This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Ben Carson Admits His "Inspirational" West Point Scholarship Story Was Entirely Made Up
Having surged to the lead (according to some polls) in the GOP presidential nominee race, Ben Carson may have a problem. As Politico reports, Carson's campaign on Friday admitted that a central point in his inspirational personal story (his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point) was fabricated. The details are stunning as the big lie (something Hillary would be proud of) has been maintained for years, but his PR people are spinning like crazy...
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has occupied a central place in Carson’s tale for years. According to a story told in Carson’s book, “Gifted Hands,” the then-17 year old was introduced in 1969 to Gen. William Westmoreland, who had just ended his command of U.S. forces in Vietnam, and the two dined together. That meeting, according to Carson’s telling, was followed by a “full scholarship” to the military academy.
But, as Politico details, West Point, however, has no record of Carson applying, much less being extended admission.
“In 1969, those who would have completed the entire process would have received their acceptance letters from the Army Adjutant General,” said Theresa Brinkerhoff, a spokeswoman for the academy. She said West Point has no records that indicate Carson even began the application process. “If he chose to pursue (the application process) then we would have records indicating such,” she said.
When presented with this evidence, Carson’s campaign conceded the story was false.
“Dr. Carson was the top ROTC student in the City of Detroit,” campaign manager Barry Bennett wrote in an email to POLITICO. “In that role he was invited to meet General Westmoreland. He believes it was at a banquet. He can’t remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson’s performance as ROTC City Executive Officer.”
“He was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC Supervisors,” Bennett went on. “They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission.”
This admission comes as serious questions about other points of fact in Carson’s personal narrative are questioned, including the seminal episode in which he claimed to have attempted to stab a close friend.
Similarly, details have emerged that cast doubt on the nature of Carson’s encounter with one of the most prominent military men of that era.
* * *
One wonders what happens to this chart next?
Of course being a blatant lying shitbag is not necessarily going to end his chances of election... just ask the people of East Chicago who just elected a new councilman who is in jail facing murder and drug charges...
- 356 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -



Politico is a Leftist Rag!!! They lied in this story, flat out lie!
http://ace.mu.nu/
Politico's Hit on Carson
—Gabriel Malor
Some notes.
(1) The headline is misleading. The Carson campaign statement does not admit he fabricated anything. Here's the statement: "Dr. Carson was the top ROTC student in the City of Detroit,” campaign manager Barry Bennett wrote in an email to POLITICO. “In that role he was invited to meet General Westmoreland. He believes it was at a banquet. He can’t remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson’s performance as ROTC City Executive Officer. He was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC Supervisors,” Bennett added. “They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission.”
(2) The lede is outright false. Politico's Kyle D. Cheney starts with this claim: "Ben Carson’s campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point." But no where in the piece does Cheney tell the reader where Carson made this "application and acceptance" claim.
(3) It is, of course, very easy to show that Carson never applied to or was accepted to West Point, if in fact he never applied. Thus, the entire piece hinges on this missing piece of information: where and when did Carson say that he applied to and was accepted to Westpoint?
(4) There is a lot of evidence that Carson never made that claim. Particularly, because in both his book and his speeches, he talks about whittling his options down to Harvard and Yale, and in the end deciding to apply only to Yale, where he was accepted.
(5) Carson's book does have a single line: "Later I was offered a full scholarship to West Point.” This isn't quite wrong either. Nobody gets scholarships per se to West Point; as a service academy, repayment is the term of service after graduation. But that's exactly Carson's point when he says he didn't take up the West Point opportunity because he didn't want the service commitment to delay his medical career.
In short, the Politico piece is deeply misleading because it misstates the lie that Carson supposedly told and mischaracterizes the campaign's response. I give it Four Cow Pies.
Politico Claims Ben Carson Fabricated a Claim About Applying to West Point and Getting a Full Scholarship
—Ace
Vetting.
Carson’s book, "Gifted Hands," the then-17 year old was introduced in 1969 to Gen. William Westmoreland, who had just ended his command of U.S. forces in Vietnam, and the two dined together. That meeting, according to Carson’s telling, was followed by a "full scholarship" to the military academy. Story Continued Below
West Point, however, has no record of Carson applying, much less being extended admission....
"Dr. Carson was the top ROTC student in the City of Detroit," campaign manager Barry Bennett wrote in an email to POLITICO. "In that role he was invited to meet General Westmoreland. He believes it was at a banquet. He can't remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson's performance as ROTC City Executive Officer."
