Ben Carson, a grifter on the wingnut welfare circuit: How he just gave away the act

Ben Carson, a grifter on the wingnut welfare circuit: How he just gave away the act

by Gary Legum at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/16/ben_carson_a_grifter_on_the_wingnut_welfare_circuit_how_he_just_gave_away_the_act/

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[T]This stuff is as important to understanding the conservative ascendancy as are the internecine organizational and ideological struggles that make up its official history—if not, indeed, more so. The strategic alliance of snake-oil vendors and conservative true believers points up evidence of another successful long march, of tactics designed to corral fleeceable multitudes all in one place—and the formation of a cast of mind that makes it hard for either them or us to discern where the ideological con ended and the money con began.

One need only look at the Republican candidates from the last two election cycles to see the cycle of grift at work. There was Ron Paul and his newsletters promising to show you how to put all your money in gold in advance of a worldwide economic collapse that never seems to arrive. (But please don’t cancel that subscription!) There was Mike Huckabee, recently busted for hawking a cinnamon-based cure for diabetes to the elderly diabetes-prone conservative base, using his 2008 campaign to land a talk show on the Fox News channel. There was the grandmamma of them all, Sarah Palin, who famously quit the governor’s mansion in Alaska after running for vice president in 2008 because she could make way more money babbling on Fox News occasionally, selling books defending that oft-endangered celebration of Christmas, and starring in reality shows.

No matter how many times it happens, I never fail to be gobsmacked by how gobsmacked Republicans are when one of their own presidential candidates turns out to be a huckster shilling a get-rich-quick scheme or a miracle cure for diabetes or a fanciful interpretation of the Constitution that gives Cleon Skousen’s corpse a stiffy. It is as if conservative media figures and political operatives do not read their own publications.

Aside from showing up at the debates and sitting for interviews, Carson has done very little campaigning. He has not had to put forth much in the way of serious, detailed policy proposals, and he is still polling around 20 percent (the next-closest candidate in most polls, Marco Rubio, is hovering around 10 percent). Why shouldn’t he take advantage of his newly-raised media profile to sell his book and maybe dredge up some interest in his entire literary back catalog? The more books he sells, the more he can raise his speaking fees after the campaign by promoting himself as a best-selling author. The more speeches he gets highly paid to give, the more talk radio and Fox News see him as a valuable commodity to bring on as a pundit or even to give him his own show. Sure, he is already wealthy from his successful career as a neurosurgeon, but isn’t the essence of the capitalist system that conservatives revere to make as much money as you possibly can?



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