2016 elections - because it's never too early

Started by merithyn, May 09, 2013, 07:37:45 AM

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Habbaku

Quote from: Malthus on November 06, 2015, 11:55:45 AM
Quote from: Martinus on November 06, 2015, 11:52:12 AM
Guys, Carson is right - everybody knows that Pyramids give you a granary in each city.  :rolleyes:

Someone who made every decision based on his or her extensive Civ playing experience would probably be a better choice than any of these guys ...  :hmm:

I'm voting for the guy who gets us to Future Tech III.
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

Habbaku

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/ben-carson-west-point-215598

QuoteBen Carson's campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Dammit, now his poll numbers will go up even further.
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

Barrister

Quote from: Habbaku on November 06, 2015, 12:55:59 PM
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/ben-carson-west-point-215598

QuoteBen Carson's campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Dammit, now his poll numbers will go up even further.

Sounds like a pretty tame scandal.  He says he had been accepted to West Point.  Now he says that as a leader of the city's ROTC program he was urged by Gen. Westmoreland to apply to West Point.  Since he didn't go in either version it's much easier to chalk up to the errors of human memory than in deliberate falsehood.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Habbaku

Oh, I didn't mean to suggest it was anything truly serious.  If anything, I think it just puts him another step further into "bumbling" territory rather than malicious.
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

DGuller

Ben Carson:  "Yes, I lied about being admitted to West Point, but I swear to God, I really did swing a hammer at my mother.  Anyone who says otherwise is a LIAR!!!"

garbon

Yeah, I'm not averse to lying but stupid lies that don't really serve much purpose?
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Berkut

Quote from: Barrister on November 06, 2015, 01:06:22 PM
Quote from: Habbaku on November 06, 2015, 12:55:59 PM
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/ben-carson-west-point-215598

QuoteBen Carson’s campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Dammit, now his poll numbers will go up even further.

Sounds like a pretty tame scandal.  He says he had been accepted to West Point.  Now he says that as a leader of the city's ROTC program he was urged by Gen. Westmoreland to apply to West Point.  Since he didn't go in either version it's much easier to chalk up to the errors of human memory than in deliberate falsehood.

I call bullshit.

You don't confuse someone saying you should apply with actually applying and being accepted. That process is pretty serious, isn't something you can just not remember whether you did it or not.
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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Habbaku

It's up there with McCain's lies about using the line-ups of some football teams during his Vietnam days.
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

Habbaku

Quote from: Berkut on November 06, 2015, 02:18:04 PM
You don't confuse someone saying you should apply with actually applying and being accepted. That process is pretty serious, isn't something you can just not remember whether you did it or not.

I'm pretty sure Ben Carson could forget whether he applied or not.
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

Berkut

Quote from: Habbaku on November 06, 2015, 02:19:03 PM
Quote from: Berkut on November 06, 2015, 02:18:04 PM
You don't confuse someone saying you should apply with actually applying and being accepted. That process is pretty serious, isn't something you can just not remember whether you did it or not.

I'm pretty sure Ben Carson could forget whether he applied or not.

I suspect his entire story about his youth and life before his "Come to Jesus" moment is a lie.
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Barrister

Quote from: Berkut on November 06, 2015, 02:20:50 PM
Quote from: Habbaku on November 06, 2015, 02:19:03 PM
Quote from: Berkut on November 06, 2015, 02:18:04 PM
You don't confuse someone saying you should apply with actually applying and being accepted. That process is pretty serious, isn't something you can just not remember whether you did it or not.

I'm pretty sure Ben Carson could forget whether he applied or not.

I suspect his entire story about his youth and life before his "Come to Jesus" moment is a lie.

There's a whole middle ground between 100% accuracy, and a deliberate lie.

It's how memory works.  Events can be magnified or enhanced as well tell a story, and more so the more often it is told.  Something can be said with 100% conviction, but it turns out to be exaggerated.

Who was that news anchor who said he had been under fire, when in fact it was the helicopter in front of their under fire?  I don't doubt he believed what he was saying.


Back when I was graduating high school I got the package to apply to the Royal Military College of Canada.  I don't think I ever actually applied, but I could have and have forgotten about it.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Berkut

Quote from: Barrister on November 06, 2015, 02:25:36 PM
Quote from: Berkut on November 06, 2015, 02:20:50 PM
Quote from: Habbaku on November 06, 2015, 02:19:03 PM
Quote from: Berkut on November 06, 2015, 02:18:04 PM
You don't confuse someone saying you should apply with actually applying and being accepted. That process is pretty serious, isn't something you can just not remember whether you did it or not.

I'm pretty sure Ben Carson could forget whether he applied or not.

I suspect his entire story about his youth and life before his "Come to Jesus" moment is a lie.

There's a whole middle ground between 100% accuracy, and a deliberate lie.

Indeed there is, but I don't see any reason to believe Carson occupies it.

Quote

It's how memory works.  Events can be magnified or enhanced as well tell a story, and more so the more often it is told.  Something can be said with 100% conviction, but it turns out to be exaggerated.

Or you can just be lying.

This is not an exaggeration - he said he applied to and was accepted to the US Military Academy. That either happened, or it did not.

Saying he was accepted (which would be a noteworthy accomplishment given how difficult it is to get in, and it is an even higher mark of distinction among his base) when he was not is not exaggeration.
Quote
Who was that news anchor who said he had been under fire, when in fact it was the helicopter in front of their under fire?  I don't doubt he believed what he was saying.

I do - I don't think you can confuse being shot at with someone else being shot at - he was lying, he almost certainly knew he was lying.

I can accept that human memory is incredibly fallible, especially when under stress, or when what you are trying to remember is very routine.

I could see someone thinking they were under fire when in fact the fire was directed elsewhere, but they could not tell, but that wasn't the case.

Quote

Back when I was graduating high school I got the package to apply to the Royal Military College of Canada.  I don't think I ever actually applied, but I could have and have forgotten about it.

That isn't what is happening here at all though - he claims he remembers applying, remembers being accepted, and neither of those things actually happened. This isn't him not remembering something that did happen, this is him saying something happened, something hugely momentous in fact to a 17/18 year old kid, and it never actually happened.
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Caliga

I think Carson is lying, which I don't think should surprise anyone... he is certainly well-educated enough to know what the Pyramids were used for, but is lying about that too because he's trying to pander to his base.  So it turns out there is a pattern of lying for personal gain here.  Not at all uncommon to see from a politician (or wannabe-politician, I guess, in his case).
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Martinus

I liked his claim that he healed his prostate cancer by prayer but he had it removed anyway "to set a good example" more.  :lol: