Well, well, it turns out that a West Point website and other West Point sources say that someone who gets an appointment to West Point receives "a full scholarship," notes Ross Kaminsky in an article in American Spectator:
On Friday morning, the website Politico.com, continuing its steady journey into the realm of just-another-propaganda-arm-of-the-DNC, posted a big bold story, intended no doubt to let the air out of the trustworthy sails of Dr. Ben Carson’s political ambitions: “Ben Carson admits fabricating West Point scholarship.” The article’s subtitle read, “Carson's campaign on Friday admitted that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated.”
After furious denials from the Carson campaign, Politico edited the article so that the title now reads “Exclusive: Carson claimed West Point ‘scholarship’ but never applied” and the subtitle states “Republican hits POLITICO story, later admits to The New York Times he wasn’t offered aid.” In this first stealth edit, Politico offered no editor’s note pointing out that any change had been made, much less one as enormous as removing the word “fabricated.” As the Washington Post’s Dave Weigel (nobody’s idea of a conservative) noted, “taking ‘fabrication’ out of that headline is like taking uranium out of an A-bomb.”
Eventually, Politico added an editor’s note in which they argue that Ben Carson lied about claiming to have “received a ‘full scholarship’ to West Point” because “in fact he did not and there is actually no such thing as a ‘full scholarship’ to the taxpayer-funded academy.” Politico reiterates later “there are no ‘full scholarships’” at West Point.
Somebody should alert Lt. Gen Caslen, the current Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, that his website is wrong.
The online “prospectus” for West Point (see p. 32 here) explicitly states that “As a cadet, you are a member of the U.S. Army and receive a full scholarship…” The website west-point.org, a non-profit organization “connecting almost 30,000 USMA grads, parents, and friends of West Point,” notes the same thing. A book entitled From the Army to College confirms: “A full scholarship paying tuition and room and board is awarded to each student.” Another document from the West Point website itself states, “At the United States Military Academy all students receive a full scholarship…” [emphasis added in each case]
The online “prospectus” for West Point (see p. 32 here) explicitly states that “As a cadet, you are a member of the U.S. Army and receive a full scholarship…” The website west-point.org, a non-profit organization “connecting almost 30,000 USMA grads, parents, and friends of West Point,” notes the same thing. A book entitled From the Army to College confirms: “A full scholarship paying tuition and room and board is awarded to each student.” Another document from the West Point website itself states, “At the United States Military Academy all students receive a full scholarship…” [emphasis added in each case]
This stuff is not hard to find; for the Politico reporter to repeat emphatically that there are no full scholarships at West Point means simply that he did not take 15 seconds to search the Web because he was in such a hurry to torpedo Ben Carson. A half-competent editor would also have found this glaring and article-disqualifying error had he not shared the same excitement over becoming a hero at liberal cocktail parties everywhere. ( Politico’s Friday Fabrications )
Also, David French has a good article on National Review about the media's smear campaign against Carson. Here's an excerpt:
At the same time, CNN’s effort to call into question Carson’s story about his childhood anger issues is both weak and malicious. The network interviewed ten people from his neighborhood about 50-year-old incidents that Carson claims they never witnessed, and now peddle a story raising doubts about claims in Carson’s biography. What? Is it now the case that CNN can interview ten people about decades-old life events that didn’t happen to them and now breathlessly proclaim a “scoop.”
Hovering over the feeding frenzy is the absurd media spectacle of mainstream reporters claiming they’re merely “doing their job” by diving into 50-year-old details of Ben Carson’s childhood. The same reporters who were not just incurious about the details of Barack Obama’s background in 2008 but actively hostile to those who asked reasonable questions about his relationship with admitted domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and his years of religious instruction from Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright. ( Ben Carson: Liberal Media Target Him | National Review Online )
Hovering over the feeding frenzy is the absurd media spectacle of mainstream reporters claiming they’re merely “doing their job” by diving into 50-year-old details of Ben Carson’s childhood. The same reporters who were not just incurious about the details of Barack Obama’s background in 2008 but actively hostile to those who asked reasonable questions about his relationship with admitted domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and his years of religious instruction from Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright. ( Ben Carson: Liberal Media Target Him | National Review Online )
