We talked a couple of weeks ago about Dr. Ben Carson, the new far-right cause celbre, who drew rave reviews from conservatives after using the National Prayer Breakfast as a platform to condemn the Affordable Care Act. But the more Carson talks, the more we learn about his strange political worldview.
Take last night on Fox News, for example:
HANNITY: All right, last question, we have the issue of the Supreme Court dealing with two issues involving gay marriage. I've asked you a lot of questions. I've never ask you that, what are your thoughts?
CARSON: Well, my thoughts are that marriage is between a man and a woman. It's a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality. It doesn't matter what they are. They don't get to change the definition.
Obviously, for most decent people, this is stupid. Equating gay people with NAMBLA and "people who believe in bestiality" is outrageous and offensive, and most fair-minded people don't believe such nonsense, and certainly don't repeat it on national television.
But Carson doesn't know better. Dave Weigel raised an important point about this: "Hannitization is supposed to help people. In his long career as a Republican talking head, Sean Hannity has tried to help so many conservative get out of scrapes by giving them the precious gifts of softball interviews. This week, it didn't work."
If the Nexis transcripts are right, this was Carson's fifth appearance on Hannity's television show in seven weeks. In each case, every question was as light as a feather, with Hannity effectively asking, "Why isn't everyone as great as you?"
These interviews were no doubt intended to help Carson, a physician with no political experience, look good on television. But it's also failed to prepare Carson for the basics.
So when he's asked about marriage rights, Carson's first thought is to talk about NAMBLA and bestiality.
In a recent piece on Carson, Jonathan Cohn noted, "Until we know more about what he actually thinks -- and until Carson knows more about what he actually thinks -- the phenomenon is more interesting than the man himself." Keep this in mind as the doctor continues to enter the world of politics.
