Why Do We Care About This Ben Carson Story Anyway?

On Friday afternoon, the national press corps went into a collective furor over news that Dr. Ben Carson, a leading GOP presidential candidate, had misrepresented a part of his biography.

In his book and later on the campaign trail, Carson had claimed he received a scholarship offer to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. On Friday, Politico reported the academy could find no records of such an offer ever being made. Carson’s campaign subsequently confirmed that Carson’s recollection, which he’s repeated many times, was incorrect -- although the campaign also said the difference between Carson’s statements and the real story was largely semantic.