At the Republican presidential debate on Tuesday, Ben Carson called out journalists “misinterpreting” his record. The candidate demanded, “We should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted.” He added, “What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth.”
Contrasting media coverage, Carson highlighted Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi testimony: “When I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that ‘no, this was a terrorist attack and then tells everybody else that it was a video.' Where I came from, they call that a lie.”
Co-debate moderator Neil Cavuto started the question by wondering:
NEIL CAVUTO: Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double-standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign, which you have always said, sir, is bigger than you, is now being hurt by you?
A transcript is below:
FBN’s Republican Presidential Candidates Debate
11/10/15
9:29:08 p.m.
2 minutes and 10 secondsNEIL CAVUTO: Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double-standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign, which you have always said, sir, is bigger than you, is now being hurt by you?
BEN CARSON: Well, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that.
CAVUTO: I’ll just forget that follow-up there.
CARSON: But the fact of the matter is, you know, what, we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth and, I don't even mind that so much, if they do it with everybody, like people on the other side but you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that ‘no, this was a terrorist attack and then tells everybody else that it was a video.' Where I came from, they call that a lie. And I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said, that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the word that they used, but, I have had many people come and say the same thing to me. That’s what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same and finding out what people really think and what they're made of and people who know me know that I'm an honest person.
CAVUTO: Thank you, Dr. Carson.
