Carson: ‘We’re in a different ball game’

Ben Carson in an interview Sunday defended his 2016 Republican presidential campaign following the resignations of key aides, saying, “We’re in a different ball game.”

{mosads}“Well, first of all, whenever you have something that is not working the way you want it to, you have a few choices. You can double down on it; you can ignore it; or you can analyze it and make appropriate changes,” the retired neurosurgeon said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“You know, we have had very good people. They’ve had very good ideas, and no one predicted that we would even be in the hunt. And, you know, a novice in this area with no background, no campaign, no funding mechanism. So it really is quite spectacular, what we were able to do,” he added.

“But the fact of the matter is now we’re in a different ball game, and we need the ability to execute and not just to have good ideas.”

Carson said his campaign “didn’t really have” the personnel to “execute a plan,” adding that he was going to make some “substantial changes.”

“[Campaign Manager Barry] Bennett decided that he could not live with those changes, and that’s OK,” Carson said. “Doesn’t diminish anything that he’s done. I think he’s done a fantastic job.”

Carson also said Armstrong Williams, a key confidant, made some “bad judgments.”

“There’s no question about it. But, you know, he’s a friend. I think he’s a valuable individual. But we can’t have people working at cross purposes, and that’s one of the things that has to be fixed and is being fixed and is fixed, in fact, at this point.”

Read more from The Hill:

Top Carson staffers resign