"He was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC Supervisors," Bennett went on. "They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission."
My problem with this Politico piece is that they're trying to claim he's lying, even though they can't prove he's lying, per the terms of the, let's say clarification, to the story he's making now. He's saying he wasn't officially offered a scholarship; he's saying that Westmoreland told him that based upon grades and performance, he's get a full scholarship, so he took that to mean "offered a full scholarship."
Politico tries further in the article to say he's lying but they have nothing to back that up -- they have someone saying "Westmoreland couldn't guarantee acceptance, and would have to explain the whole application process."
Okay -- so? Politico is trying to say "And of course it's very unlikely he did that," but why is that unlikely?
Anyway, Carson's "offered a scholarship" claim appears to be misreporting of what happened, but, assuming that he's telling the truth about the rest of it (which is only an assumption), I don't see a big deal here. If Westmoreland told me "with your grades and ROTC performance, you'd get a full ride at West Point," I would in fact tell that story as "I was offered a full ride at West Point."
Well, maybe I wouldn't, actually. I think I'd actually say I was told I could get a full ride at West Point by General Westmoreland.
Still, I can see telling it the other way, in shorthand. (For example, if this was two sentences in a book -- I can see the events being collapsed and streamlined into the bullet point.)
I mean, I didn't know he had good grades (I didn't think about it much). I also had no idea that he was ROTC.
So... I'm kind of learning new positive information here. He was ROTC, he was therefore in a leadership position, and kinda-sorta in the military. (Kinda-sorta.)
If he's a top ROTC cadet being invited to a banquet with Westmoreland, and he's got good grades, then yeah, I kinda imagine he could get into West Point. (I would say "And he's black" but I don't know when Affirmative Action started, or if West Point employed it.)
Honestly, when I began writing this story the take was "Carson's lied" and as I've actually written what Politico has -- and what they don't have -- I've found myself increasingly feeling like the people doing the fabrication here are Politico.
This seems to me to be more a case of loose language than a lie -- assuming the other parts of Carson's claim are true. (Which I do assume, because Politico just can't seem to disprove them, and O Lordy!, are they tryin'.)
Update: Liberal (but often reasonable) reporter Dave Wiegel notes this -- three months ago, Ben Carson said he had only applied to one school.
Yet Politico claims that Carson claimed in "Gifted Hands" that he applied to West Point -- which he never claimed.
Compare the Politico lede on what Carson was claiming w/ what Carson claimed 3 months ago. pic.twitter.com/YREXhM16un
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) November 6, 2015
More: In Gifted Hands itself, Carson makes it clear that he applied to one and only one college, and it wasn't West Point.
In Gifted Hands, Carson notes that he only had the $ to apply to one school. IE, he never applied to West Point. pic.twitter.com/XWhRThgRzW
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) November 6, 2015
Politico's little narrative just blew the f*** up.
Posted by Ace at 12:19 PM Comments
A lot of people don't understand USMA at West Point. You can apply and get acepted in various ways. ROTC recommendation [and superior record] are one way. Congressional, Vice Presidential, veteran parent, retired or active duty parent, son or daughter of MoH parent, on and on. Scholarship, leadership, along with all the other things like Explorer Scout, Boy's State [American Legion], athletics, these things all count for something in the final cut. There is no such thing as a "not full scholarship" - all are the same. Many people don't understand that little point. In fact, you are not allowed to use the new cadet as a tax deduction even in the first year, although the child will have been living with you for more than half the year. There are so many "misconceptions" about the USMA at West Point in the public it's crazy.
comlete lie made up by Politico. Friday just before news dump,...hard to refute. Will catch hell during weekend news shows. Piece of bullsh** released by the Saturday Night Specials of politics. Tell them to go check out this chick Hillary...now SHE knows how to lie!!!
I've said from the beginning that the Reps would take a dive in order to install the puppet of choice, HC. Nothing has changed my mind. One by one, these candidates are blowing up or being picked off. Trump is the strongest but there's no way...if he finds himself winning, something will happen and/or he'll undermine his own victory. The good news is that it does not matter which puppet's name is on the door. The bad news is voting takes more faith than praying; more power to you if you can muster it, but I, for one, cannot.
He's black so if he promises to pay everybody's bills, everybody means all the black people's bills, he'll most probably get elected because if you don't vote for him you're a racist KKK member.
The fact that he's so high in the polls shows just how far America has fallen and that it can't get up anymore.
