Ben Carson, of course!
WARNING: the next person who tells me that Ben Carson must be intelligent because he separated conjoined twins is going to get a punch in the mouth, unethical or not.
The award is named for Bachmann because she repeatedly mangled American history on the way to becoming the 2012 Republican Presidential hopeful who most embarrassed her party, her gender, her species, bipeds, and the American educational system. On the way to losing all respect, credibility and the nomination, Bachmann told her cheering, stupid crowds that the “shot heard round the world” was in New Hampshire, and that John Quincy Adams, a little boy in 1776, was a Founding Father. (Bachmann also confused John Wayne with John Wayne Gacy, the serial child killer, and I’m not forgiving that, either.)
Believe it or not, Carson’s award winning statement is worse. Yesterday,on C-SPAN, he said this in his usual inspiring eyes half closed, lips barely moving, droning delivery, when he was asked which of the Founders most impressed him:
“I’m impressed by a lot of them, but particularly impressed with Thomas Jefferson, who seemed to have very deep insight into the way that people would react. And he tried to craft our Constitution in a way that it would control people’s natural tendencies and control the natural growth of the government.”
No, that’s not a slip of the tongue. He specifically mentions Jefferson, and he was not talking about the Declaration but the Constitution, with which Tom had nothing to do—he didn’t write it,he didn’t sign it, and he wasn’t at the Convention.
Dr. Carson’s ignorant, he’s faking it, and he’s an idiot…just like Bachmann, who graduated from law school, remember.
Carson hasn’t bothered to acquire the basic knowledge of his country necessary to become an American citizen, much less to presume to lead it.
When I interviewed for a job, I made sure that I knew the basics about the company or organization I was attempting to join, because that demonstrated that I was serious and responsible, and at least had a threshold understanding of what my job might require. Carson would flunk a basic job interview, even without being scored down for his terrible presentation—you can’t look an interviewer in the eyes with your eyes closed.
Would it be unfair to require as a prerequisite of running for the leadership of a nation to be able to answer 5th grade-level questions about that nation’s history? You know…who was the first President? Which side won the Civil War? Who delivered the Gettysburg Address?
Which founding document did Thomas Jefferson write????
I don’t think that would be unfair at all.
Here Doctor, you arrogant disgrace, watch this (it’s videoed from a TV screen—tough), since you obviously never read a history book:
Ethics Alarms 
Be careful with all this Carson-trashing, Jack. I’d wear an extra-large belt buckle if I were you. 😉 Just as with Bachmann before him, Carson astonishes me in how seemingly ‘smart’ people can be so ignorant and irresponsible.
As with Bachmann, nothing about him seems smart. He’s what uneducated, semi-literate people consider smart in a country that has convinced itself that degrees equal ability and trustworthiness (they don’t), he’s what you get. Carson actually thinks he’s smart, because that’s what people have been telling him all his life. Obama’s a bit like that too. If you are really smart, you realize how little you know and how much other people have to teach you the longer you go on. Not these guys.
It would be fair.
Does the American electorate, as a whole, require this now?
How do you think she would do with: Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb? I never saw that question on a test but then I wasn’t a football player!
It’s also a trick question,, since both the General and his wife Julia are there.
And see… I don’t understand what people saw in him. He’s unintelligent, lazy, bombas…. You know what? He’s Trump Lite. He’s not as bombastic, he’s not as rude, but he’s every bit as uneducated, poor spoken and populous. I don’t understand why anyone supports either of them. There are MUCH better ‘outsider’ candidates.
I despise Ben Carson, but I would give him a little pass here. I would characterize Jefferson as a Founding Father, he was one of our great philosophers at the time AND he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Many of those ideas carried over into the Constitution. Was this just lazy speaking on Carson’s part? It’s hard to tell really. I wonder if he knows who Madison was?
James or Dolly? Or either?
Oscar?
Fred, maybe. Lives down the street from me.
I’m not sure. Whichever one makes those tasty donuts and treats.
jvb
I like Lil’ Debbie, but should clarify that it is the pastries or else I’ll get on a predators list.
I’ve tried to find a way to dismiss this as a gaffe. My sister, hearing that Hillary said that Muslims had nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism said, “Well, she obviously meant Islam.” Obviously? If it was so obvious, why hasn’t she clarified by now? Why didn’t she correct herself on the spot? In Carson’s case, if he knew the difference between Madison and jefferson, and he knows he’s on TV, why didn’t he say the second he heard this crap issue from his pie-hole–“excuse me, I obviously meant Madison, not Jefferson”?
The more you post about your sister, the more I realize that we are probably a lot alike.
How do you two get through Thanksgiving??????
Practice. And we haven’t always. Now I have her ultra-opinionated, smart, California-infected daughter to contend with too.
Because he doesn’t know. Here is part of what he wrote in a Facebook post:
“The current Members of Congress have a combined 8,700 years of political experience. Are we sure political experience is what we need. Every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no elected office experience. What they had was a deep belief that freedom is a gift from God. They had a determination to rise up against a tyrannical King.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/ben-carson-defends-no-political-experience-215549#ixzz3sKyjTrOW
One observation: Everybody is ignorant in something. There are many people who I know who have amazing skill sets in very important disciplines, and who are at the same time astonishingly inept, incompetent and ignorant in other subjects that they chose not to take an interest in. This is not to defend Ben Carson’s presidential aspirations, only to say that intelligence is not and should not be measured by the facts you know or don’t know. Obviously, reasonably good knowledge of American history would be an asset for any presidential candidate, but then too, so would honesty, integrity, the ability to work with others, the ability to understand and learn, the ability to understand and solve complex problems, and many other characteristics.
If we treat all candidates fairly, we would surely conclude that they are all ignorant and incompetent in some skill sets… and maybe some more important than the understanding of American history.
Sure, but this is not the setting to make that argument. When one is ignorant, one should know enough not to hold forth on the topic one is ignorant of. The setting is running for the head of a nation based on a Constitution. Ignorance of the Constitution means ignorance that of the fact that one cannot afford to be ignorant about it. That’s what proves his lack of intelligence.
I had to come back to this because the context of your comment started driving me crazy. Sure, everyone’s ignorant about something, but if someone wants to get a job as a doctor and doesn’t know the difference between a liver and steam engine, he’s irredeemable. If someone wants to be a baseball manager and calls a run a basket, I’d say he’s unqualified. Carson’s whole candidacy is based on the ignorant idea that leadership is different from any other profession–you know, you can just wing it. No, you can’t. And you better know the basics of the job you are in, including its history, origin and traditions.
Yep.
Several clients we’ve dealt with, who are of extreme success *in their fieds* including doctors, will insist on telling us the appropriate actions to take for the health of their *plants* and the environmental quality of their *landscape*…
Imagine if I went to them and told them “hey, you may say I have a kidney problem, but I’m telling you to operate in my eyes!”
Going after Carson? What a freaking waste of time. Nailing Carson is about as easy as scoring with a drunk cheerleader on prom night.
The PARCC examine does not have a history section. In Massachusetts they were going to implement a history section on MCAS, but never did.
If Jefferson had been involved it would have been a very different document.
Exactly.