Bye Bye Ben

Dr. Ben Carson's fifteen minutes of fame seem to be coming to an end:

Ben Carson’s campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The academy has occupied a central place in Carson’s tale for years. According to a story told in Carson’s book, “Gifted Hands,” the then-17 year old was introduced in 1969 to Gen. William Westmoreland, who had just ended his command of U.S. forces in Vietnam, and the two dined together. That meeting, according to Carson’s telling, was followed by a “full scholarship” to the military academy.

Carson's campaign appears to be in full meltdown. His statements about his violent youth are also being challenged.  And, as this video indicates, Carson is really overplaying his whole "you can't trust the media" line of attack. He obviously does not like answering tough questions and is clearly scared of the media, but all this lashing out makes him look like a coward.

If Carson can survive this, then he can survive anything.  But lying about being accepted into West Point just might be a bridge too far for even his most diehard supporters.  As Jim Newell at Slate points out:

Fabrications of oft-repeated biographical details are bad, in politics. They’re especially bad when they involve the military. And they’re especially especially bad when it looks like this is something of a pattern for the candidate. What will we find out next?  If you’re Ben Carson right now, you sure wish the media would go back to talking about the pyramids.

You can read all about Carson's pyramid theory here.