Surgeon General Muzzled

Link: Surgeon General Muzzled

The former U.S. surgeon general discussed how he was muzzled by the Bush administration. You have to wonder how much the "its my way or the highway" attitude has hurt (or helped) things during the last six years.

'"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation's top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee.

"The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science, or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds. The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party," Carmona added.

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Carmona said some of his predecessors told him, "We have never seen it as partisan, as malicious, as vindictive, as mean-spirited as it is today, and you clearly have worse than anyone's had."'

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Originally Posted by photomuse

Link: Surgeon General Muzzled

The former U.S. surgeon general discussed how he was muzzled by the Bush administration. You have to wonder how much the "its my way or the highway" attitude has hurt (or helped) things during the last eight years.

'"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation's top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee.

"The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science, or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds. The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party," Carmona added.

...

Carmona said some of his predecessors told him, "We have never seen it as partisan, as malicious, as vindictive, as mean-spirited as it is today, and you clearly have worse than anyone's had."'

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Interesting question.....I don't know the answer, but it could be quite revealing. It has been proven that a gay life style is undeniably a health risk. I wonder how this guy, who is supposedly politically neutral, stands on that issue?

Here is a longer more detailed article

The longer article goes into more detail into how past administrations have tried to push politics on the office of Surgeon general as well. It has always gone on, but maybe it is getting worse.

I take that article with a grain of salt. If I see it correctly, it came from the NYTimes and who knows what kind of political agenda they are pushing. Media reporting is worse political agenda pushing then anything the president can do IMO.

Why do we need a Surgeon General anyway? Really? To tell us smoking is bad for us? To tell us that eating fast food will make us fat? This is just another worthless bureaucratic government agency that adds to the bloated Federal budget.