dr ben carson...

[wesw]

I remember the brits I used to work with had a saying about the elite in their country...

rah, rah, raahh, for daddy s jag-u-aarr

not really appropriate for this debate, but it kinda sums up my present feeling toward our "aristocracy"

[Lord Jim]

great rebuttal...... try again

Actually it was a directly on point rebuttal so there's no need for me to add anything further to it unless you can refute it.

We have a President who came into office with very little experience in the areas needed to do the job well, and we both agree he's done a poor job. You propose that we replace him with a person who has absolutely no experience in those areas whatsoever. It's completely irrational.

Your views about what is required to be an effective President (and our political process in general) are naive, uninformed and sophomoric. They consist of nothing but empty high school civic class platitudes and bromides. They bear absolutely no relationship to the real world. This is obviously not something you have any actual knowledge about.

Nevertheless, I have attempted to address your views on this patiently and as though they were worthy of serious response. (Truth be told, they aren't) Since there isn't snowball's chance in hell that the GOP would be foolhardy enough to nominate Carson this is a completely academic discussion anyway.

Do you like that rebuttal better?

[Joe Guy]

Some ideas for presidential campaign slogans for Ben Carson:

In your Brain you Know he's right!

Don't Stop Thinking about Yesterday!

Our Nation can be Strong and Bigger - Just vote for Ben, he's a real Candidate!

[Sue U]

Truthfully, Jim, I think Rubio may be the most dangerous candidate to the Democrats. He's young, he's got conservative cred, virtually no baggage, an engaging personality and an American-dream backstory. He's got some ideas about policy and legislative initiatives -- not big stuff, but thoughtful. That can certainly be filled out by quality advisors. And he's got minority status and is obviously a potential draw for the Hispanic vote, as well as being a counterweight to the frank racism evident in some corners of the GOP.

I think you're wrong about needing a governor as a candidate; historically, governors have had a mixed record at best in the presidency. There is no executive "experience" truly relevant to being president except being president. And the key to a successful presidency is a signature policy initiative and the ability to get it through Congress and into law in an orderly, if not triumphant, fashion. That takes knowledge of and good working relationships with congressional leaders -- and their own agendae. Congress ain't like any statehouse.

ETA:

Of course, I find many of Rubio's positions to be foolish and some frankly dangerous, but if the GOP's future is, as it seems, to position itself as a genuine right-wing party, he'd be the logical choice over someone like Chris Christie or even John Kasich.

[wesw]

you still only rebutted one of many points, and not very well. try again. insulting me does nothing to make your point, but carry on if it suits you

I agree with sue that Rubio is possibly dangerous and he would not get my vote

I kinda like cory gardner from Colorado, but he just got elected to the senate so he is staying put for now, I m sure.

[wesw]

speaking of dangerous, I was a bit leery of mc cain as well. while I greatly admire the man he seemed a damaged by his POW experiences. understandably so, but still a bit too scary for a man with control of nukes IMHO

as far as Christie, thank goodness he made a fool of himself fawning over jerry jones after a recent cowboy victory, that should be enough to lose him the white male vote

[Lord Jim]

Sue:

I agree that Rubio is a bright guy and an appealing candidate with a lot going for him in a general election (you may recall that I was touting him as Romney's best Veep choice in the last election)

But realistically, I have a hard time seeing how he can raise the money and build the organization he needs to run a credible race for the nomination, (especially with Jeb in the race)

Rubio has said publicly that Jeb's entry into the race won't affect his decision about running, but clearly it has...

A candidate in Rubio's situation (without a fat Rolodex of big money contributors) needs to be getting in early and basically camping out in Iowa for the next year putting all his skills, resources, efforts and " conservative cred" into making a splash there next January...

He's not in a position to be able to lay back and bide his time; at the moment he seems kind of undecided about whether or not he's going to run...

He does have going for him the fact that he can get national media attention if he gets in it, but if he wants to mount a serious challenge for the nomination, he's not in a position to do a Melancholy Dane routine much longer...

[Crackpot]

What does manual dexterity have to do with being president?

[wesw]

lol, when arch conservatives and (italics) arch liberals raise their snoots in the air I feel that I have done well.

thanks for the laugh, sue (boldface), jim (boldface)

[rubato]

And now shilling for cheap bullshit health products!:

"... Carson’s MannaQuest to MannaBless Mannatech’s most recent feat was an appearance in a promotional video on Mannatech’s website, giving a testimonial about how he began to feel “different” after buying and using Mannatech products, placing their importance on the same plane with getting a good night’s rest and eating healthy food. If you have a passion for infomercials and their pleasantly soporific and slightly sinister blend of natural light photography and genreless mall music, you can watch that below.

The whole thing is pretty embarrassing, and culminates in this embarrassing coda, in which Carson suggests that Mannatech is the key to achieving the original diet handed down to us by God in the Garden of Eden.

The wonderful thing about a company like Mannatech is that they recognize that when God made us, He gave us the right fuel. And that fuel was the right kind of healthy food. You know we live in a society that is very sophisticated, and sometimes we’re not able to achieve the original diet. And we have to alter our diet to fit our lifestyle. Many of the natural things are not included in our diet. Basically what the company is doing is trying to find a way to restore natural diet as a medicine or as a mechanism for maintaining health. ... "


http://wonkette.com/572033/ben-carson-s ... ident-obvs

Just how much clownery do you need to completely obliterate the good will you built up from starting a foundation to do brain surgery for poor kids? How much pure nonsense does a trailblazing brain surgeon need to peddle to convince the world that he is venal and/or not very smart? Dr. Ben Carson, 2016 GOP presidential nomination hopeful/flirt, isn’t entirely sure, but being a student of the scientific method, he is apparently extremely determined to find out.

