CHRIS CUOMO (HOST): So last night you went out there, you gave your speech, crowd was with you to be sure, but you seemed to perform a little bit of a miracle. You seemed to have come up with the one attack on Hillary Clinton that not everybody wanted to fully embrace. I kept hearing on the floor, “I don't think she embraces lucifer, I think that this was just a” -- and then they would go on with their explanation. Why so heavy handed trying to tie Hillary Clinton to lucifer? 



BEN CARSON: First of all, recognize that this is a very famous book, Rules For Radicals. And on the dedication page, you acknowledge lucifer  in an admirable way, saying that he is the original radical who gained his own kingdom. And then If you read the book -- I don't know if you've ever read it. 



CUOMO: Right. What I did was I read the studies of the book, just to figure out where you were going with this. Please continue.



CARSON: Please read the book. Because it's very interesting how it uses controlled anarchy in order to change us from a democratic republic to a socialist society. 



CUOMO: Right. 



CARSON:  And I don't think that those things are consistent with the principles and the basis of this nation. 



CUOMO: Right, but you seemed contextually to make it like Hillary Clinton is carrying it around in her back pocket. It's something she mentioned in 1969 in a thesis. 



[...]



You also said in this campaign many times, “Don't judge me, Ben Carson, by my worst moments from a hundred years ago.” And you've many times contextualized criticisms of you by saying, “When was that? How long ago was that? Why can't you judge me on what's going on now?” You do not give Hillary Clinton the benefit of that analysis. 



CARSON: Actually, I do, because in the real world, and particularly in business, if someone is doing something that is inappropriate, what you do is you maybe give them remedial training or you demote them. Here we have a situation where you had a person who was the first lady who was a United States senator who was the secretary of state who doesn't have the knowledge or the judgment to treat classified information or even understand what it is in an appropriate way that doesn't jeopardize the country. Instead of sending her for remedial training and demoting her, they're saying, let's promote her to the highest position in the land. 



CUOMO: Legitimate argument. Certainly different than blaming her for what she wrote in college. That's why I'm asking you. I get that lucifer is a powerful term, especially with a group that is faith sensitive, but do you feel that it was going too far in retrospect? 



CARSON: Again, when you look at the principles that are espoused by Christ, by Christianity, and you look at what's espoused by evil, and then you look at things like killing babies, you look at things like redefining marriage away from what the biblical definition is, I think that there's pretty good consistency there. 



CUOMO: Don't you think it's a little dangerous to tie gay marriage, equality of marriage, respect of LGBT with being evil? Don't you think that's a little too far, once again? 

CARSON: Again, that's your interpretation. 



CUOMO: Well, how am I wrong? 



CARSON: OK, what I am saying is that we are talking about electing to the presidency an individual who embraces someone who obviously is not someone who's consistent. 



CUOMO: I'm just saying, it's when she was in college. That's all. 



CARSON: Are you saying she no longer believes that? 



CUOMO: I'm saying I've never heard her mention the man as a mentor in all of her years in public office. 

Previously:

CNN Panel Slams Ben Carson For Linking Clinton To Lucifer: “You're Seeing The Destruction Of An American Icon”

Even Fox News Thinks RNC Has “Overdone” Attacks On Clinton

On MSNBC, Steve Schmidt Condemns Chants Of “Lock Her Up” During RNC Speeches