CNN’s Wolf Blitzer devoted a not-insifignicant chunk of a long, multi-commercial interview with tea party favorite and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson to some of the more outlandish statements Carson has made.
The discussion started out on race relations, Ferguson and President Barack Obama.
“You’ve suggested that the president has made race relations in America over his past six years, I want you to briefly explain why you would say that,” Blitzer said.
“I said that race relationships have gotten worse during his time, I don’t believe it’s all on him,” Carson said. “But I do think there is a problem when you weigh in on situations like what happened with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, saying that the police acted badly. Why not let that system play itself out and let the system take care of that rather than weighing in and creating prejudice in an effort like that?”
Later on in the interview Blitzer asked about his much discussed comments where he warned that the United States was going the way of Nazi Germany.
“To make the comparison to Nazi Germany Dr. Carson, the slaughter of 6 million Jews by the Nazis, the devastation that erupted in Europe and around the world to the United States of America, I want you to reflect to what that potentially means,” Blitzer said.
“Again, you are just focusing on the words ‘Nazi Germany’ and completely missing the point of what was being said,” Carson said. “And that’s the problem right now. That’s what PC-ism is all about. ‘You may not say this word’ regardless of what your point is because if you say that word I go into a tizzy. We can do better than that.”
Then Blitzer asked about the time Carson linked Obamacare to slavery. Carson noted that he said the worst thing since slavery and insisted he never compared the health care law to slavery directly.
“Slavery was a horrible thing, and effected many people in horrible ways. Some of those effects still present today,” Carson said. “So, no, it is not the same as slavery. However, what needs to be understood here, the people, we the people, were set up at the pinnacle of power. The government is supposed to conform to our will. By taking the most important thing you have —your health, and your healthcare— and turning that over to the government, you fundamentally shift the power, a huge chunk of it from the people to the government. This is not the direction that we want to go in this nation.”
Blitzer then asked Carson if he thought Obamacare is the worse than the Great Depression at the beginning of the 20th century or worse than 9/11.
“Well Wolf I think it’s non productive to get into it —worse than this, worse than that — or maybe it’s better than this or better than that. That’s not the point of what I’m saying,” Caron said. “The point is a major fundamental shift of power has occurred. If we continue down that road the United States of America becomes something very different than what it was intended to be.”
