CNN's Blitzer Holds Ben Carson Accountable: “You Need To Explain” Comments About Slavery And Nazi Germany

Written by Libby Watson

Published

CNN host Wolf Blitzer challenged Washington Times columnist and potential 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson for past comments comparing the US government to Nazi Germany and the Affordable Care Act to slavery. 

On the December 3 edition of his CNN show, Wolf, Blitzer asked Carson about his presidential ambitions and to clarify a controversial comment Carson made in March comparing the United States to Nazi Germany. Blitzer criticized Carson's comparison, explaining that it “struck an awful tone”:

BLITZER: You've got to explain that, because when I heard the comparison of the United States of America, the greatest country in the world -- the greatest country ever - to Nazi Germany, I said, “What is he talking about?”

CARSON: Well, see what you were doing is allowing words to affect you more than listening to what was actually being said. And that's part of the problem --

BLITZER: All right, so please explain, because you know I greatly admire you and what you've done over the years, but to make the comparison of the United States and Nazi German,that just struck an awful tone.

Later in the interview, Blitzer asked Carson to explain “another controversial” analogy the presidential hopeful made, comparing the Affordable Care Act to slavery in October 2013:

BLITZER: Since you're thinking about running for president of the United States, you need to explain another controversial comment you made back in October of last year. The analogy between Obamacare and slavery. Listen to this.

[...]

BLITZER: So I know you don't like Obamacare. A lot of people don't like Obamacare, but “the worst thing that has happened in the United States since slavery”? You need to explain that.

CARSON: OK, well, thank you for the opportunity to explain that. Because, you know, I've seen particularly in the left-wing press a lot of people who said that Carson equates Obamacare with slavery. I think perhaps those people need to go back to school and learn English. It said the worst thing since slavery. That does not say that it is the same as slavery. Slavery was a horrible thing and affected many people in horrible ways, some of those effects still present today. So, no, it is not the same as slavery. However, what needs to be understood here is that the way this country was set up, the people -- 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 health care 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.