Carson accuses liberals of stoking ‘religious wars’
Liberals are stoking “religious wars” and racial divisions in the service of political correctness in the United States, GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson suggested Saturday in South Carolina.
The longshot hopeful held the attention of a conservative audience with subdued, off-the-cuff remarks about the importance of religion, his opposition to gay marriage and the need for a balanced budget.
He hardly mentioned President Obama, whom he has twice called a “psychopath” in recent interviews.
{mosads}The relaxed talk, while showcasing Carson’s appeal to conservatives, was dogged by expectations he might deliver another controversial statement.
The outspoken retired neurosurgeon has become associated with extreme comparisons after likening ObamaCare to slavery and the Obama era to the Third Reich.
Carson, shifting between the personal and the political, stayed on message Saturday in an occasionally meandering stump speech that seemed to come together in its final moments with a discussion about religion in public life.
The conservative audience responded favorably when Carson talked about the need to respect phrases like “under God” on U.S. currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance.
“If we begin to take away parts of ourselves for political correctness … we won’t know what we stand for,” he said to applause.
Carson also took the opportunity to frame himself as the anti-Washington candidate.
“If we listen to the pundits and the political gurus, they will always steer you in a certain direction,” he said. “But that direction is the direction that we have been going in for decades now, and this is where we have landed.”
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