Ben Carson wasted no time in his first appearance as an official, on-the-payroll contributor to Fox Wednesday night quoting Vladimir Lenin and Saul Alinsky in his first 50 seconds on air to show what he believes the president is really up to with Obamacare.
Carson, who earlier in the day had been announced as a new contributor to Fox, was on Megyn Kelly's primetime show, "The Kelly File," presumably to talk about a hearing into charges that the I.R.S. had targeted opponents of President Obama.
Last week, Carson made headlines when he said he was targeted after speaking out against Obama at a prayer breakfast that he and the president attended in February.
But after briefly addressing the I.R.S. issue, Carson pivoted on his own to Obamacare, saying, "What's really interesting, Vladimir Lenin, one of the founders of socialism and communism, he said, 'Socialized medicine is the keystone of the archway to the socialist state.'"
When Kelly remained silent, Carson continued, "In other words, you've got to get the socialized medicine as the foundation, because it gives you control of the people. Once you get control of the people, you can do what you want."
So, that's the deeper meaning of the Affordable Care Act.
Compared to Lenin, the Alinsky quote was small potatoes. The right has been quoting Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" book for years to show how "dangerous" Obama is.
Carson quoted Alinsky to show why he believes Obama won't engage in dialogue with his conservative opponents -- because that would "humanize" them. And why he uses "ridicule" to "demonize" them.
The ultimate answer: He's following the "radical" teachings of Alinsky like a programmed disciple.
But the charge that Obama is following Lenin is in a league by itself. The Lenin citation is out there in the ozone where Glenn Beck used to operate before he was purged from the Fox airwaves.
Carson already got in trouble once for what he said on Fox about gay marriage. I have a hunch Carson's tenure on Fox is not going to end happily.
One last thought on Kelly's new show. I predicted success for her in the ratings. By the standards of cable TV, she's a prime-time star.
But she's been talking about how her show is going to be news-grounded -- because she's a news anchor not an ideologue, blah, blah, blah.
You want to tell me what part of sitting there and not challenging Carson while he walks right up to the line of calling the president of the United States a communist is news -- rather than red-meat, ideological rabble-rousing?
Let's at least call your performance what it is, Megyn.