Ben Carson learned a valuable lesson today while speaking at a rally in Cedar Rapids, IA — children aren't the best audience for rhetorical questions.
According to The Des Moines Register, Carson asked a group of children from Isaac Newton Christian Academy in the crowd, "As a fifth grade student, I was a horrible student. Anybody here in fifth grade?"
When the kids raised their hands, he continued, "Who's the worst student?" What was obviously meant to be a simple segue into his riff on going from terrible fifth grade student to neurosurgeon — think George W. Bush's famous quote about being a C student — things got awkward. Unfortunately, they didn't just get awkward for Carson.
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According to Timothy Meinch, a Des Moines Register reporter, before Carson could clarify he didn't really want the students to single out a classmate, "At least half dozen kids point to one student."
W/ crowd of 500 @RealBenCarson just called out to 5th grade class: who's dumbest kid in class? At least half dozen kids point to 1 student.
— Timothy Meinch (@timeinch) January 7, 2016The poor kid was invited backstage to meet Carson. According to the Register, Carson told him he "wants him to become a neurosurgeon." Right now, the fifth-grader — he's been identified, but let's not make the kid's future Google results any more painful — might just want to focus on writing what is sure to be hilarious intro chapter to his memoir.