Before a packed audience at the Detroit Music Hall, Detroit native Ben Carson officially kicked off his presidential campaign Monday morning.
"I'm Ben Carson and I'm a candidate for president of
the United States," he said.
He may not have the pedigree or the political experience for the race, Carson said.
"I'm not even asking people to vote for me. I'm just asking people to listen," he said. "the real pedigree we
need to heal this country is someone who believes in our constitution."
His plan at the beginning for 2013 was to retire from medicine and spend his days in Florida relaxing and learning how to play the organ . But that all changed
after the speech , in large part because of to the efforts of John Philip Sousa IV ( yes , he ’s related to the composer ) and Vernon Robinson , who started the "Draft Ben Carson " effort .
To date , the group has raised
close to $ 16 million - - more than the Ready for Hillary PAC raised - - has gotten half a million signatures encouraging Carson to run, and has 30 ,000 active volunteers across the country , according to Sousa.
“ I continue to travel around five or six states a week , ”
Carson earlier told The Washington Post . “ And wherever I go there are huge enthusiastic crowds of
people saying , 'You ’re our hope .' That made me believe that I owe it to those hundreds of thousands , if not
millions, of people who feel that way .”
Carson has made a name for himself as a “ tell it like he sees it ” insurgent . This has won him fans for his
bluntness. It has also won him critics for exactly that reason . He ’s gotten himself into political hot water by
saying that Obamacare is the “ worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery,” said the current-day United States is “ very much like Nazi Germany ” and said that allowing same - sex marriage
could lead to allowing bestiality.
The media whirlwind was hardly his first brush with fame . Before taking the conservative world by storm,
Carson was famous for an up -from -his -bootstraps life story in which a young black kid growing up in poverty became at the age of 33 the youngest major
division director in Johns Hopkins Hospital history.
He was the first pediatric neurosurgeon to successfully separate twins conjoined at the head and wrote best-selling book,
“ Gifted Hands , ” about his life .
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr played the doctor in a movie about his life story.
When " Gifted Hands " was published in 1990, the Rev Jesse Jackson wrote a blurb on the back calling him a
“ model to all the youth of today .” For a long time his appeal was so apolitical , he says, that he was offered
the job of surgeon general by both George W . Bush and Obama.
the United States," he said.
He may not have the pedigree or the political experience for the race, Carson said.
"I'm not even asking people to vote for me. I'm just asking people to listen," he said. "the real pedigree we
need to heal this country is someone who believes in our constitution."
His plan at the beginning for 2013 was to retire from medicine and spend his days in Florida relaxing and learning how to play the organ . But that all changed
after the speech , in large part because of to the efforts of John Philip Sousa IV ( yes , he ’s related to the composer ) and Vernon Robinson , who started the "Draft Ben Carson " effort .
To date , the group has raised
close to $ 16 million - - more than the Ready for Hillary PAC raised - - has gotten half a million signatures encouraging Carson to run, and has 30 ,000 active volunteers across the country , according to Sousa.
“ I continue to travel around five or six states a week , ”
Carson earlier told The Washington Post . “ And wherever I go there are huge enthusiastic crowds of
people saying , 'You ’re our hope .' That made me believe that I owe it to those hundreds of thousands , if not
millions, of people who feel that way .”
Carson has made a name for himself as a “ tell it like he sees it ” insurgent . This has won him fans for his
bluntness. It has also won him critics for exactly that reason . He ’s gotten himself into political hot water by
saying that Obamacare is the “ worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery,” said the current-day United States is “ very much like Nazi Germany ” and said that allowing same - sex marriage
could lead to allowing bestiality.
The media whirlwind was hardly his first brush with fame . Before taking the conservative world by storm,
Carson was famous for an up -from -his -bootstraps life story in which a young black kid growing up in poverty became at the age of 33 the youngest major
division director in Johns Hopkins Hospital history.
He was the first pediatric neurosurgeon to successfully separate twins conjoined at the head and wrote best-selling book,
“ Gifted Hands , ” about his life .
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr played the doctor in a movie about his life story.
When " Gifted Hands " was published in 1990, the Rev Jesse Jackson wrote a blurb on the back calling him a
“ model to all the youth of today .” For a long time his appeal was so apolitical , he says, that he was offered
the job of surgeon general by both George W . Bush and Obama.
Gifted hands...always to be remembered
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