The National Review Online is hardly a Leftist publication known for being tough on Republicans. However, this post from yesterday might upset a few of their loyal readers:
This Isn’t Normal: Ben Carson Suspends Campaign for a Book Tour.
Who chooses to stop doing public campaign events just as they catch up to the front runner?
The man has already written and sold a lot of books. (His presidential memoir would be a good seller, too!) Why on earth would any serious candidate for president decide to stop campaigning at a moment like this for some book-signings and readings?
You read that correctly. As of yesterday at least, Carson is (was) suspending his Presidential campaign for two weeks to keep the book promotion for A More Perfect Union, separate from his run for POTUS. This was the reason:
The campaign has been careful to separate campaign events and the book tour, and doesn’t want to classify the tour as related to the campaign in any way.
However, there are still conflicting stories of whether this is true. Today, CNN was told by his campaign manager, Armstrong Williams that the campaign isn't suspended. Just four hours ago, the Huffington Post reported that he was going to suspend the run. I guess the news that this idea was bizarre likely convinced Carson and his aides that this was not a good strategy.
Either way, the 7th Day Adventist candidate, who has referenced the 'End Times' more than once, is known for some bizarre assertions. His inflammatory Holocaust claims have raised a few eyebrows. His story about being held up at gunpoint in a Popeye's Chicken location is also quite unusual. He was a vegetarian at the time and there isn't a police report to be found on the incident anywhere. You'd think the holdup story would have come up and been included in his 2006 book, Take The Risk.
A more liberal-leaning publication speculates about his motives for running at all: the almighty dollar.
From the start, Ben Carson’s actions have suggested that his Presidential campaign is a money grab. He threatened to sue his own supporters when he found out that they were making homemade t-shirts with his likeness, instead of buying them from his official online store. No one does that unless they care more about profiting from the t-shirt revenue than they do about winning. This sudden book tour further suggests that his campaign is all about money. As a result of his higher profile, he’ll sell millions of additional copies of his book to the extremists who have fallen in love with him – even as he risks letting his poll numbers slide while he steps away from the campaign. Turns out maybe winning isn’t everything after all.
He's even angered some of his fellow Seventh Day Adventist believers. He received an open letter to dispense with all the Islamophobia.
Dr. Ben Carson is a religious zealot and grifter who believes not only in the literal interpretation of the Bible, but that prison can turn people gay. It's obvious that he is in the game to make a hefty profit running as the 'prophet' of the G.O.P. One can conclude that this rising 'star' will fall as quickly as his female super-Christian counterpart in 2012, Michele Bachmann.
