The latest polling of likely Iowa GOP caucus-goers shows presidential candidate, Ben Carson, leading the national front-runner, Donald Trump, for the first time. What could explain the appeal of this black man in an enclave (99%) of white conservative Republicans? My theory for his success is based on three factors:
1.The man is deeply religious.
Dr. Ben Carson is as fundamentalist a Christian as you’ll find. He is a Seventh-day Adventist; a sect that shares many similarities with Evangelicalism. This helps to explain the significant support he is getting from the large, Evangelical Republican base. (The Appeal Of “Mr. Excitement”)
The doctor is a staunch creationist who has labeled evolution “a myth,” the Big Bang theory “a fallacy” and the fossil record “dubious.” He has admitted God, by giving him a tap on the shoulder, directed he run for the presidency.
2. The man is your basic Uncle Tom.
Like fellow Republican Clarence Thomas, Carson is a man who benefited from social programs engineered by Democrats yet now despises those very programs. Conservatives just love this! There has never been an Uncle Tom they didn’t like. They delight when a black man, such as the successful Dr. Carson, criticizes Democrat-voting blacks as “slaves” on a plantation, too simple-minded to warrant freedom.
Ben Carson and his ilk, whose success and opportunities have come in large measure from standing on the shoulders of those selfless ancestors who sacrificed so much for future generations of blacks, are the classic examples of Uncle Toms.
3. The man is appealing to white racists.
This may seem counter-intuitive, but it does explain part of Carson’s appeal among some white Republicans. Because their hatred for Barack Obama opened them up to the charge of racism, some white Carson supporters take comfort in the fact that they can support this black man. The thinking goes like this, “I’m not a racist. I can support a black man. I just can’t support a black-Kenyan-Muslim-communist like Obama.”
The soft-spoken retired neurosurgeon seems like a nice man. But the more you listen to what he says and actually believes, you see just another run-of-the-mill , self-hating black Republican extremist.
To View / Post Comments
Photo | abcnews.go.com
Charlie says
This years version of Herman Cain.
John DeProspo says
Yes. But a more religious version. Hence the greater appeal.