America has turned into a sad banana republic and it will only get worse with every passing day.
Politco lies. That much has been firmly established in the past. Did Carson mislead with what he has said about it in the past? Being told you could get an appointment back at the height of the Vietnam War IMHO is not a big deal. 2LTs were dying like flies back then.
I was offered OCS at the reception station in 1972 when I was 17. An Infantry CPT [with CIB] made the offer, and he told me this. "You will go to OCS, if you make it you will be a 2LT, as soon as you are 18, off to Vietnam. You will be dead in a month because nobody is going to follow an 18 year old Platoon Leader."
I declined the offer.
Who's lies and bias are more credible , the MSM's trying to get Hillery elected or Fox News trying to get Bush elected?
You know what, please just give me the TRUE unvarnished facts and let me make up my own mind!!!!
If you can't trust a pollitician who can you trust, hubba hubba hubba who do you trust.
Umm, it turns out that Politico lied . . . . about everything. Surprise.
Politico is standing by their story, and the US Army says they checked their logs and Gen. Westmoreland was nowhere in the vicinity of Carson the night he said they met.
Did Dr. Carson claim that he applied and was accepted to West Point? I don't think so.
As I was sitting here polishing my second Medal of Honor I thought: Why do these politicians feeel compelled to fabricate these stories about their military service? Sad...
did the good doc claim military service? I missed that.
Sad to see ZH hopped on the bandwagon this afternoon.
Editted to add:
"Of course being a blatant lying shitbag..."
Is a step beyond hopping on the bandwagon.
Maybe the driver for editorial decision making at ZH is in fact not what it used to be...
ZH, love you but you fucked up printing this bullshit. Never trust the public media, you fucks.
So now, who do you want to believe?
Refuted:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/ben-carson-west-point-scholarship-gift...
Is this coming down to whoever pays the most, wins?
Carson has promoted heavily this rags-to-fame storyline.
Does anyone really believe that the top ROTC kid in Detroit couldn't scrounge an extra $10 from an admirer to apply to a second school?
That doesn't pass any kind of smell test.
He claimed last month on the Charlie Rose Show that he had attended West Point.
Only clueless, and by definition, liberal ZH posters fail to see the egg on their own faces for believing a shill MSM site like Politico over the obvious honest and self made man Ben Carson is.
This is consistent with the New Negro run America - denigrate honorable White men of the past and raise up liars, plagerizers, incompetent Niggers and then wonder why the "Exceptional" American Empire is dropping like a turd in a punch bowl.
Watched NBC news today and they said they were obtaining Westmoreland's travel schedule during the time in question. Of course there is only one purpose - and they would never track down this stuff on Dems.
There's something about Ben. I don't know what, precisely, but since I laid eyes on him months ago, there's just something in there that gives me the heebs. Something off. Then he's on about beating ppl as a kid. Then it's all good as he found Jesus. Then he says this; then that; now he says he didn't say he didn't say that or this, exactly. Misspoke. "Confused".
Something about Ben I've not felt uhhhhh comfy with, although he's good at coming across ... serene.
Oh Buzz-Off !!
The media is distorting this issue was out of proportion.
Obama completely fabricates a "girlfriend" in his book - and no one bats an eye.
But Carson asserts that verbal assurances he received years ago count as a scholarship offer - and everyone is ready to freak.
The only FRAUDs here, are those expresing faux outrage !!
Not outraged. LOL Emo type, huh?
MSM is as cretinous to Ben as they are to all but Hillary, their darling criminal.
Go freak at someone who gives a shit. I'm just here to say I think there's something very OFF about your chosen one. Thought that from day one, not due to trusting a single syllable drilled out by talking heads on the telly.
Vote away lol.
He's a fraud! And people behave fraudulently because they are hiding something. Given how homophobic he is and that he needs to constantly bring up the bible I think he's gay. Have you seen his wife? I'd start looking at men if I had to see that every morning....
Please clarify, are you speaking of Carson's wife, or Obama's?
I haven't been up to speed on this issue so I will limit my comment to the obvious: according to all accounts I have seen, including this one, Carson claims Gen Westmoreland either offered a scholarship or told Carson that he should apply for one, this followed by Carson not actually applying. So, where is the Big Lie? Is it not possible that Carson really did receive the offer of a scholarship but then chose not to apply for it? If this is the case it should be no surprise, nor smoking gun, that West Point has no record of Carson's non-application.