Bush's former surgeon general says he was muzzled

[Sailboat]

@Tuckerfan

Koop was around for most of Reagan’s term, IIRC.

82-89. I concur Koop was a conscientious SG.

Sailboat

[BrainGlutton]

@Kalhoun

That’s my point. If it wasn’t a government position, politics wouldn’t influence what’s said. They should do away with the position altogether and if people feel they need a single voice to guide Americans in good health ideas and discoveries, let the experts appoint someone who won’t be in anyone’s pocket. I think politics and medicine shouldn’t overlap. Not in this country, anyway.

The AMA could appoint an official spokesperson, but he/she would have no authority but that of prestige. The SG is the head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corp. It needs a head – or would you suggest abolishing the agency too?

[grayhairedmomma]

@Cheesesteak

Carmona and every other Bush employee who kept their mouths shut during the first term can go jump off a fucking bridge. I don’t want to hear about Bush’s abuses now, I wanted to hear about them when we could have done something about it, like not reelect him. Thanks for nothing.

Ditto.

I can understand the mid to lower level people just doing what they’re told to do (provided it isn’t immoral). But J.H.C, the leaders need to grow some damn balls.

[BrainGlutton]

If Clinton and Bush Sr. can do charity appeals on TV together, why can’t Bush Jr. tolerate one of his people supporting one of Ted Kennedy’s favorite charities?! How petty are these people?!

[burundi]

This is what really got me from the NY Times article:

*And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization’s longtime ties to a “prominent family” that he refused to name.

“I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?’ ” Dr. Carmona said.

The Special Olympics is one of the nation’s premier charitable organizations to benefit disabled people, and the Kennedys have long been deeply involved in it. *

**
Damn. **How low do you have to be if you’re telling someone not to support the Special Olympics? The Special Freaking Olympics. That’s just…wow.

[Revtim]

@burundi

**Damn. **How low do you have to be if you’re telling someone not to support the Special Olympics? The Special Freaking Olympics. That’s just…wow.

Yet another example of how these folks put party above all else.

[if6was9]

I read this last night here.

@A few not so tasty tid bits

He was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of every speech he gave, Dr. Carmona said. He was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings, at least one of which included Karl Rove, the president’s senior political adviser, he said.
.
.
.
And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization’s longtime ties to the Kennedy family.

“I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?’ ” Dr. Carmona said.
.
.
.
“And I said to myself: ‘I realize why I’ve been invited. They want me to discuss the science because they obviously don’t understand the science,’ ” he said. “I was never invited back.”

He said the science is clear that effective sexual education efforts must offer what he called a “comprehensive approach.”

“However, there was already a policy in place to only support sexual education efforts that discussed only abstinence, he said.

[wonky]

@Cheesesteak

Carmona and every other Bush employee who kept their mouths shut during the first term can go jump off a fucking bridge. I don’t want to hear about Bush’s abuses now, I wanted to hear about them when we could have done something about it, like not reelect him. Thanks for nothing.

Amen.

[Kalhoun]

@BrainGlutton

The AMA could appoint an official spokesperson, but he/she would have no authority but that of prestige. The SG is the head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corp. It needs a head – or would you suggest abolishing the agency too?

I’d suggest abolishing it. A knowledgeable doctor’s word would be authority in the public’s eye. Better yet, why don’t we just rely on the big brains at The CDC? They have a department that acts as a liaison between the CDC and Washington. They can keep the government informed of health issues but wouldn’t be politically bound to anyone because they wouldn’t be appointed. I don’t see how a political appointment benefits the public interest.

[BrainGlutton]

BTW, y’ever wonder why the SG wears a uniform? The Master Speaks.

[Dangerosa]

@Revtim

Yet another example of how these folks put party above all else.

We certainly elected a uniter, not a divider. A refreshing change after the amount of partisanship we had under Clinton.

[Voyager]

@Cheesesteak

Bullshit, nobody prevented him from talking. If he thought it was important to speak out, he could have done so. They weren’t holding a gun to his head, they were holding a job opportunity to his head. The guy had a successful career going before being appointed SG. He’s not some register jockey who needs to take his boss’ shit to keep food on his table, he could have told the administration to fuck themselves and go right back to his old career.

While I agree, let’s remember that the number one set of evildoers here are those who censored him, and who blocked and are still blocking the release of reports, not the SG. The chutzbah of the month award goes to several admin spokespeople who said, after censoring this guy, that it was too bad he didn’t speak out like he was supposed to.

[Voyager]

BTW, here is a thread on the Bush administration and science, from 2004. It looks like it got hijacked into a global warming debate, but IIRC those who claimed the Bushies supported science claimed that more funding (for defense, mostly) proved this.

[Tuckerfan]

The audio’s not up yet, but NPR played a recording of Koop testifying before Congress, blasting the censoring of the Surgeon General’s office by the current admin.

[Ike_Witt]

If only Carmona had gotten his MD from Liberty University…