Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's New Day on CNN, Candy Carson -- wife of GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson -- complained about the tendency for the media to "attack people with untruths," asserting that "some of the media is unethical," when she was asked about the scrutiny her husband has received during the campaign.
After Carson spent some time talking about her new book, A Doctor in the House: My Life with Ben Carson, CNN co-host Alisyn Camerota, whose own network spearheaded the questioning of Dr. Carson's story of being a violent youth who reformed his life, raised the issue at about 7:45 a.m. ET as she asked:
As you say, writing a book is a personal experience, and it also does open people up to scrutiny of your life, as what happened with Dr. Carson when there were questions about his own autobiography and his childhood and his past. What was that like for you to hear people scrutinizing that and questioning that?
Carson began:
Well, not so much scrutinizing, I mean, and saying it was false, and this is something that has happened in his life. And it's true. I know it's true.
After the CNN host jumped in to ask, "His violent past, meaning?" Carson continued:
Yeah, that and some of the other things they said about West Point and so on. But the thing of it is, when the media discovers that it's true, and they found the written word that proves it, then they don't say anything. They don't say, "Oh, we made a mistake there." You don't hear that. So it's really not fair in the way that they will attack people with untruths without checking, you know, to make sure that it's untrue.
Camerota followed up:
So was it frustrating for you when questions arise not to be able to, you know, I don't know if you were tempted to go out and sort of speak on his behalf or to hold interviews. What was it like to sit by and watch that, all of that moment?
Dr. Carson's wife responded:
It, you know, it's hurtful, but then again, we understand that even though the media is the one business that's protected by our Constitution, some of the media is unethical, so it's something you kind of come to expect now, and he's been talking about how, "Listen to what I say, not what they say I say," so if you want to know what Ben Carson is about, listen to what he actually says and not what people are reporting that he says.
