What follows is a not-too-rough transcript of those scintillating minutes (starting @ 7:25) when Ben Carson turned the tables on the media, pressing them for answers on why they have never, ever, in a million years scrutinized Obama's past the way they are scrutinizing his.
The acoustics, crosstalk and charged atmosphere make it difficult to get the whole thing down, but I think it is helpful to have pulled together and polished most of it.
BEN CARSON:
And let me just say one other thing. I do not remember this level of scrutiny for one President Barack Obama, when he was running. In fact, I remember just the opposite, I remember people just said: Oh, we won't really talk about that. We won't talk about that relationship; well, Frank Marshall Davis, oh, we don't want to talk about that. Bernadine Dohrne, Bill Ayers -- yeah, well, he didn't really know him. You know, all the things that Jeremiah Wright was saying -- ehh, not a big problem.
Goes to Occidental college, doesn't do all that well, and somehow ends up at Columbia University. Well, I dunno.
His records are sealed. Why are his records sealed?
Why are you guys not interested in why his records are sealed? Why are you not interested in that?
Let me ask that: Can somebody tell me why, please?
MSM: “Why do you think they are?”
I'm asking you why are they sealed.
MSM: But -- (unintelligble)
No, no, no, no, no ! Don't change it.
MSM: Chitter chah bom.
I'm asking: Will someone
MSM: ... you think there's some nefarious ...
Will someone --
MSM: You tell me why.
-- tell me please
MSM: You tell me why.
-- why you have not investigated that. I want to know.
MSM: Why are you raising it?
Why? Because I want to know. You should want to know too.
MSM: Why do you --
If President -- wait a minute. Hold on one minute. One second here. Now, you're saying something that happened with the words 'a scholarship was offered' is a big deal, but the president of the United States, his academic records being sealed, is not.
MSM: Well, you wrote it in a book. [Or: You wrote a book.]
Tell me -- wait a minute, tell me how there's a equivalency there.
MSM: You wrote a book. You wrote a book.
Wait a minute. Doesn't matter where it is. Tell me how there is equivalence here.
MSM You wrote a book.
That's a silly argument. Tell me how there's equivalence there.
MSM: A silly argument? You wrote the book.
Tell me how there is equivalence there. Tell me, somebody. Please.
Because you see, what you're not going to find with me is somebody who is just going to sit back and let you be completely unfair without letting the American people know what's going on. And the American people are waking up to your games.
--
Wow.
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And speaking of books (the uber-fraudulent Dreams of My Father wafts to mind), as Jack Cashill reminded me, when Buzzfeed's Ben Smith reviewed David Maraniss' 2012 biography of Obama, Smith wrote:
The 672-page book closes before Obama enters law school, and Maraniss has promised another volume, but by its conclusion I counted 38 instances in which the biographer convincingly disputes significant elements of Obama’s own story of his life and his family history. (Emphasis added.)
Remember the epic White House press corps grilling of the President over that?
Me, neither.
Now, fortified by the bracing words of Dr. Carson, a reminder of the 4th estate's phalanx around Obama, it's time to read the New York Times account of Carson's presser by Steve Eder.
Warning: It's not unlike walking into the snake house at the zoo and watching the insinuations twist and slither.
Mr. Carson repeatedly turned the inquiries back on the questioners. He asked the reporters to explain to him why, in his telling, they had not investigated Democratic candidates for president with the same vigor, suggesting a deep-seated bias.
“I do not remember this level of scrutiny for one President Barack Obama when he was running for president,” Mr. Carson said, his voice thick with sarcasm. “In fact, I remember just the opposite. I remember saying, ‘O-o-oh, we won’t really talk about that.’ ”
Talk about what/who? Does the NYT dutifully report the names Carson mentioned -- Communist op (and associate of Valerie Jarrett/David Axelrod's Communist forbear/mentor) Frank Marshall Davis, Bernadine Dohrn, Jeremiah Wright ? Hah. Here is all the pravda of record reports:
He mentioned the name of a controversial 1960s-era activist whose well-chronicled interactions with Mr. Obama have long offended Republicans.
All by itself, this sentence is a window onto the stock attitudes and responses that make the NYT reportorial and editing team what it is -- and what it is not. Bill Ayers, the violent, still-unpentant Marxist revolutionary -- a "limosine revolutionary," to boot -- is someone dedicated to the overthrow of the US government. In Timesworld, however, he is clean-rinsed into merely a controversial activist. Oh, and nothing to see here: Just "well-chronicled interactions" with Obama that offend ... Republicans.
(Note to Times: Oops! Actually, the script is that there really were no such interactions!)
The main implication for us to take away is: Bill Ayers is not controversial, and does not "offend" Times reporters/editors/readers.
The Times:
“Bill Ayers,” Mr. Carson said. “O-o-o-oh, he didn’t really know him.”
As reporters tried to interrupt, peppering him with new questions [not reported, natch],, Mr. Carson dug in. Why are the president’s academic records sealed? he wondered.
“No, no, no, no — don’t change the topic,” he said, talking over a reporter. “I am asking you, somebody, please, why you have not investigated that. I want to know. You should want to know, too.” (Personal academic records are generally not available to the public.)
Oh, grovelling Democratic Party vessell! The New York Times cannot let Carson's challenge stand without immediately cranking up its own Obama-protective spin.
But, it bears noticing, this is also their own self-protective spin. MSM failure to pursue such questions about Mystery Man Obama is one of the greatest failures of a free press in history. (There are so many ....)
As always, when the establishment is complicit, they close ranks ever more. Only a national figure such as Ben Carson, who commands the necessary public attention while shielded even by just "Republican" popularity, can effectively turn the spotlight on them.
Please, please keep it up, Dr. Carson.