Dr. Ben Carson grabbed the Democratic Party's third rail with both hands Thursday morning, launching a political attack based on his complaint that liberals are 'making people dependent' in majority-black American inner-cities.

Race politics have been the near-exclusive domain of the Democrats since the civil-rights era of the 1960s, and Barack Obama's successful White House bid in 2008 solidified their position.

But Carson – the most prominent black Republican in the 2016 presidential picture – told the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, D.C. on Thursday that the Democrats now see African-Americans' support as an entitlement – choosing to 'keep them suppressed and cultivate their votes.'

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'SUPPRESSED!': Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson told conservatives near the nation's capitol on Thursday that Democrats are keeping black Americans dependent on government, and he's the man to fix it

CROSSING RACIAL LINES: Almost all of Carson's loud supporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference are white – a sight reminiscent of Barack Obama's rise to national prominence in 2008

WHERE'S BEN? Carson is an outsider and didn't make the cut when this CPAC vendor made candidate cutouts to sell

Scores of supporters chanting 'Run, Ben Run!' – almost exclusively white Americans – arrived with him.

Matthew Brown, a New York college student attending the conference, told Daily Mail Online that Carson is just hitting his stride.

'He's shaking people up and freaking people out,' Brown said. 'The days of a lily-white GOP are starting to fade, and the only people who seem to oppose this energetic and thoughtful black guy are teh Democrats. That should tell you something.'

Carson, who led off the conference, couched his talk of a presidential run and committed to little, outlining his positions 'if I were to run – you have to say those things.'

He addressed Obamacare, school choice issues, America's chronically out-of-balance federal budget, the ISIS terror army, Iran and the tax code: 'Get rid of the IRS,' he urged.

William Temple of the Golden Isles Tea Party in Georgia, dressed as Button Gwinnett, the second signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, cheered Carson during teh CPAC conference

But Carson's moves are being watched carefully by Republicans who wonder if America's second black president could actually be one of them – a politician who attacks the welfare state and blames government for keeping blacks from succeeding.

'I think the key is to tell them the truth. No more of this hiding what's going on,' Carson said of his approach to dealing with African-Americans.

'We need to reach out to people who think that maybe being dependent is reasonable as long as they feel safe. And it isn't. It really is not compassionate to pat people on the head and say, "There, there, you poor little thing, I'm going to take care of all your needs. Your health care, your food and your housing. Don't you worry about anything, it's just all those bad people who are causing you problems. I'm going to fix it".'

'That's not compassion,' he said. That's the opposite of compassion. That's making people dependent.'

The former Johns Hopkins University surgeon has taken flack – as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thoms did before him – for opposing race-based affirmative action and welfare policies that helped pull him out of poverty.

He acknowledged Thursday that the complaint gets his attention.

UNCONVENTIONAL: It's too soon to know whether Carson's conservative message will resonate with black voters

'NO NANNY STATE NEEDED': Utah Republican Rep. Mia Love said black Americans like her 'will rise to the occasion on their own'

'I hear some people saying ... "He benefited from welfare and all this stuff, and now he wants to get rid of it",' Carson said, before insisting that 'I'm not interested in getting rid of the safety net. I'm interested in getting rid of dependency.'

'As more and more people hear that message they will recognize who is truly on their side and who is trying to keep them suppressed and cultivate their votes.'

Rep. Mia Love, who last year became the first black Republican woman elected to Congress, said Thursday during a panel discussion about millennial voters that she gets questions from detractors who say, '"I don't understand how you can be a black female from Utah, and a Republican. ... It makes no sense".'

It's 'because I refuse to fit this mold that society is telling me I have to fit into, she explained.

Like Carson, she fed the crowd red meat in the form of a slap at the federal government's 'intrusions' into the lives of ordinary black Americans.

They 'will rise to the occasion on their own,' Love said. 'No nanny-state needed.'