Remember early last week when Dr. Ben Carson announced his presidential candidacy by declaring his gratitude that he's "not a politician," which is precisely what a hardcore politician would say? And that Ben Carson is - or, rather, has been - a Tea Party superstar and considered the antithesis of the pandering Beltway GOP "establishment"?
Yeah, about that:
Newly minted Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson told an Iowa audience on Tuesday that he would use the savings from ending oil industry subsidies to pay for new ethanol blending stations.
Carson, in his first speech in the state as a candidate, was asked by a voter about the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the federal mandate that fuel refiners blend a certain volume of ethanol and biodiesel into their gasoline and diesel supplies.
"I don't particularly like the idea of government subsidies for anything because it interferes with the natural free market," Carson said, according to the Des Moines Register.
“Therefore, I would probably be in favor of taking that $4 billion a year we spend on oil subsidies and using that in new fueling stations" for 30% ethanol blends, he added.
Well, I guess economically unviable ethanol is one thing the good doctor does not want to "bring into the free market". Fancy that. And I'll guarantee you that he was coached on that answer by his own - that's right - political consultants, instead of standing on free-market principle, as (to his credit) Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), alone of the Republican field, did a month ago. Which puts Dr. Carson on the same side of this issue as, among other presidential hopefuls.....Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Now is ethanol pandering a bipartisan quadrennial pastime extending back for decades? Sure it is. Does it matter very much in the big political, resurrecting-the-Old-Republic picture? Not really. But is it something typical of a professional politician, as opposed to an "outsider" "citizen-politician"? Absolutely.
Which means Dr. Carson hasn't wasted any time becoming the professional politician his naive supporters urged him to run for president to combat.
You should be proud of him, B-Car fans. Or would you prefer he stick to his principles and just run a vanity campaign (which is what his candidacy is regardless, but still....)? That the Doc appears to be "in it to win it" should make that an easy question to answer, and an entertaining question to watch y'all try to spin.
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