Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has a penchant for saying outrageously crazy things on FAUX News because its demographic eats it up, has moved into second place in the most recent Arizona poll. Carson surges in state GOP poll: Trump 28%, Carson 15%, Fiorina 10%.
You can see the pattern here: the more outrageously offensive you are, the more Arizona Tea-Publicans love you. There are some seriously sick and twisted people in this state.
Last night an estimated 12,000 of them showed up in Phoenix (where else) for a Ben Carson rally. 12,000 rally for GOP candidate Carson in Phoenix. Dr. Carson gave the rubes what they came for:
Carson said corporate taxes should be lower, that all Americans no matter how rich or poor should pay the same income-tax rate, and that the federal government should institute a hiring freeze to help address the federal budget deficit.
He said the 14th Amendment, which grants birthright citizenship to most babies born on U.S. soil, “doesn’t make any sense.” It’s a position several of his rivals, including Trump, have highlighted in recent days.
He also railed against Planned Parenthood, calling media reports that he authored a research paper in 1992 that relied in part on research involving fetal-tissue samples, “total crap.” See Washington Post: Ben Carson: No apologies for 1992 fetal tissue research, and Ben Carson’s tortured defense of his fetal tissue research.
Carson touted his anti-politician credentials as one reason his campaign has gathered momentum in recent weeks.
And of course there was the obligatory Bible thumping for the Christian Dominionists in the crowd.
Ben Carson visited the Mexico-Arizona border today and brought the cray-cray, suggesting that the U.S. military should use drone strikes, i.e., the summary execution of persons crossing the border without due process of law, to secure the border. I’m guessing this is good for a few more percentage points in that GOP poll. Ben Carson takes immigration debate to insane new low, floats drone strikes at border:
[N]eurosurgeon Ben Carson one-upped [Donald Trump] by suggesting the use of drone strikes to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
Carson toured the border with controversial Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu today and according to Dennis Welch, who was covering the event for KTVK-TV Phoenix, Carson seemed to suggest that he supported drone strikes on U.S. soil in order to protect the border:
Tami Houey of KPHO reported that Carson further clarified his thoughts on drone strikes on the border, “The take home point is this. We have excellent military leaders,” he said. “We need to employ their expertise because this is a war we are fighting. That’s the bottom line.”
Soooo, militarize the border, shoot to kill, ask questions later. Your move, Donald. Maybe declare war on Mexico?
Are tours of Nogales conducted by the Pinal County sheriff now an obligatory campaign stop for GOP presidential candidates? Guess Carson’s drones are the modern equivalent of “build the danged fence”.
The world was aghast when East Germany was shooting to kill at the border to West Germany. They didn’t have drones then, but they did put automatic guns at gut level to be triggered by movement in their “death strip” along the border. That elicited such a severe reaction that they deactivated them and relied on standard “shoot to kill” by the guards. Have we sunk that low now?
Yes.