Most politicians go to great lengths to cultivate a carefully constructed image. Donald Trump has made himself the candidate who says what others are thinking but are afraid to say. Jeb Bush has made it a point to distance himself from his brother’s policies.
In contrast to every other candidate except Trump, Ben Carson’s appeal hinges on being an outsider — that is, not a politician. Specifically, it hinges on his inspiring biography, which was adapted into the movie "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story," starring Cuba Gooding Jr.
Carson’s campaign portrays him as the one genuine candidate who speaks his mind, which has helped him to overcome previous criticism over his lack of experience. Some of his claims have no basis in fact, but it’s seen as a genuine mistake or misinterpretation, rather than outright deception. This makes him one of the few candidates to successfully pull this off. If Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio or even Hillary Clinton touted such misinformation as fact, they would never live it down.
However, it would seem as though Ben Carson’s lies have been exposed. Even though he never said outright he applied and was awarded a scholarship to West Point, he implied an offer was on the table, and if he tried to apply, the officers he met with could have helped him get in. From this point on, everything he says will be heavily scrutinized, but it’s too early to tell what the lasting effects of this controversy will be. There’s something that makes one politician able to weather such a storm, while it could be potentially career-ruining for another.
When there’s even a hint of secrecy around Clinton, there’s a scandal, just as there was with her emails. Though everything she did was seemingly above board, it was probably not a good idea for her to host her emails on her own server using her own email address, especially when the line between the U.S. Department of State and Clinton Foundation business could be easily blurred. People are less likely to believe Clinton made an honest mistake because they see her as calculating.
Joe Biden is another good example of this phenomenon. Despite instances where Biden has been called out on a lie, such as when he touted his high law-school ranking, he has managed to bounce back. When it came out that Biden had leaked the anecdote about his dying son telling him to run for president, it wasn’t heavily covered by the media. This was a way for Biden to test the waters and see if his candidacy was viable, but the media did not hone in on that aspect of the story. An incident that would come off as cold and calculating from Clinton left Biden fresh as a rose.
While Clinton, Bush, Rubio, Bernie Sanders and most of the other candidates have political experience, Carson is running on his story, a bootstraps narrative many Republicans like to hear. His lies, or exaggerations, have the potential to discredit him completely. Carson and Trump have the similar appeal of not being career politicians, which means it would be easy for Carson's supporters to flock to Trump.
While Republicans continue to scream about liberal media bias, especially because they were unhappy with the moderators at the previous debate, the media has been unfair on both sides of American politics. Carson is just as heavily scrutinized as Clinton. It’s unfair to ask the media to be less harsh on either political party.
Nicole Dan is a UF political science sophomore. Her column appears on Mondays.
