular just knows that whenever he starts getting some momentum, all we have to do is say something about him and going off and then we can get him distracted again,” Carson said in an interview with host Joyce Kaufman, reported by BuzzFeed. “And if they feel that they have that as their ace in the hole, it’s going to give them a lot of control and we don’t want them to have that.”
“Well, I think he will come to understand. We talk about it, and a number of people have talked about it, including his family. And he knows that it’s a problem. And the first part of solving the problem is recognizing that it exists,” he added.
[h=2]Trump could pick a Democrat as VP[/h]In an interview with The Wall Street Journal<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on May 5, Carson said Trump’s running<span style="color: Red;">*</span>mate could be a Democrat or independent.
“Asked if Democrats and independents may be on the target list, Mr. Carson said ‘Yes,’ then added, ‘We would consider people who are Americans and who put America first.’”Later that same day, Trump said he “will 100% pick an outstanding Republican to run with me as Vice President."
[h=2]Trump’s incorrect short list[/h]In an interview with The Washington Post<span style="color: Red;">*</span>later<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in May, Carson said that Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie “are all people on our list.”
Carson later clarified telling The Post that he just said “yes to everybody.”
"When it comes to who could be the vice president and you name a list of people," he clarified, "I’m going to say yes to everybody, everybody could potentially be considered, doesn’t mean they are on the short list."
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