The story of his rise from a small home in detroit to world class pediatric neurosurgeon is the type that makes all of us proud of our country. But some of what he himself has written and said about his background is eyebrow raising. That he once punched a classmate with his face in his hand wrapped around a lock leaving a bloody threeinch gash in the boys forehead or that he attempted to attack his own mother with a hammer, that he tried to attack his young friend spared only by a belt buckle that snapped the blade. These stories are important to carsons narrative of personal redemption. After trying to kill his friend with a knife, he said he found the lord. When you rise in the polls, you get more scrutiny. But when cnn tried to learn more about the incidents that carson himself has described, he cried bias. He told Alisyn Camarota that cnns reporting on his past was a bunch of lies, garbage and an attempt at distraction. And just last night carson said, this is a witch hunt. All you guys trying to pile on is actually going to help me because when i go out to these book signings to thousands of people, they say, dont let the media get you down. Dont let them disturb you. Please continue to fight for us. See, they understand that this is a witch hunt. No, dr. Carson, running for president while telling your life story in a way that raises curiosity, and then not answering questions, thats the distraction. We wouldnt know these things unless carson himself had written and said them. And heres the irony, the net effect of the last few days probably helps him among conservative caucusgoers in iowa, who will both respond to his religious epiphany and criticism of the media. By the way, i believe legitimate cases of media bias should be called out. But if carson or any other candidate tries to cloak himself or herself from reasonable scrutiny on matters raised by their own words, that, too, needs to be exposed. Were picking a president of the United States states here. To tackle the questions ive invite nod liberals, instead three conservatives. Radio host larry elder, blogger crystal wright and matt lewis. Ill get to them in just a moment. First joining me now, shawn spicer, the chief strategist for the Republican National committee. Tuesday night is the next republican debate. According to nbc news and the wall street journal, the frontrunner of your party now is dr. Ben carson. He was on this network on friday morning. Heres what unfolded. Its a bunch of lies. Thats what it is, a bunch of lies. Attempting to say that im lying about my history. I think its pathetic, and basically, what the media does is they try to get you distracted with all of this stuff, so that you dont talk about the things that are important, because we have so many important things. And im not proud of the fact that i had these rage episodes. But i am proud of the fact that i was able to get over them. I dont know if you saw it in realtime, im sure youve heard about it, you have now seen a piece of it. What do you make between that relationship between dr. Ben carson and this network . A lot of times as conservatives, we feel like members of the media want to attack or destroy us. And i think he feels that way now. As far as the accuracy of cnn and the reporting of the story, i havent kept track of the tick tock and i think thats up to his campaign and cnn to go through. I think that conservatives feel theres an attack mode from the media when it comes to conservative and republican candidates. Let me tell you something facetoface that ive said relative to the rnc and see if you differ. I have seen this takeonmedia mentality plays very well with the base. It could help you win the iowa caulk bus but it bodes poorly when youre trying to win over independents in a general election. So when ben carson wont answer some of the questions put to him by cnn saying is this garbage or a pack of lies, hes only delaying the inevitable. But i dont see someone like that trying to defeat Hillary Clinton. Am i wrong . Wait a second, look. You look at Hillary Clinton with the email scandal, benghazi, the level of evasion that theyve had, the attacks that theyve had on the media, thats what i think is the problem, michael. When it comes to rubs everyone says, you guys are so dismissive, its always the medias fault. When Hillary Clinton makes the same claims, everyone rushes to her defense and says, you know what, you republicans have been too tough on her, and shes answered that question. I mean, there is such a huge double standard when it comes to how the media treats republicans and how the media treats democrats. Thats just its a fact. I dont know its a fact its not a question can i say, it may have been a fact 30 years ago when really there were very few outlets. And i would concede to you, generally speaking they were left of center. But Hillary Clinton, the first question put to her in the only debate thus far was by anderson cooper. And the gist it was, how in the world are you going to get elected when so Many Americans feel you untrustworthy . I mean, not exactly softball. No its not. Its one question. As i pointed to you, this idea that were getting softball questions is nuts. That first debate on fox was serious, hardhitting questions. Theres no one, in fact, the moderators in that thing got praised by the liberal media by saying, they did ask tough questions. I think the problem with the Mainstream Media, they dont understand the toughness, intensity and scrutiny and intelligence that conservative media brings to the table. What im arguing that a foxonly constituency cannot get your man or woman elected. Heres one more clip. I cant believe that you used to work on fox and you turned into that. I cant believe that. Im glad you brought that up, dr. Carson, because you also said