On Sunday’s Today, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd did his best to play up the potential damage Ben Carson has done to his presidential campaign after questions arose regarding his personal biography.
The NBC News Political Director stressed that “we're conditioned to assume regular politicians embellish things,” so questions over Carson’s biography could ruin his image “because his candidacy is built on his personal story, his personal success, his honest and trustworthiness.”
Todd continued to play up the supposed harm Carson may have inflicted on his candidacy because the retired neurosurgeon was “supposed to be different” than traditional politicians which makes questions about his biography a “danger” for him:
[I]f the personal story isn't what he has said that it is, in some form or another, then it can unravel more than it would for a traditional politician. Sheinelle [Jones], we're conditioned to assume regular politicians embellish things. But Ben Carson was supposed to be different. And that's why, I think, it's more of a danger to him than it would be, frankly, to maybe anybody else in this field, simply because of how his candidacy has been built and why so many voters have been gravitating toward him. It's the honesty factor that has been his strength.
In contrast to Todd, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos had a much more sobering assessment regarding the questions surrounding Carson’s personal biography during an appearance on Sunday’s Good Morning America:
I think it’s going to be a question of whether the stories do stand up to further scrutiny. And whether they turn out to reveal a pattern of dishonesty or simply exaggerations that are being trumped up by the press, as Carson argues. That does remain to be seen.
See relevant transcript below.
NBC’s Today
November 8, 2015
SHEINELLE JONES: Chuck Todd is moderator of Meet the Press. Chuck good morning to you.
CHUCK TODD: Good morning.
JONES: Let's stay with Ben Carson here. He's obviously shifted blame to the media. Does it look like he’ll be able to shake off these questions about his past?
TODD: I don't know. And I say this because his candidacy is built on his personal story, his personal success, his honest and trustworthiness. And if it starts coming apart, if the personal story isn't what he has said that it is, in some form or another, then it can unravel more than it would for a traditional politician. Sheinelle [Jones], we're conditioned to assume regular politicians embellish things. But Ben Carson was supposed to be different. And that's why, I think, it's more of a danger to him than it would be, frankly, to maybe anybody else in this field, simply because of how his candidacy has been built and why so many voters have been gravitating toward him. It's the honesty factor that has been his strength.
