Ben Carson is right about ISIS and American patriots

You might be seeing hysterical media headlines this morning claiming that Dr. Ben Carson yesterday held up ISIS as an example of of how America should operate, and compared them favorably to the patriots who founded this nation.

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That is not at all what he said. And in order to think he said that, you would have to be so stupid that the only jobs you could do would be toiler cleaner, Democrat congressional aide or member of the news media.

In an address to the Republican National Committee, Dr. Carson lamented the fact that unlike the patriots who would give anything - including their lives - for what they believe in, today's American leaders are all too willing to cave on any principle in the service of political correctness. That is particularly a problem, he explained, because we face an enemy whose commitment to their cause is more like the commitment of our patriotic forefathers, but without any of the virtue: According to The Associated Press, in a speech to the Republican National Committee's winter meeting outside San Diego, the former neurosurgeon praised American patriots for their willingness to give their lives for their beliefs. Then he mentioned the Islamic State group." They got the wrong philosophy, but they're willing to die for what they believe, while we are busily giving away every belief and every value for the sake of political correctness," he said as Republican officials from across the country interrupted him with applause. "We have to change that." Commonly known as ISIS, the Islamic State group has been responsible for hundreds of deaths across the Middle East in recent months. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for recent beheadings of Western journalists and aid workers. One of the suspects in the recent Paris terror attacks claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group.

What is hard to understand about this? The situation you want is for the good guys to have the greatest commitment to their cause. When the bad guys are more committed than the good guys, you've got a serious problem. And that, Dr. Carson explains, is where we are today. ISIS will do anything to win. The U.S. (or at least its leaders, but remember the electorate chose these guys knowing full well their were soft on Islamic terrorism) will do only what is politically convenient, and no more. Carson isn't holding up ISIS as a virtuous example of anything. He's saying we need to get our crap together and step up both our game and our commitment, because the enemy isn't letting up a tiny bit. The only thing you could even remotely criticize here is the notion that Carson chose his words "inartfully" to use a vomit-inducing term that's popular with the political class at the moment. But even that's a load of crap. Any intelligent person can listen to (or read) Carson's words and know exactly what he meant and what he didn't mean. Only a person who's trying to trap him into a supposed misstep could turn this into some sort of gaffe or controversy. None of this is necessarily to recommend Dr. Carson for the presidency, at least not from my perspective. Of course he'd be better than Obama, but I'd prefer someone with a certain type of track record that Dr. Carson simply doesn't have. Given a choice between Ben Carson and Hillary Clinton? Of course, I'd vote for Dr. Carson in a heartbeat. I offer this caveat, though, to make it understood that I'm not writing here as a Carson partisan. I just think people whose words are entirely unobjectionable should not have to defend themselves as if they had said something wrong. He didn't. And unless you're a total moron, you know that.