Ben Carson Tries to Save Face with Wife After Blaming Her for $31k Dining Set

Ben Carson's doing his best to get out of the dog house -- after throwing his wife under the bus for buying $31k worth of furniture -- but we're not sure this clip's gonna be enough to get the job done.

We got the HUD Secretary Thursday morning on Capitol Hill, and our guy straight-up asked him what he had to say to women who feel he shamefully put all the blame on his wife when Congress grilled him about the pricey dining room set ... bought with taxpayer's money.

Carson deflected our question at first, making it clear the furniture's been returned ... which we already knew. We persisted with a more personal question about the pieces his wife picked out, and gotta hand it to him -- he fired off the best response possible ... under the circumstances.

Still, the ultimate judge of this clip will be Mrs. Carson. If the homefront looks anything like his Congressional hearing, Ben might wanna invest in a new couch.