Johns Hopkins’ controversial former head of pediatric neurosur- gery, Dr. Ben Carson, debuted as a Fox News Channel commen- tator/analyst Wed. on ‘The Kelly File’ (with Megyn Kelly, left).

‘The Kelly File’ premieres on Fox
 
By Alan Z. Forman
 
Highly respected Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson Sr., recently retired and now politically controversial, joined the Fox News Channel Wednesday night as a television commentator, debuting on the network’s “The Kelly File” with Megyn Kelly.

An announcement was made earlier in the day by Fox News Chairman/CEO Roger Ailes that the outspoken Dr. Carson had been hired by the conservative-leaning network to provide analysis and commentary across Fox News’ daytime and primetime programing.

The Kelly File premiered Monday night, the linchpin to the first overhaul of Fox’s prime-time lineup in more than a decade. Kelly’s debut marked the 17th anniversary of the cable news channel that has dominated TV news ratings since the beginning of the new millennium.

Formerly known as Megyn Kendall, Kelly is a lawyer and news anchor who has been with Fox since 2004, following a brief stint as a general assignment reporter for WJLA-TV (Channel 7), the ABC News affiliate in Washington, D.C.

Carson retired from the Hopkins in June after serving as director of pediatric neurosurgery at the hospital’s Children’s Center for 39 years. He suddenly became controversial when he lectured President Obama at a National Prayer Breakfast in Washington last February, followed by remarks that were deemed to be anti-gay as he allegedly compared homosexuals to pedophiles.

Carson’s sudden notoriety caused Hopkins faculty and students to demand he be removed as a scheduled commencement speaker in May, and he voluntarily withdrew in order to avoid what he said would be an unfair and unnecessary overshadowing of graduating students’ big day.

Last spring he told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he believes marriage is a “well-established, fundamental pillar of society; and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA [North American Man/Boy Love Association, a pedophile advocacy group], be they people who believe in bestiality — it doesn’t matter what they are — they don’t get to change the definition.”

His comments caused a wave of criticism that threatened to destroyed his previously stellar reputation.

At the National Prayer Breakfast, with President Obama and the First Lady seated less than six feet away, he criticized Obamacare and government intrusion in healthcare and encouraged a program whereby newborn babies would be given a health savings account as an alternative to the President’s controversial healthcare program now being implemented.

In 2008 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President George W. Bush. Recently he charged that he has been targeted by the IRS and Obama Administration in retaliation for his conservative views.

Although having identified himself as independent of any political party, the newest darling of conservatives is being urged by many to run for president in 2016.

“I don’t know what’s happened to common sense in our country but we need to get it back in a hurry,” Carson told Megyn Kelly on The Kelly File Wednesday night.

The reason “we have a divided government” — with checks and balances — he said, is “so you can check excesses” like those being committed by the IRS.
 
alforman@voiceofbaltimore.org
 
SEE VIDEO OF DR. CARSON’S NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST SPEECH — click here.  (Note pained expression of dismay on President Obama’s face as Carson discusses “moral decay” and “fiscal irresponsibility.”)  THEN VIEW THE DOCTOR’S DEBUT ON FOX NEWS  by clicking here.