Ben Carson joins Fox News as contributor

And so, the inevitable has finally become the official with the announcement from Fox News today that Dr. Ben Carson, the Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon turned conservative pundit, has become a paid contributor.

Carson "is a brilliant neurosurgeon who has dedicated his life to healing others," Fox chairman and CEO Roger Ailes said in a statement. "He also has a broad perspective on what's going on in the country and his wisdom and provocative viewpoints will make a major contribution to our network."

Carson will provide commentary on daytime and primetime programs on Fox News, beginning with an appearance on "The Kelly File" at 9 p.m. Wednesday. Fox has dozens of such contributors. I am surprised it took this long.

In March, I asked Carson if he was talking to Fox News about a job, because I was told by sources at the channel that he was. The Hopkins doctor had made political headlines in February when he criticized Barack Obama and his policies at a prayer breakfast that the president was also attending. Carson had been regularly featured on Fox since that breakfast.

"I would simply say that there is more than one station that has asked if I would have any interest, and I am in the process of considering these things," he said with his typical evasiveness.

In a follow-up April column, I wrote, "I think I know why Ben Carson is on Fox News so much: He's hoping to go to work for Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch ... I wonder if all the analysts who say no one knows what Carson is going to do after retires from Hopkins in June read my interview on with him March 29. In case you didn't, here's a link."

Carson, who left Johns Hopkins in June, joined the Washington Times as an opinion columnist in July.

Carson's status as a contributor at Fox was first reported by TVNewser Wednesday.

A question: Is this the rise and fall of Ben Carson?