Ben Carson: Bungling Surgeon

He figured out how to get into Yale. He knew / knows that he never applied to West Point or received admission.

 

1) The whole "Westmoreland offered him an appointment" is made-up bullshit after the fact. When he was saying he was offered a scholarship to West Point in the book, in interviews, meeting Westmoreland was a separate thing. But now his bullshit hinges on someone who is dead, with something that likely never happened (and never got suggested until he got called on his bullshit). ...and it is getting stated like it is a fact. When he was making himself the star of his story, it wasn't, "I met Westmoreland and he said he would get me into West Point." It was, "I was such a great ROTC student that they offered me a scholarship to West Point. I got to meet Westmoreland. I went to a dinner for Congressional Medal of Honor winners." There is no way that William Westmoreland met him at a dinner once and told him he had a place waiting for him at West Point. Not in the 1960s. Not today. He may have encouraged him to get in touch. He may have encouraged him to apply. He may have offered to advance his application. But this is pure, unadulterated embellishment (i.e. bullshit) that he got called on. That happens when put yourself under the spotlight of running for president.

2) That college football scholarship thing is dumb -- the first time, and the 700th. Colleges DO offer good football players football scholarships. That has zero to do with this, of course. It might have something to do with it, if we are talking about someone who claims they were offered a football scholarship when they were younger, as part of a life story they tell over and over again to embellish their accomplishments, and then people find out that it never happened.