Hmmm ...CNN doubting Carson's "violent past transformation"

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Said they talked to 10 people who knew him back then. They described him as calm, collected, friendly, pocket-protector nerdy type.

None of 9 knew anything about any violence. Only one, might have heard some rumors, maybe. Odd that the incidents he described wouldn't have been heard by all.

CNN asking Carson campaign to identify the people he hurt - like hit with a baseball bat - to no avail.

Carson claims he had a big transformation from violence to calm

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. Dr. Carson and Mr. Hyde?

[cwydro]

2. Yeah, I watched that bit.

Apparently, he grew up in a very close-knit neighborhood where parents would discipline kids other than their own if they witnessed misbehavior. Behavior that involved hitting another child with a baseball bat would have been widely known.

This guy is so weird...who brags about a violent past?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

10. sounds like this guy is seriously under-vetted. I am going to go broke

buying popcorn on this year's GOP race !!

[CanonRay]

3. He just makes shit up, just like Carly

They are all a bunch of liars.

[brush]

6. I think you're right.

He just made that stuff up because he was being criticized for being so boring and putting people to sleep with his somnambulism.

He was trying to make himself seem exciting.

A miscalculation of course, who wants a baseball bat-wielding, brick throwing, attempted stabber as their president.

If he somehow gets the repug nomination, you just know that stuff will be blasted all over in campaign ads by the Dem nominee.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. LOL ! "Who wants a baseball bat-wielding, brick throwing, attempted

stabber as their president" LOL

He should have said "I used to pull the tags that say you go to jail if you take off pillows" and now I don't.

Kinda reminds me of the Maher bit making fun of the question about "what's your weakness" said something like "I work so hard I don't have time to cash my paychecks."

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. consider the source, but Carly's ex-husband (during college years)

said don't believe anything she says. Especially the bit about Secretary to CEO she brags about. He said she took a job as a secretary when in college to make ends meet while she switched her major from law (daddy's choice) to business.

[Codeine]

4. He will bust a neurosurgical cap in your ass. nt

[ryan_cats]

5. Of

Of course he's a bad *ss, and like all bad *sses, he'll tell you all about his badness.

What year did Thorazine become available?

[tblue37]

8. Well, he IS bad in many ways, and he IS an ass, so . . . nt

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. First synthesized on December 11, 1951

[caraher]

11. I think people are missing something important

The story is crucial to his appeal to "evangelicals" who eat up "conversion stories." And it feeds into all their stereotypical assumptions (e.g. he must have a natural tendency to be a "thug&quot .

A big part of his popularity IS this story - he was lost and is found. He was a thug then found religion, and it washed away his thuggery and left behind the calm cool sleep-inducing surgeon we see today. And it also feeds their ideology - what poor minorities in the inner city need isn't economic justice or government assistance but a good heart-to-heart with Jesus.

There's no mystery at all as to why he plays up (at best - more likely, makes up) tales of a violent past. Bright, shy nerdy child grows to be soft-spoken surgeon and now politician is not inspiring to the Republican base.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. Interesting take ! Funny, he doesn't seem savvy enough to

make up a story huh. Have to say, and I know I am generalizing, but lots of the right wing nuts I have met seem to be more accepting of physical violence - opening up cans of whoop-ass seems cool to them.

[caraher]

13. I think they're all grifters

Huckabee, Palin... they just want to make a name for themselves among the gullible whom they can shake down endlessly. It's a lucrative career path on the right...

Also: he has probably convinced himself, by now, that the story is true. Who knows whether he even made it up himself?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

14. I was just thinking too - maybe a nerdy soft-spoken guy might secretly wish

he was a bad ass

[loyalsister]

15. The story of "Overcoming Blackness"

I can remember the storyline in a lot of TV shows (from the 70s and 80s especially) that featured Black and white characters interactions.

The happy ending always seemed to involve the Black character letting go of anger and joining the white character's circle.