something about fox news that id like to play from that very same speech. Lets play that clip about your thoughts on fox news. Even if all the media tries to shut you down, which they have tried very much to do with me, but they cant because the good lord has provided me with mechanisms like my syndicated column and like fox news, wed be cuba if there were no fox news. Now, as you point out, i did work at fox for many years. And i do have many friends there still who are excellent journalists. But im not sure even they think without their reporting that we would be cuba. You mean that if fox news didnt exist, wed be a communist country . No. Again, there you go with sensationalism. Thats ayou try to do. And you hope that somehow that will resonate with people who dont think for themselves. Dr. Carson, you said it. Im quoting you. People are a lot smarter than you think they are. I show you that, whether a republican president ial candidate can get elected playing in only the fox sandbox during the nomination process . I dont think anyones suggesting that they do. I think the reason that fox just as a side note, the reason that fox news is so successful is because theyre covering stories, talking to people that the Mainstream Media ignores. And i think the american people, the reason theyre drawn to fox is because of that. No ones suggesting by any means that there be fox only. I think it would behoove many members of the media to understand that part of the reason fox and other places have grown to be successful is because the Mainstream Media, quite frankly, is not understanding what a lot of americans are actually dealing with. People who they respect, issues that they want covered. Do you think that dr. Ben carson has been treated fairly here at cnn . Look, im not trying to evade the question. I dont follow the back and forth between cnn and dr. Carson. Ive had a great relationship with a lot of folks at cnn. I think, by and large, cnn does a great job of covering the news. I cant speak to dr. Carsons relationship with cnn, nor do i want to speak with any other candidates relationship or the others. Thats up for them to tell you how theyve been treated. Youre a media strategist. This is your stock and trade. In a week like this, when theres been a contentious situation with cnn or any other outlet and dr. Carson, do you have direct communication with the candidate . I guess im asking specifically, did you speak to dr. Carson or the Carson Campaign this week as the media head of the rnc, given that hes the frontrunner . No at this point in the game, and our job at the rnc is not to be involved in campaigns making decisions, or strategy, or sound bites or anything like that. Thank you for being here. You bet, michael, thank you for having me. So, are we being too tough on ben carson . Is the media biased against him . Last night, he said the media is getting desperate. Listen to this. Because they have been looking through everything. Theyve been talking to everybody ive ever known, everybody ive ever seen. Theres got to be a scandal. Theres got to be something, hes had an affair. Theyre getting desperate. Next week it will be my Kindergarten Teacher who said i peed in my pants. I mean, its ridiculous. Lets turn to our three conservative. Radio host larry elder, blogger crystal wright of conservativeblackchick. Com and matt lewis, senior contributor of the daily caller. Larry, is this is a hit job against dr. Carson . Is he crying bias where there is none . I dont consider it to be a hit job but another example of media inconsistency. Take the clintons theres no a nofly zone over certain aspects of the clintons lives. A woman anita broad rick goes on tv and makes a credible allegation of rape against bill clinton. One National Journalist asked him about it, sam donaldson. Bill clinton said, ill refer you to my lawyer, end of story. Broad rick also said two weeks after the alleged rape she was verbally intimidated by Hillary Clinton. No one has even asked about that. I ask you, if these were allegations against fill in your favorite republican, george w. Bush, dick cheney, donald trump, i dare say there would be a question or two. Crystal do you agree with larry elder . I absolutely do not agree with my friend larry elder. Why not . I think cnn and other Media Outlets are being fair to ben carson there have been times you havent been fair to our candidates and our party. But heres the thing. Ben carson is the frontrunner of the republican party. I think what this boils down to, ben carson should never have run for president to begin with. He was the darling of fox news. He became a Fox News Contributor and he let that go to his head. Frankly, theres way too many inconsistencies and story after story. When he was a student at yale, he claims a psychology professor made owl of the student retake an exam because his room caught on fire, the exams burned, right . He said the yale daily news even took a picture of him with the professor. Theres no record of that. Theres no record of him being attacked at popeyes. It goes on and on and on. And frankly, well michael, i think hes appeal to the friends of our party, evangelicals, who will not get him in the white house or any nominees in the white house. I predict ben carson is going to fall, fall, fall like herman cain did for a different reason. Crystal, i need to underscore what you just said, that comes from todays wall street journal. Not exactly a liberal oracle. Exactly. So, matt, youre the tiebreaker because larry says there is media buys and crystal says there isnt. In this case, she made clear. What do you say . Yes, there is liberal liberal bias. Yes, the media should be vetting ben carson. Hes in first place right now. And there are lots of questions about his memoir. Look, this is a guy who has