Apparently our man Dr. Carson has shilled modern snake oil nutritional supplement company Mannatech (yes, manna-tech, they wanted the religious overtones of naming it after the miraculous God-bread that fell from the sky in the Old Testament, combined with, y’know, modern science and technology). What’s wrong with Mannatech? That’s a good question, one that our best buddies over at the National Review have answered:

In 2007, three years after Carson’s first dealings with Mannatech, Texas attorney general Greg Abbott sued the company and Caster, charging them with orchestrating an unlawful marketing scheme that exaggerated their products’ health benefits. The original petition in that case paints an ugly picture of Mannatech’s marketing practices. It charges that the company offered testimonials from individuals claiming that they’d used Mannatech products to overcome serious diseases and ailments, including autism, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and life-threatening heart conditions.

Separately, the suit alleges that the company sold a CD entitled “Back from the Brink” that “provided example after example of how ‘glyconutrients’ (i.e., Mannatech’s products) cured, treated, or mitigated diseases including but not limited to toxic shock syndrome, heart failure, asthma, arthritis, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Attention Deficit Disorder, and lung inflammation.”

Needless to say, Mannatech products can’t actually cure any of these diseases, nor can they cure AIDS or cancer, as the company also has suggested. But their intentionally deceptive advertising and aggressively unscientific attempts to dupe the gullible and desperate did not, apparently, dissuade Carson from advocating for Mannatech and their products in both a compensated and uncompensated basis over a period of about 10 years, even after the company faced lawsuits over its behavior.

Carson’s interactions with Mannatech, a nutritional-supplement company based in suburban Dallas, date back to 2004, when he was a speaker at the company’s annual conferences, MannaFest and MannaQuest. He also spoke at Mannatech conferences in 2011 and 2013, and spoke about “glyconutrients” in a PBS special as recently as last year.

Carson’s MannaQuest to MannaBless Mannatech’s most recent feat was an appearance in a promotional video on Mannatech’s website, giving a testimonial about how he began to feel “different” after buying and using Mannatech products, placing their importance on the same plane with getting a good night’s rest and eating healthy food. If you have a passion for infomercials and their pleasantly soporific and slightly sinister blend of natural light photography and genreless mall music, you can watch that below.

The whole thing is pretty embarrassing, and culminates in this embarrassing coda, in which Carson suggests that Mannatech is the key to achieving the original diet handed down to us by God in the Garden of Eden.

The wonderful thing about a company like Mannatech is that they recognize that when God made us, He gave us the right fuel. And that fuel was the right kind of healthy food. You know we live in a society that is very sophisticated, and sometimes we’re not able to achieve the original diet. And we have to alter our diet to fit our lifestyle. Many of the natural things are not included in our diet. Basically what the company is doing is trying to find a way to restore natural diet as a medicine or as a mechanism for maintaining health.

Look, Ben Carson is perfectly within his rights as an American and as a human being to take advantage of the placebo effects of scam unscience, and we do not begrudge him this right. But he’s smart enough to know that when Mannatech asks him to speak, they are not asking him to speak as just any American — they are using him for his unassailable credentials as Dr. Ben Carson, literal brain surgeon, Presidential Medal of Freedom winner, and member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. He was either being irresponsibly negligent or flatly corrupt when he allowed himself to be used in this, uh, MannaManner. Stay MannaBlessed.

Read more at http://wonkette.com/572033/ben-carson-s ... JMFQTEh.99

Orrin Hatch changed the laws so his son could make tens of millions selling snake oil no better than this.

And Mormon Jesus* loves Orrin Hatch.

yrs,
rubato

* just in case the MagGenl is right and there is a different Mormon Jesus.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Why, thanks rubato. If you check LDS Church News week ending June 20, 1998, p. 7 you'll see that President Gordon S Hinckley, "prophet, seer and revelator" of the Mormons was emphatic in declaring that the Mormon Jesus is not the Jesus of the traditional Biblical Christian faith. So that's me and Pres. Hinckley you can cite in future, if you wish.

More on topic, I'm voting for Jeb Stuart myself

[wesw]

oh my, promoting health thru nutrition. oh the horror!

sounds like the kind of thing a good liberal would jump on.....

sounds like Michele Obama....

try again.....

[wesw]

jim, you do realize that 8 of those 16 years of incompetence were completed by another one of those governors?

[Crackpot]

At least he's consistent in his acceptance of consumer fraud.

[Crackpot]

Wes, Could I interest you in purchasing a bridge?

[wesw]

hey, I m not the one who bought the magic socks....

[wesw]

....or voted for the guy who brought us the health insurance co support act

[wesw]

I still think that health care is our most pressing domestic issue, other than the politics of division.

I support the old single payer thing.

I think dr ben may have insight into health care, and could he really be worse than Obama in foreign policy?

[Gob]

Wes, please could you not do multiple consecutive posts. If no one has commented following your last post, it is acceptable, indeed encouraged, that you just edit and add to your original post.

[MajGenl.Meade]

You're a hopeless optimist? I never woulda thought that...