{"id":12888,"date":"2013-03-22T16:37:54","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T16:37:54","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-03-22T16:37:54","modified_gmt":"2013-03-22T16:37:54","slug":"dr_benjamin_carson_s_what_do_you_think_of_rush_limbaugh_tour_continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/03\/22\/dr_benjamin_carson_s_what_do_you_think_of_rush_limbaugh_tour_continues\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Benjamin Carson\u2019s “What Do You Think of Rush Limbaugh?” Tour Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Benjamin Carson is still on the “What do you think of Rush Limbaugh” tour. Now it\u2019s CNN and Jacob Tapper. We move on here to audio sound bites 5 and 6. Last night\u2019s CNN new show hosted by Jake Tapper, The Lead, Benjamin Carson, pediatric neurosurgeon, Johns Hopkins. Jake Tapper wanted to ask Dr. Carson about me, as he had been<\/a> the previous day on Fox.<\/p>\n

TAPPER: Rush Limbaugh says you\u2019ve got Democrats terrified<\/a>. Listen to him.<\/p>\n

RUSH ARCHIVE: I think Dr. Benjamin Carson has probably got everybody in the Democrat party scared to death. It\u2019s going to be really hard to demonize this guy — really, really hard — partially because of his race, but not just because he\u2019s African-American. It\u2019s because you can call this guy all kinds of demonic names, he just doesn\u2019t fit the bill.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

TAPPER: He says it\u2019s not because of your race, sir, and I take him at his word, but I do wonder, as a conservative or a libertarian or independent conservative, wherever you are on the spectrum, why do you think there are so few African-American conservatives? <\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s kind of a disjointed question: Well, I take Limbaugh at his word that he doesn\u2019t think you\u2019ve got people scared because of your race. I mean that, folks. I mean, his race is part of it. The Democrats are totally focused on race, and gender, and other surface identifiers of people. The left totally focuses on that, and they\u2019re going to be scared to death, just like they were of Clarence Thomas. You know, if Ben Carson desires a political career and is successful, he is going to stand as an example that you can become whatever you want, the best in the world at something, and you don\u2019t have to be a Democrat to do it. You don\u2019t have to go through the Democrat Civil Rights Movement to do it. You don\u2019t have to go through Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton to do it.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the threat that he poses as far as the racial aspect is concerned. It\u2019s the same threat that Clarence Thomas posed when he was nominated for the Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas is arguably one of the most powerful black men in the country, and there\u2019s no affirmative action there and he didn\u2019t bow down to the Democrat Party or, you know, play off of what happened, or any of that sort of stuff. He just lived his life. The same with Dr. Carson.<\/p>\n

Dr. Carson has an up-from-nothing success story that the Democrat Party says is not possible in America. He\u2019s got an up-from-nothing success story that scares them because it stands in stark contrast to their message to not just African Americans, but to everybody. The Democrat Party doesn\u2019t want people to think that becoming Ben Carson is possible in America. It\u2019s too unjust. It\u2019s too unfair. It\u2019s too immoral. There\u2019s no way a black guy could become that good and that powerful, not on his own. He threatens all that.<\/line><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another reason he threatens them and that is he\u2019s impossible to demonize. Now, I talked about this yesterday. Why is Ben Carson tough to demonize? There are many reasons for it. Among them is he doesn\u2019t appear to have an agenda and as such is nonthreatening. But he also exudes leadership. This is fundamental and this is what\u2019s scary and what will become even scarier to the Democrats is that Ben Carson attracts people precisely because he simply exudes leadership.<\/p>\n

Look what he did. The National Prayer Breakfast, he stood up to the president of the United States without appearing to do so and certainly without being disrespectful. He didn\u2019t even address the president in standing up to him. He essentially presented an alternative idea to the way the president wants to do things, and it was attractive to people, and that\u2019s going to be frightening. He showed leadership, principle, inspires people, impossible to demonize, and that\u2019s why he\u2019s scary.<\/p>\n

So Jake Tapper, in asking the question says, “Okay, I\u2019ll take Limbaugh at his word that he\u2019s really not talking about you being untouchable because you\u2019re black” and then jumps off to another area entirely: “Why do you think there are so few African American conservatives?” And here\u2019s what Dr. Carson said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

