During an appearance on ABC’s This Week, National Review editor Rich Lowry dismissed the media obsession with Ben Carson’s personal biography and stressed that the constant attacks on the GOP presidential candidate will only serve to bolster his campaign.
Lowry stressed that the media critiquing Carson is “going to help him” and pointed out that “in this Republican race that media coverage is extremely important and a negative coverage of a certain type is like gold for these candidates.”
The National Review editor went even further and suggested that the media coverage surrounding Carson’s personal biography has been so negative that Republican voters will view this as an attack on his character:
And this coverage has been so disproportionate, he should have been more precise in some of the things that he said in his book but to most Republicans it's going to feel like a campaign of character assassination.
Republican political consultant Alex Castellanos agreed and suggested that Carson has been given a gift by the media and he “can now run against Ben Carson deniers who say he's not the man he is.”
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman acknowledged that “negative media attention has been a huge boon to Republican candidates.” She then accused some GOPers of peddling “things that are demonstrably not true” but they get away with it “as long as you say them with authority, it doesn't seem to matter.”
Lowry strongly pushed back and explained that most members of the press have largely missed the larger narrative in Carson’s life story, the role that God has played in shaping his values:
But there’s an aspect of this that I think people are missing. Usually when a politician is accused of exaggerating it's to glorify him or herself. To say I was more courageous than I was. This is Ben Carson, the story about his temper, is about glorifying God and telling a story about how God transformed his life. And you better believe every single evangelical voter in Iowa understands this controversy in those terms.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos
November 8, 2015
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about all the week's politics on our roundtable. Joined by Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, Republican Alex Castellanos, chair of Purple Strategies. Maggie Haberman from the New York Times, Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review. And let's begin with Ben Carson, you saw him come on this morning, again taking on the press about all these questions about his past, he says there's nothing there, he said it's going to help him, Rich Lowry, is he right?
RICH LOWRY: It is going to help him. We’ve learned in this Republican race that media coverage is extremely important and a negative coverage of a certain type is like gold for these candidates. And this coverage has been so disproportionate, he should have been more precise in some of the things that he said in his book but to most Republicans it's going to feel like a campaign of character assassination.
STEPHANOPOULOS: From the media?
LOWRY: Absolutely.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you agree with that, Alex?
ALEX CASTELLANOS: Absolutely. The best moment for Ted Cruz in the last debate was when the biased media was unfair, Ben Carson has just been given that opportunity. He can now run against Ben Carson deniers who say he's not the man he is. And this helps him, because we know he's a man of service, he’s a humble guy, peaceful guy, soft spoken. Guess what? He now he has the opportunity to demonstrate strength. He stood up there and he said no, I’m going to call you on this.
DONNA BRAZILE: But look, George, everyone appreciates, and I think respects Ben Carson's life story, not one of us would take I think objection to his childhood and his so-called journey, but the central case of his campaign is not his ideas, not his policies, it's his bio, his character, and so these questions undermine some of the central points that he’s been making about himself. And I think that in lies the danger that Ben Carson may face in the primary.
STEPHANOPOULOS: If they’re true. Danger. Do you think this is going to Maggie Haberman, cause the media in trying to push back and say wait a second maybe we’re not going to go after these questions?
MAGGIE HABERMAN: Probably not. I mean, I think you’re going to continue to see this. I think you heard Ben Carson say to you earlier on this show on this issue of what happened with him in college at Yale, whether he was photographed as the most honest student, he said we found it, I don’t know why they couldn’t. I think there will be pressure on him to release that and put that out. But I do agree that negative media attention has been a huge boon to Republican candidates. Trump has shown us that you can say things that are demonstrably not true and as long as you say them with authority, it doesn't seem to matter.
LOWRY: But there’s an aspect of this that I think people are missing. Usually when a politician is accused of exaggerating it's to glorify him or herself. To say I was more courageous than I was. This is Ben Carson, the story about his temper, is about glorifying God and telling a story about how God transformed his life. And you better believe every single evangelical voter in Iowa understands this controversy in those terms.
