Carson, Blitzer Spar Over Nazi Germany, Slavery Comments

Dr. Ben Carson, Professor Emeritus of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University and author of “One Vote: Make Your Voice Heard,” debated with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer over Carson’s remarks about America and Nazi Germany and that Obamacare was “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery” on Wednesday.

Regarding his comments that the US was “very much like Nazi Germany” because “people are afraid to say what they actually believe” due to political correctness, Carson initially accused Blitzer of “allowing words to affect you more than listening to what was actually being said.” He continued, “people in Nazi Germany largely did not believe in what Hitler was doing. but did they say anything? of course not. they kept their mouths shut,” before arguing that the government was using institutions like the IRS to silence dissent and that “a lot of people do not feel free to express themselves.” After Blizter again expressed incredulity at Carson’s remarks, Carson responded, “you are just focusing on the words ‘Nazi Germany’…that’s the problem right now. That’s what PCism is all about, ‘you may not say this word, regardless of what your point is because if you say that word I go into a tizzy.’ We can do better than that.”

The two then turned to Carson’s remarks on Obamacare, Carson began by slamming “the left wing press” for falsely claiming he equated Obamacare and slavery, individuals Carson suggested “perhaps need to go back to school and learn English.” He then argued “we the people were set up at the pinnacle of power in this nation. The government is supposed to conform to our will. By taking the most important thing you have, your health and your healthcare, and turning that over to the government, you fundamentally shift the power, a huge chunk of it, from the people to the government. This is not the direction that we want to go in this nation.”

Blitzer then pressed Carson on whether since he said Obamacare was the worse thing to happen in the US since slavery he believed Obamacare was worse than the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, and 9/11. Carson responded that it was “nonproductive to get into ‘is it worse than this, or worse than that’…that’s not the point of what I was saying…the point is a major, fundamental shift of power has occurred.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett