Is this true?? - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

PaulS · 11-09-2015, 12:11 PM

The Detroit news:

Carlisle, Pa. — Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s published account of having dinner with a top commander in the Vietnam War after marching in a Memorial Day parade in 1969 as a high school ROTC cadet in Detroit does not match historical records.

In Carson’s 1990 best-selling autobiography, “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story,” the neurosurgeon tells of being offered a scholarship to West Point as a high school senior sometime after having dinner with the U.S. Army’s chief of staff, Gen. William Westmoreland, on Memorial Day 1969.

But Westmoreland’s personal schedule shows the general was not in Detroit on Memorial Day or during the days preceding and following the holiday. His schedule says he was in and around Washington, D.C., that weekend, according to Army archives The Detroit News reviewed Friday.

Carson’s compelling life story of escaping poverty in Detroit to become a world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon is facing increased scrutiny as new polls show him at the top of the GOP presidential candidate field. It also comes a few days before Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee.

Carson acknowledged Friday he never sought admission to West Point and was informally offered a scholarship that he later didn’t pursue.

“I interpreted it as an offer,” Carson said Friday night during a televised press conference from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. “... I never said I received a full scholarship.”

In his autobiography, which was the basis of a movie about Carson’s life, Carson wrote that the dinner with Westmoreland took place after he “marched at the head of the Memorial Day parade.”

“I felt so proud, my chest bursting with ribbons and braids of every kind,” said Carson, who was a top ROTC cadet at Detroit’s former Southwestern High School.

Westmoreland’s Memorial Day schedule on May 30, 1969, indicates he was in Washington. The schedule says Westmoreland had a morning meeting with national security adviser Henry Kissinger, laid a wreath at an 11 a.m. memorial service in Arlington National Cemetery and had a 5 p.m. “boat ride on the Potomac.”

The Detroit News on Friday reviewed Westmoreland’s schedule for the dates in question among his official papers housed at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pa.

The Army records and Detroit News archival records show Westmoreland was in Detroit on Feb. 18, 1969, for a dinner honoring a Vietnam War veteran. The banquet was for Congressional Medal of Honor winner Dwight Johnson, a Detroit African-American who risked his life “beyond the call of duty,” according to a website about black participation in the Vietnam War.

Carson spokesman Doug Watts could not immediately explain the discrepancies in Carson’s published account of meeting Westmoreland on Memorial Day 1969 and the general being in Washington that day.

“Dr. Carson was the top ROTC student in the city of Detroit,” Watts said in an email to The News. “In that role he was invited to meet General Westmoreland. He believes it was at a banquet. He can’t remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson’s performance as ROTC City Executive Officer.”

scottw · 11-09-2015, 12:23 PM

so you're saying it's possible they met in Feb rather than May 45 years ago...

wait till they conclude he's been operating on brains all these years with phony diplomas

PaulS · 11-09-2015, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw

so you're saying it's possible they met in Feb rather than May 45 years ago...

wait till they conclude he's been operating on brains all these years with phony diplomas

I'm not saying anything - Carson said in his autobiography it was Memorial Day. He shouldn't get pissed at the press for questioning things that don't line up if he can't get his facts straight.

scottw · 11-09-2015, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS

I'm not saying anything - Carson said in his autobiography it was Memorial Day. He shouldn't get pissed at the press for questioning things that don't line up if he can't get his facts straight.

you called it a lie...isn't it more likely he had the months wrong given the time lapse, the fact that Westmoreland was in Detroit at a dinner which seems to be what he described...and does it matter on which date it took place?

do you recall with specificity what you were doing in February or May of 1969

I realize that General Werstmoreland is no Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright, Rashid Khalidi or Frank Marshall Davis and Neurosurgery isn't quite Community Organizing and ROTC isn't quite puffing with the choom-choom gang...but can we get a grip??

PaulS · 11-09-2015, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw

you called it a lie...isn't it more likely he had the months wrong given the time lapse, the fact that Westmoreland was in Detroit at a dinner which seems to be what he described...and does it matter on which date it took place?

do you recall with specificity what you were doing in February or May of 1969

I realize that General Werstmoreland is no Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi or Frank Marshall Davis and Neurosurgery isn't quite Community Organizing and ROTC isn't quite puffing with the choom-choom gang...but can we get a grip??

And can't you get a grip - his autobiography is wrong. I sure as heck would check my facts before putting something in my autobiography. He put down the wrong date (and stated it was afrer a Memorial day parade) and when questioned, accussed the press of lying. If he wasn't sure he should have just said it was in early 1999.

So if he had the wrong date, it is yellow journalism or good journalism when you check the facts?

Jim in CT · 11-09-2015, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS

He put down the wrong date and when questioned, accussed the press of lying. ?

Paul, are you feeling OK, or not? The press DID LIE. Politico stated in a huge headline, that the Carson camp admitted fabricating the whole scholarship to them. What Carson challenged Politico on that, they immediately changed the headline, removed their assertion that anyone in the team admitted anything to them.

Politico lied about Carson's team admitting anything to them.

What don't you get about that?

Also, if checking these things is so inmportant, how come nobody lifted a finger to look into Obama's records? When Obama says "I am not releasing my records", the press said "fine". Those same folks who couldn't care less about Obama's grades, attacked John McCain for his grades, which he happily released.

You tell me if that's fair.