BEN CARSON'S CREDIBILITY WITH WINGNUTS IS PROBABLY INTACT

You and I know Ben Carson said something ridiculous in an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, but I bet his fan base doesn't:

Carson referenced his medical education and his work at Johns Hopkins Hospital and asserted that the verdict is still out on whether people are born either gay or straight.

"Some of our brightest minds have looked at this debate, and up until this point there have been no definitive studies that people are born into a specific sexuality," he said....

"Because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question," Carson said.

When the story went viral, he did the right thing, as far as the voters he's targeting are concerned: He blamed the media and said he was quoted out of context.

... during a radio discussion this afternoon with Sean Hannity, Carson blamed the ordeal on CNN. “It was a 25 minute interview they chopped, and you see what part they emphasized,” he said. “I did learn something very important: For certain networks, never do a pre-taped interview. Always do it live.”

In the interview, flagged and cut down into a shorter clip by conservative site The Right Scoop, Hannity agreed with Carson that pre-taped interviews allow for quotes to be taken out context or reshuffled in order to cast them in a certain light.

Carson continued: “I simply have decided I’m not really going to talk about that issue anymore because every time I’m gaining momentum the liberal press says, ‘Let’s talk about gay rights.’ And I’m just not going to fall for that anymore.”

Except that Carson is lying about the fact that the interview was "chopped."

The problem with Carson’s attempt to play victim here is that, during that sequence of the CNN interview, there were clearly no jump-cuts and no edits -- just a straight back-and-forth about whether homosexuality is a choice.

Correct -- here's the clip:



But the base won't watch that. If Carson says the evil liberals quoted him out of context, then that's the God's honest truth as far as the base is concerned. If he got tripped up on this question, it's the filthy liberals' fault for asking questions like this.

Carson subsequently apologized -- although I suppose he would have come out looking better to base voters if he hadn't:

In a statement, Carson said he "realized that my choice of language does not reflect fully my heart on gay issues."

"I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended," he added.

But I'm sure it won't be a big deal. They'll just say that True Men and Women of Faith are inevitably compelled to recant when their words offend the jackbooted pro-gay fascists. They'll understand that he did this under duress. They'll forgive him. They'll assume he didn't mean it.