No more gotcha (unless it’s Hillary or Bernie, of course)
by digby
Ben Carson is very, very upset about being asked inconvenient questions and he’s enlisting his bros to put a stop to it!
Republican presidential front-runner Ben Carson told reporters Thursday that he was reaching out to every rival campaign to lobby for changes to future debate formats.
“Debates are supposed to be established to help the people get to know the candidate,” Carson said at a news conference before a speech at Colorado Christian University. “What it’s turned into is — gotcha! That’s silly. That’s not helpful to anybody.”
Carson, who got less time at Wednesday night’s CNBC-hosted debate than candidates who were faring worse in polls, was raising the already high-decibel volume of criticism. Shortly after the debate ended, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted that it had been ruined by “improper and unprofessional” questions from moderators.
“Using it for political purposes just doesn’t make any sense at all,” Carson said. “The first thing we’re looking for is moderators who are actually interested in getting the facts, and not just gotcha questions.”
Asked to define a “gotcha” question, Carson focused on a debate exchange about Mannatech, a nutritional supplements company that the former neurosurgeon had repeatedly endorsed, personally and in paid speeches.
“The questions about Mannatech are definitely gotcha questions,” Carson said. “There’s no truth to them. I know people know how to investigate. They can easily go back and find out I don’t have any formal relations with Mannatech. They can easily find out that any videos I did with them were not paid for, were things I truly believed. That would be easy to do. If they had another agenda, they could investigate and say — see, there’s nothing there! But if they have a gotcha agenda, they conveniently ignore all the facts and try to influence public opinion.”
That’s nice. But endorsement doesn’t necessarily mean he was paid. In fact if he wasn’t it raises the more important question as to whether he believes this snake oil cures diseases like Alzheimers. It sure sounds like he does:
In 2009, Texas-based Mannatech Inc. settled charges brought by the state attorney general that alleged the company had used “deceptive” and “illegal” materials claiming its products could cure Down Syndrome, cystic fibrosis, autism and cancer, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Carson’s mother also appeared in a video with H. Reginald McDaniel, who helped develop Mannatech’s original product. “Dr. Reg,” as Carson called him, left Mannatech in 2002. The Texas attorney general’s complaint, according to the WSJ, accused him of involvement in circulating “illegal disease claims” in materials to sales associates.
The 2014 video with McDaniel and Carson’s mother appeared on a separate site called “Hope 4 Alzheimer’s” and promoted the “cognitive/physical gains of Mrs. S Carson after a few months of supplementation.” Carson said he was “shocked, disappointed and disturbed by the presence of such a video” and never gave his approval.
Carson and his fellows are quick to call Obama’s and Clinton’s judgment into question. This seems like a good reason to call Carson’s into question. Does he think this snake oil cures diseases? Or does he just not realize that when a renowned doctor endorses such a product as he does in that video that it might lead people to think so?
Either way, Carson is running as a world renowned surgeon who will bring his superior outside knowledge to Washington. This is an example of his superior outsider knowledge.
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