The big news in the 2016 presidential race is a new New York Times/CBS poll showing retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson pulling just about even with frontrunner Donald Trump in the Republican primary. Carson has been rising steadily and quietly ever since the first GOP debate in August, but in comparison to Trump, the mild-mannered doctor is something of a wallflower, conspicuously avoiding combat even when goaded.
Still, Carson and Trump share the same appeal in that they are both outsiders. But while Trump is an outsider hip deep in a political melee, swinging at conventional candidates left and right, Carson is so outside that he seems more of a self-help guru or an inspiring Facebook meme than a politician. That's the takeaway from Peter Suderman's review of Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, the cheesy movie about his life that in many ways explains Carson's appeal:
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