CHRIS WALLACE (HOST): Kim, Carson says that this is going to hurt him -- I mean rather help him not hurt him, and in fact there are a number of conservatives who have rallied round him since the West Point story came up.
KIMBERLEY STRASSEL: Yeah, I think it might. I mean, there is a difference between vetting and vendetta, and I think that a lot of times when it comes to the press and they are looking at conservative candidates, they get this treatment that just nobody else gets. And it's --
WALLACE: Well I'm curious, do you think that examining whether or not he was offered a scholarship to West Point, trying to find out the truth of that, is that a vendetta or vetting?
STRASSEL: That's probably something worth looking at, but you look at for instance this CNN story that was out where they go back 50 years, and they're looking at all his childhood friends, and asking is this the sort of person you remember 55 years ago, and somehow suggesting that this is an appropriate look at his sort of history and past and vetting. Look, I think the problem for Carson though, and this does get to an issue, the challenge he will have is he made a speech this week or wrote something about how he was the genuine outsider, and that people are tired of experienced politicians, but the truth is that you have an experienced politician, they do have a sort of fifth sense about what you can say and not, they know the media is coming after you. And so they know what those lanes are, and they're careful they don't kind of engage in loose language about scholarships and things, because they know that if they give that opening, they're going to get hit. And he's dealt with a lot of this on his campaign, and it's going to be an enduring problem.
