From the DPVA:
Memo: To Interested Parties
From: Brian Coy, DPVA Communications Director
Date: Sunday, November 3, 2013
Re: Cuccinelli Ally Compares Expanding Access to Health Care to Slavery
Extreme Tea Party gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli will hold a press conference call this morning with Dr. Ben Carson, a man who has compared expanding access to health care to slavery, put gay marriage on par with “people who believe in bestiality,” and who believes women need to be “re-educated” before they are allowed to make their own health care decisions.
Virginians are already well aware that Ken Cuccinelli opposes the bipartisan, commonsense access to health care available under Medicaid expansion, has demonized gay Virginians, and that he believes women's constitutional right to make their own health care decision is comparable to “the evil of slavery,” but it's kind of him to give us such a clear reminder less than 48 hours before polls open on Tuesday.
Carson Said Health Care Law is “The Worst Thing That Has Happened in This Nation Since Slavery”
In October 2013, Carson said at the Values Voter Summit that Obamacare the health care law is “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.” [Right Wing Watch, 10/11/13, Video]
Carson Continued: The Health Care Law “Is Slavery In A Way”
He continued, “It is slavery in a way because it is making all of us subservient to the government.” [Right Wing Watch, 10/11/13, Video]
Carson Clarified Slavery Comment, Said Healthcare Law is Worse than Jim Crow
In an interview with CNN’s Roland Martin, he clarified, “I didn’t say this is as bad as slavery,” Carson told Martin, after explaining that he has traced his own family history while studying that of the slave trade. “I said this is the worst thing since slavery.” “Which includes Jim Crow,” Martin responded. “Yes, absolutely,” Carson confirmed. [Raw Story, 10/19/13]
Carson: Women Need to be “Re-Educated about Abortion”
In October 2013, Carson said in his speech at the Values Voter Summit that society needs to “re-educate the women to understand that they are defenders of these babies.” He continued women get “all riled up” about abortion rights because “there are those of us in this society who have told women that there's a war on them because that cute little baby inside of them, they may want to get rid of it and there are people [who] are keeping you from doing that.” [National Partnership for Women and Families, 10/15/13]
Carson: There is No War on Women, the War is on Their Babies
In October 2013, Carson said in his speech at the Values Voter Summit, “There is no war on [women], the war is on their babies, [who] cannot defend themselves. Over the past few decades, we have destroyed 55 million of them. And we have the nerve to call other societies of the past heathen.” [National Partnership for Women and Families, 10/15/13]
Carson Compared Opponents to Abortion to Abolitionists, Said of Abortion Opponents Who “Think It’s Wrong” But Don’t Act “Suppose the Abolitionists Had Felt That Way Back in the 18th and 19th Centuries”
In an interview with the Freeman Institute he said, “But here’s how I respond to the question of abortion – “Is it alive?” Take an endoscope and put it into the uterus of a 20 week fetus and see a tiny creature moving about – reacting to stimuli, having eyes, a mouth, little fingers, the heart’s beating, and all kinds of things are going on. Tell me that’s not a living organism. I just don’t buy it! There are a lot of people who say, “I agree with you. I think that it is wrong, and I would never have an abortion; but I don’t feel that I have the right to impose my feelings on other people.” That may be the response of many people, but suppose the abolitionists had felt that way back in the 18th and 19th centuries. Suppose they had said, “I’m not going to own any slaves. I really think that slavery is wrong, but if you want to own slaves…that’s fine.” If the abolitionists had had that attitude, where would we be now? We have to grapple with these great moral issues, and abortion is an important issue for our generation. You just can’t stick your head in the sand.” [Freeman Institute Interview, accessed 11/2/13]
Carson Put Gay Marriage on Par with “People Who Believe in Bestiality”
In April 2013, he stated, “It’s a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality—it doesn’t matter what they are—they don’t get to change the definition.” [The Catholic League, 4/2/13]
In Speech, Carson Stated Gay Marriage Means “You Get Rid of Everything Else in the Bible, Too”
In an October 2013 speech to the Illinois Family Institute he said of gay marriage, “Think about the implications of that. When people come along and try to change the definition of marriage, they are directly attacking the relationship between God and his people. And that’s the reason it’s so important for them to change the definition, because if you can get rid of that, you can get rid of everything else in the Bible too.” [Raw Story,10/7/13]
Speech Given to Anti-Gay “Hate Group”
In April 2013, Equality Matters reported Carson was scheduled to give the keynote address to the Illinois Family Institute at an event in October. The post read, “IFI is one of the few state anti-gay groups labeled as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for its extreme views on LGBT people. According to SPLC: In 2006, then-Executive Director Peter LaBarbera … told a religious-right gathering hosted by Vision America that homosexuality was “disgusting” and demanded the closing down of all “homosexual establishments.” He called for the repeal of all “sexual orientation laws” — laws that ban discrimination against gays — and spoke of the “need to find ways to bring back shame to those practicing homosexual behavior.’” [Equality Matters, 4/2/13]
Carson Attacked “White Liberals,” Argued “They” Think of African Americans Who Disagree “How Could You Dare Come Off the Plantation?”
In April 2013, the Washington Post reported, “Facing a backlash over his comments on gay marriage, surgeon Ben Carson accused white liberal critics of racism. ‘They're the most racist people there are,’ Carson told radio host Mark Levin on Monday. ‘Because they put you in a little category, a box: 'You have to think this way, how could you dare come off the plantation?’” [Washington Post, 4/2/13]
Praised His Single Mother, “She Never Developed a Victim’s Mentality”
In an interview with the Freeman Institute he said, “My mother, who perhaps had the worst life imaginable, had been one of twenty four children, getting married at age thirteen, then finding out her husband was a bigamist, and being left with two small children to raise on her own. But, she never felt sorry for herself. She never developed a victim’s mentality.” [Freeman Institute Interview, accessed 11/12/13]
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
