Ben Carson Kicks Off Bid For Presidency Of Country He Says Is ‘Like Nazi Germany’
Ben Carson, the popular conservative activist who rose to national prominence in 2013 when he delivered a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast that was widely hailed in conservative circles, is apparently running for president, and kicking off his campaign this weekend with an hour-long infomercial for himself.
Though Carson has not officially declared his run for the Republican 2016 presidential nomination, the infomercial entitled Ben Carson: A Breath of Fresh Air; A New Prescription for America is set to air in 22 states and Washington D.C. after Carson’s friend and reported business manager Armstrong Williams bought airtime on numerous local and network stations to broadcast what is being called the first campaign ad of the 2016 campaign.
Just a few weeks ago, Carson said that he was reluctant to run for president in part because he feared that the 2016 presidential election might be canceled due to “widespread anarchy.”
Since his 2013 Prayer Breakfast speech, Carson has been known mainly for his controversial and hyperbolic public statements, particularly with regard to the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act, better known as “Obamacare.”
In a speech last year, the 63-year-old Carson, an African-American and a leading neurosurgeon formerly at Johns Hopkins University, called the healthcare reform law “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”
Carson has also described the healthcare law, which according to the New York Times has allowed 10 million previously uninsured Americans to obtain health coverage, as worse than the 9/11 terrorist attacks “because 9/11 was an isolated incident.” He later walked back that statement.
Carson has been a paid commentator for the conservative news network Fox News, but on Saturday, he announced that he had quit his job with the network, a move generally seen as signaling his initial entry into electoral politics.
Among his numerous other contentious public pronouncements, Carson has said that the United States “is very much like Nazi Germany,” adding, ” I know you’re not supposed to say ‘Nazi Germany,’ but I don’t care about political correctness.”
As the basis for his comparison between the United States and the fascist state of Nazi Germany, in which Jews and other minority groups were persecuted, imprisoned and murdered by the millions, Carson cites his view that, “We now live in a society where people are afraid to say what they actually believe.”
Carson did not note, however, that he, himself, delivered his Prayer Breakfast speech harshly critical of President Barack Obama with the president sitting on the podium next to him.
And yet not only did Ben Carson escape arrest and incarceration for saying what he actually believed, he was rewarded with national recognition and a paid contributor’s position on a national television network.
