During a lengthy interview with Cable News Network anchor Wolf Blitzer on Thursday, Ben Carson refused to answer his questions on whether Democrat Barack Obama is “a real black president" or a Christian.
The clash between the host of Wolf and the Republican presidential candidate began when Blitzer read a tweet from Rupert Murdoch, who is the 84-year-old owner of many newspapers and the Fox News Channel.
The message read: “Ben and Candy Carson. Terrific. What about a real black president who can properly address the racial divide? And much else.”
Blitzer claimed that the founder of the global News Corporation was “clearly taking a swipe at President Obama” in “a pretty shocking statement” that was also “pretty ugly.”
The CNN host admitted that Murdoch has apologized for the comment in a tweet that stated: “Apologies. No offence meant. Personally find both men charming.”
Carson responded by stating: “Well, I know Rupert Murdoch. He's not a racist by any stretch of the imagination. He's just expressing his opinion. I think it's much ado about nothing.”
Nevertheless, Blitzer continued to hammer away by asking: “But he's suggesting that President Obama is not a real black president? At least he did in that initial -- .”
The 2016 GOP presidential candidate cut off the CNN anchor by asserting:
Everybody's entitled to their opinion.
I believe what he was making reference to was the fact that here was a man who is a black president that the black community was very excited about who came in and whose policies have not really elevated the black community, has not been beneficial.
“There's more unemployment, more poverty,” Carson charged, “and I believe that's what he was really referring to.”
Nevertheless, Blitzer again asked: “You believe the president is a real black president, though, right?”
“I wouldn't even get into such a conversation,” Carson replied.
“Well, it's just a simple question,” the CNN host continued. “Is President Obama a real black president?”
Carson again tried to conclude the topic by saying: “Well, he's the president and he's black.”
Amazingly, Blitzer wouldn't take “Yes” for an answer, so he asked again: "So he's a real black president?”
Carson again tried to shut down the discussion topic:
If -- again, you know, we're dealing with semantics. ... I'm the last person who wants to play around with semantics and political correctness.
You know, Rupert Murdoch said what he said. He apologized because a lot of people took it the wrong way. I think there are so many more important issues to deal with.
Ignoring his guest's response, Blitzer plowed ahead: “Because there's a whole history of these kinds of accusations, as you well know, of President Obama. Was he born -- do you believe he was born in the United States?”
“I do believe that,” the presidential candidate replied.
“Do you believe he's a Christian?” the host then asked.
“He says he is,” Carson noted.
“But,” Blitzer continued: “I know he says he is, but do you believe he is?”
Carson responded: “I have to take him at his word.”
“Why can't you just say he's a Christian?” Blitzer asked in an effort to get the GOP candidate to say something he'd later regret. “If he goes to church, he believes in Christ, why can't you just simply say he's a Christian?”
The Republican replied: “I can simply say that I'll take him at his word.”
During the next half hour, Blitzer kept lamenting that Carson “wouldn't really -- he wouldn't say he's a real black president.” He later asked another guest -- Nia-Malika Henderson, a senior political reporter for CNN -- “What did you make of that?”
Henderson replied:
Yeah, I don't even know what that means, that he's a real black or fake black. In some ways, not surprising.
I think that he kind of dismissed what Rupert Murdoch said, that he wasn't a racist because, of course, Rupert Murdoch seems to be a fan -- at least now -- of Ben Carson, so it's not surprising that he didn't want to get into the weeds in talking about race.
In addition to the Fox News Channel on cable TV, Murdoch's company owns the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal in the U.S., as well as Sky News and The Sun and Times newspapers in the U.K.
Carson should be applauded for entering the lion's den at CNN and not making any statement that could come back to haunt him, regardless of Blitzer's constant attempts to get the GOP presidential candidate to do just that.
