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- Holsinger's Speech Writer, Left - (Weekly Column)
James W. Holsinger's controversial nomination for U.S. Surgeon General never made much sense. The last thing Bush's shattered presidency needed was another battle on Capitol Hill at a time when support for the war in Iraq was eroding among key Senators. However, after Bush's former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona blasted the Administration this week for politicizing the office, the logic behind the Holzinger pick has become crystal clear.
Bush had to select a new Surgeon General who was a loyal apparatchik and unquestionably conservative, so the president's official policy to oppose sound science would never be questioned. Bush needed a willing crony he believed would filter the facts and selected a holy singer from the same right wing hymn sheet.
The testimony from Carmona in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee vacillated between disturbing and alarming. On nearly every crucial public health issue, Carmona was told either to spout the party line or make a beeline away from the topic.
"I was told to stay away from those [controversial issues] because we've already decided which way we want to go," Carmona testified.
In 2001, Bush made great theater when he visited top scientists pretending to be soliciting their advice on stem cells. This charade continued throughout his presidency, but Carmona confirmed that Bush was never truly serious and often muzzled him when he wanted to discuss a topic that held the promise of helping thousands of Americans suffering from debilitating illnesses.
"I was told to stand down and not speak about it," the former Surgeon General said. "It was removed from my speeches."
What remained in his public addresses, however, was mandated praise for the President and his policies. Carmona was commanded to mention Bush at least three times on every page of his speeches, according to The New York Times. Carmona was also ordered to "water down" a groundbreaking report on the dangers of secondhand smoke that was deliberately delayed for years. Additionally, the administration pressured him into ignoring the risk of global warming, with officials taking the position that the crisis was a liberal hoax.
Not surprisingly, Bush's grossly irresponsible and potentially murderous policy of "abstinence-only" education was suppressed. Carmona said he tried to stress the importance of contraceptives, but was rebuffed.
"However, there was already a policy in place that did not want to hear the science but wanted to preach abstinence only, but I felt the science was incorrect."
In a sickening turn, Carmona recounted how administration officials urged him to snub the Special Olympics because the Kennedy family was involved.
"I was specifically told by a senior person, 'why would you want to help those people?'" he recalled.
So, this pro-STD spreading, pro-global warming, pro-secondhand smoke, pro-Bush ass kissing, anti-stem cell cure, anti-Special Olympics administration needed a Surgeon General to parrot its political agenda. Into this filthy, dirt sucking villainous vacuum emerged Holsinger, a peculiar, homosexually-obsessed Holy Roller who started a Kentucky trailer church with an "ex-gay" ministry.
While this is hardly a rational pick for the nation's "Top Doctor" it is ideal for the Bush Administration. Having just had its credibility battered by Richard "Dr. No" Carmona, the president desperately had to find a "Dr. Yes." A cheerleading lackey was needed to rubberstamp Bush's anti-health policies. Based on Holsinger's backward views, he may fit the bill. I'm afraid if confirmed, Holsinger's press releases might sound like the Toni Basil song "Mickey."
"Oh Bushie you're so fine, science we will undermine, hey Bushie!"
This week, Holsinger's nomination is scheduled to go before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, chaired by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) Presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) sit on this committee.
The biggest hurdle to Holsinger's confirmation is an amateurish 1991 paper he wrote for the Methodist Church titled "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality," which portrayed homosexuality as more unnatural than Michael Jackson's face and more dangerous than a hunting trip with Dick Cheney. The report had all the scientific validity of the propaganda spit out by tobacco companies and the puerile voyeurism found in the Starr Report, detailing Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.
I suspect that Holsinger will try to dodge this troubling paper by attempting to refocus the hearings on his advocacy of reducing childhood obesity. However, America needs to know if his devotion to fat is really just political cover for serving as a malleable mouthpiece in an Administration with a science policy that has no meat.
7 Comments:
This latest fuckwad will probably be appointed too, but at least we have *only* one and a half more years of this outrageous unending insanity! The Huffington Post today has a good article on the testimony of the previous Surgeon General. At first I couldnt understand why he was told to avoid talking about 'mental health issues' (a stigmatized grossly underfunded and undertreated problem) and then I realized, it was because it would hit too close to home for bush and his delusionsal world; not to mention the snakepit of seriously disturbed individuals with which he surrounds himself. Hmmm, it sounds a lot like a certain Austrian who ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. Red V
posted by Anonymous, at
7/11/2007 4:53 PM
Richard Carmona should have resigned his post when it became evident that he was supposed to be another sock puppet for the Bush adminstration instead of Surgeon General.
That having been said; the latest Christian quack being offered a post for which he is not qualified should be torn a new one by Congressional committee. Given his views, that ought to be easy.
posted by Anonymous, at
7/11/2007 5:44 PM
I only hope the Dems grow a pair and block his nomination, clearly the bigot is unqualified and should never have been considered in the selection process in the first place.
What about the Allen & Vitter debacle? So much for the sanctity of marriage and gays being the threat to the socalled institution. What a bunch of sleazy hypocrites. Notice that not one republican or right wing fundie has made any comment? I wonder why? They always remain silent when its one of their own, quite revealing isn't it? My take is, the more they do it, the more they lose the argument against marriage equality when it is they who are the real threat, not us. They do it spectacularly well and lets hope more of them continue doing the same, ditto any Dem too!
So true Robert! Vitter is the shmuck who said he didnt think 'the sanctity of marriage should be extended to sodomites'. By I guess it's ok for adulterers and male sluts with a wife and children at home to drop 3 or 4 HUNDRED dollars a pop (which is what this bordello was charging) into the coffers of a whorehouse. And he's been doing this since the 90s! But at least the hookers they interviewed said what a nice man Mr. Christianfamilyvalues was. He never did drugs (like Ted Haggard) or 'talked down to them'. What a saint! Gary (NJ)
posted by Anonymous, at
7/12/2007 3:03 PM
Yep, Gary. Its really breath-taking, the audacity of these vile holier than thou liars hiding behind religion is quite stunning and they go on doing what they do with impunity. They more they do it, the weaker their argument becomes when it comes to our equality. Lets hope more of them emerge as Larry Flynt continues his crusade to expose them.
I just wish we had a gay national spokesperson to take on these corrupt low lives once and for all, someone of the Larry Kramer ilk who isn't afraid to take them on and say what needs to be said. Everybody seems to be afraid to deal with them. Its sad.
Latest: one of the male republicans who just droped out of the McCain campaign was busted for offering to give an undercover cop a blow-job in a public restroom for $20. I guess he just wanted to increase his donations to Focus on the Family. BARF! Red V
posted by Anonymous, at
7/13/2007 1:59 PM
