Ben Carson is riding high in the polls; in some he is tied in Iowa with Donald Trump. But one little detail: Ben Carson supports amnesty for illegal aliens.  So why is Ben Carson riding high in the polls while Jeb Bush is down in the dumps?

One reason is that Ben Carson is actually conservative on some issues.

He has exposed the #BlackLivesMatter movement as a fraud, he favors a 15% flat tax, exposes the fraud of global warming, and heavily criticized Obamacare. He's articulate, smart, and right on a lot of issues.

Another reason is that Carson doesn't inflame a Republican primary electorate already upset with massive illegal immigration from Latin America by speaking in Spanish. There is nothing wrong with speaking in Spanish, but when the English language itself is under attack by millions of illegals that refuse to learn or speak it, campaigning in Spanish is insensitive at best.

A third reason is that Carson is named Carson and not Bush. Bush fatigue may be a factor.

But the reason I think is paramount is that most people simply do not know that Ben Carson supports amnesty. Ben Carson supports amnesty for illegal aliens. Up until now no one has attacked him or highlighted his record. He's gotten a free ride.

Here, in his own words:

But let’s say we get them sealed, because certainly in a Carson administration that would be done within the first year. You also turn off the spigot that dispenses the goodies, so that people don’t have any incentive to come here. Then those who are here, we have to recognize that we can’t just round them up, but we can give them an opportunity to register. I would give them a six-month period. If they register, and if they have a pristine record, they haven’t been causing problems, I would give them an opportunity to become guest workers — not citizens, not voting people, not people who get goodies. I think that would be a fair way to do it. In terms of them becoming citizens later on down the road if they’ve done things the right way, we the American people will decide what the criteria for that ought to be.

I say that Ben may be like an English speaking Jeb not only because of his position on illegals, but for his generally moderate mindset as well.

He supports ethanol subsidies, for example, which, aside from enriching farmers, only raise the price of both fueling our car and buying products made with corn. Carson supported the Corker amendment, saying it would increase Congress's involvement but which actually reduced Congress's voice in the Iran deal...

In the economics realm, Carson believes that the deregulation of financial markets caused the housing crisis we are in. He seems to be unaware that the opposite is true...

On social issues, Carson seems to be quite liberal. He supports civil unions for homosexuals and says that same-sex marriage is now "settled", as if we should just accept an unconstitutional ruling of the Supreme Court without protest.

In 1992 Carson authored a paper advocating the use of aborted baby organs for medical research, and has defended it in recent comments, calling it merely "tissue in a tissue bank".

Bush is also a moderate Republican, and with these views Carson looks to be about the same. It's amazing that he's getting so much support without the benefit of a $120 million war chest.
But at some point, will the balloon burst?

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.