built his entire campaign not on his background or experience as an elected official or a governing experience. But really on this very interesting memoir and narrative. And if it turns out, and i dont know, for all i know, he could be telling the truth about everything, but there are a lot of questions. And if it turns out that he fabricated it, republicans might want to find out before they nominate him to take on Hillary Clinton. Exactly. Larry, the thing that baffles me you can have the next word let me say this, the thing that baffles me, does he have a Brian Williams issue . Yes. It seems like the core elements of his story are undisputable. And its a hel almost of a story. Why the need to embellish it like the journalists say, hey, its a question of whether it really happened . One more time, these are perfectly legitimate questions that cnn is asking. All im asking for is consistency. Joe biden when he was running said he was a coal miner. Je biden nerve of worked in a coal mine. Hillary said her mom named her after sir edmund hillary, climbing everybody vest. Barack obama said his mother and father, a black plan, a white woman, inspired to get married have and ray child because of the selma mar inch 65. Obama was born four years before the selma march 65. But larry let me finish, those discrepancies didnt kill their candidacy, any more than these discrepancies ought to kill ben carsons candidacy. They are legitimate things to ask about. Peep enhance their resume. I dont know why they do it but these things are hardly deal breakers. Heres the problem with republicans. This isnt about hillary, obama or biden. This is about ben carson who hasnt just embellished, he seemed to have fabricated core points of his life from rags to riches. I think its a problem, like matt said, do we really want this guy to face off against Hillary Clinton . No, we dont. I dont predict he will be our nominee. I think we have to stop passing the buck on legitimate ontivity when the liberal media tries to be objective. We have to stop passing the buck. Its not about Hillary Clinton. Its not about obama. These are legitimate questions. The issue is media consistency. And there are nofly zones over certain aspects of democrats versus republicans. We ought to quality media out on that. Thats all im saying. I have no problem with cnn asking these questions of ben carson. If hes exaggerated he should be called out. We agree on that. Matt, i want to show you the latest wall street journal nbc news poll because i want to make an oceaning if i can put that up on the screen. I maintain that the tiger in the tall grass is the individual who now sits at number four. Im talking about ted cruz. Isnt this exactly the way that he hoped it would game out . Theres been scrutiny on carson, there would be scrutiny on trump. And that he, cruz, would be there to parse and take all of those very conservative mavericktype voters . I think youre exactly right. I think ted cruz has run a very smart, Stealth Campaign making the assumption that the outsiders who have no political experience would eventually implode. He would be there, the natural inheriter of their support and i think its been very shrewd. I do want to Say Something that has not been brought up during the segment about dr. Carson, thats the politico story. I think its important to put it in context. They had a story yesterday about raising questions about dr. Carson getting a full scholarship to west point. I think they did a disservice to cnn and other outlets who have asked legitimate questions because their reporting was very sloppy. And i think really opens the door to dr. Carson saying, a pox on all of their houses this is liberal media bias. It muddies the waters and really reinforces carsons argument these are not legitimate inquiries. To your point, they do stand by it, although they changed the headline. Larry, i want to can you a question because tuesday night is the next debate. And ive got to tell you, if i were a moderator for that debate, now, ive got the scrutiny, the attention, is it the question fair . Is it a gotcha question . Do you worry that the republican field now gets a free ride in some of these debates because of all of the criticism over these types of issues . Believe me, the republicans are not going to be a free ride. From the media. I think the media still doesnt care about his relationship with bill ayers. These are legitimate questions. If these were the same kinds of questions about republican candidates, michael, i dare say that they that the question or two would be raised about. Its still about media bias. Im not saying you dont have a right to ask the questions. You have every right to ask the question. I just want consistency. Thats all im asking. I think thats fair. I think thats entirely fair. I would say theres so much media out there when youre talk about conservative bias, liberal bias, whatever you want in the marketplace, with radio, satellite, cable, you can find what you are looking for. Ic lent job. Thank you so much. Larry, crystal, matt, appreciate your being here. What do you think . Is the media being fair to ben carson . Tweet me smerconish. Many already are. And i will read some later in the program. Coming up, weve had democratic consultant bob beckel on this show. This week were doubling down, two beckels face off. Bob and his brother graham, an accomplished veteran movie and tv actor, who youve seen in l. A. Confident Brokeback Mountain and leave las vegas. Hes also a conservative that likes donald trump. And he may have been kicked off the debate stage. Hes neither down or out. Senator Lindsey Graham is here. Ill be asking him where will he be tuesday night. dog mmm, beneful healthy weight is so good. And lowcalorie. 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