Ben Carson: Bungling Surgeon

Running for office is essentially being on live TV 24/7.

The hardest thing to do in all of media is live TV.

Politicians come up in an environment where they are always on. So they understand that pressure.

Trump gets it. He understands earned media as well as anyone but people like Carson, they become perceived as gaffe machines because of the occasional flub.

The flip side is that scrutiny gives those successful at handling the pressure a polish that always makes them glow.

So they, perhaps, have an unearned brilliance.

 

To answer your question regarding sponges and the like, hospitals have instituted extensive checklists to try to prevent such errors. There is a nurse whose primary duty is to keep track of all sponges, instruments and the like. Sponges are counted before surgery starts and then as they are used they are put in a hanging sheet of clear plastic pockets, one to a pocket, to make the post surgery count easier. If a patient is to have an amputation, say his right leg, then part of the prep is for a nurse to come to his room before he ever goes to surgery and mark his left leg "NO" in large letters with a Sharpie. They do everything that they can to try to prevent such things from happening.

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so damned ingenious.

 

Agreed. I'd take another Abe Lincoln.

 

Americans need to stop pretending that Ben Carson is a remotely plausible candidate for president. He knows nothing. He's a smart, black conservative, although not smart about anything that remotely qualifies him for the presidency.

Can you guys settle on Rubio and be done with it?

 

I am reminded of the first lines from Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love:"

My friend Mel McGinnis was talking. Mel McGinnis is a cardiologist, and sometimes that gives him the right.

Ben Carson is a brilliant doctor, and, because of that, used to being patronized for all his other shitty takes.

 

He doesn't appear to know what the debt limit is:

Ben Carson struggles to explain debt limit stance - CNNPolitics.com

But let's not overstate his support either. He's at 17% in the latest RCP average:

2016 - 2016 Republican Presidential Nomination | RealClearPolitics

Less than one in five Republicans supports him for President.

 

Marco Rubio is Lane Kiffin. As Lane Kiffin should not be put in charge at USC, so, too, Marco Rubio should be nothing more than a VP for many years to come

 

Even when wrong, your posts try to at least demonstrate some thoughtfulness.

This comparison makes no sense. If you're going to compare someone critically to Lane Kiffen, I would expect nepotism to be a part of it.

How do you see these two to be similar?

 

Lane Kiffin wasn't hired as head coach at USC because of nepotism. Or Tennessee. Monte Kiffin didn't get Lane Kiffin either of those jobs. Lane got those jobs because he's a world-class recruiter and a good face.

Lane got Monte jobs at those places, though.

And Jeb Bush would have a place in a Rubio administration. A nice place, I suspect.

 

Yeah. You really shouldn't even think of running for President until you've completed at least one term in the Senate.

 

Imagine being John Kasich and watching all these knuckleheads ahead of you in the polls, none of them with anywhere close to the same resume.

 

I like Kasich just fine, going back to when he was in Congress.

But, it's not his resume that's being rejected by Republican primary voters. He's one of these guys who seems embarrassed to be a Republican, and his views don't represent those of the conservative base.

Trump tops the polls because of two main reasons, his strong opposition to illegal immigration, and the voter's belief that he will fight for what he believes in, as opposed to what they see from establishment Republicans, who make promises during campaigns, and don't live up to them.