What’s in a history? Well, a lot. But what’s in a autobiography? Depends. If you’re Ben Carson, it’s chock-full of stuff. More importantly, it’s a brimming autobiography that helped launch Carson into several spotlights. Now that he’s sitting in the national spotlight as a very legitimate candidate for president, his autobiography has become that much more important. And now, it’s clear that at least some of this pivotal document is inaccurate, straight from the horse’s mouth.

What’s the big deal, it’s Ben Carson. The neurosurgeon extraordinaire. And yeah, that all totally checks out. Rewind a bit, and you’ll find a factoid that Carson (and his supporters) have not failed to march out at any chance to do so. The factoid marched because it was from West Point, or rather, the claim that Carson was offered a full scholarship to West Point. Politico ran a (very messy) article “exposing” some less than factual details in Carson’s autobiographies. Their claims were a tad under-supported. One of Politico’s claims that is supportable is Carson wasn’t actually offered a full scholarship to West Point. The reason that this can be checked is because, as you might expect, to even be considered for West Point is an incredibly complicated, well-documented process involving political nominations and the like.

Carson was, in fact, the highest-ranking ROTC member in Detroit while in high school. He did go into medicine and eventually separate Siamese twins. He is now running for president. So what? Is it really that important? There are a couple things to consider when analyzing if this is actually important. One, his book sold like hot cakes. It made him a semi-household name and made a lot of money, two key ingredients when running for president. Two, his “scholarship” was quoted by influential conservative journals like THE conservative journal, National Review. So his name got out there, among the politically active and the avid autobiography readers.

Whether all this matters is up in the air. Maybe Ben just has a terrible memory. Ethical standards are something to consider when voting for the leader of your nation, however, especially if they weren’t in politics at the time. Ben’s reaction to the situation has been interesting, and maybe equally important. When first presented with the allegations, he pretty much freaked… Or at least had a calm, Carson freak out.