CARSON: I actually know quite a few of them but I think, you know, there has developed a culture where one party in particular tends to be seen as the one that is protecting you, that is protecting your rights, and that happens to be the Democratic Party for many people in the African American community. What I really would like to aim toward is a situation where we get people to rise and to utilize the tremendous potential that God has given them, and to work with each other so that we can all rise together, rather than pretty much having a class of people where we kind of pat them on the head and say, “There, there, you poor little thing. We\u2019re going to take care of you.”<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man. But did you hear how he said that? He could have been talking to the Kiwanis Club. He could have been talking to you and your family in the kitchen or in the living room. It was as casual and as unthreatening as it could be, but it was pointed, it was correct, and it, I think, was inspiring. He took Tapper\u2019s question and he expanded on it: Well, why aren\u2019t there any more black conservatives? And he took the occasion to explain how the Democrat Party actually isn\u2019t helping anybody. “You know, we\u2019re going to protect you. Okay, we\u2019ll protect you. You\u2019ve got the deck stacked against you. You don\u2019t have a prayer in this country. You don\u2019t have a chance. We\u2019ll protect you.”<\/p>\n

Carson wants people to have a different attitude on life. He wants people to realize their potential. He wants people to realize how good they can be, how much they can do, what they can accomplish, recognize their God-given talents, their God-given freedom to rise up, instead of sitting around being patted on top of the head and saying, “There, you poor thing, we\u2019re going to take care of you.” But he says all that in a way that is impossible — well, it\u2019s not impossible to demonize because they\u2019re going to try. Mark my words, they will. They don\u2019t know anything else. The left, if he does act on aspirations to seek political office, they will try to demonize him. It\u2019s all they can do. It\u2019s all they know how to do. They are certainly not going to deal with him on his ideas, like they don\u2019t deal with any of us on our ideas.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Maria in Gainesville, Virginia. Welcome. You\u2019re up first on Open Line Friday. Great to have you. Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hi, Rush, how are you?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Good. Thank you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to talk about Dr. Carson. He actually operated on my 10-year-old daughter two years ago, and he is the real deal. He is one of the most humble people I have ever met. People are saying because he\u2019s a surgeon, he must think he\u2019s better than everyone. He\u2019s not like that at all. He spent so much time with our daughter.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait, wait. Hold it just a second. Who have you heard say that?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, I heard somebody called in yesterday and was reading different comments and saying that, as far as burdens are concerned — and I\u2019ve actually dealt with doctors before who aren\u2019t going to spend very much time with you. But he\u2019s completely different. I think the first time we saw him, we were in his office for an hour, and he spent most of the time talking to my daughter. He asked her about school, how were her grades, what kind of activities is she in.<\/p>\n

He took a real interest in her and that really mattered. You know, she was 10 years old and terrified about to go in to have brain surgery. She told me, “I\u2019m really not that scared, Mom, because it\u2019s Dr. Carson operating on me and I trust him. He\u2019s great.” And he is. He really is. He\u2019s so humble. The way he speaks in his speeches is sincere. The first time I saw him at the Prayer Breakfast, I couldn\u2019t believe it. That\u2019s how he talks to us. Just, you know, like you say: It\u2019s like he\u2019s just in your living room.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I know.<\/p>\n

CALLER: And that\u2019s the way that it is in his office.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I think it\u2019s a key ingredient.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Absolutely.<\/p>\n

RUSH: It\u2019s a fundamental ingredient to who he is. But look, the reason I asked you who said that about him, is this is a hasty generalization that some people make. I mean, there are some doctors who have very, very healthy egos.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Particularly surgeons who specialize in something that is extremely intricate like the brain.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Exactly.<\/p>\n

RUSH: But I think a lot of people have a built-in respect for doctors. Surgeons are held in awe, and that\u2019s a starting point. Now, some people have bad experiences with doctors who have no bedside manner, that kind of thing.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Clearly none of that applies to him. None of it does.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, no, no, no. Not at all. When he came out of surgery, he just said, “You know, everything went great. Things are going really well, and praise God,” he says. He was just a wonderful, wonderful man, and I was pretty sure he was conservative with how much he was interested in education, and I\u2019m a public schoolteacher myself. So I was pretty sure he was conservative. And, of course, I\u2019m in the minority as a conservative teacher, but —<\/p>\n