Matt Gunterman July 10th, 2007

This Thursday Dr. James W. Holsinger will appear before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy.

I plan to live blog the appearance.

Democrats are laying a strong foundation to make the case that President George W. Bush will use Holsinger to advance a radical rightwing agenda of hate and fear.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings today that featured Bush’s first surgeon general, and he had not much good to say about the Bush administration. Here’s a report from Think Progress:

Former Surgeon General Was Muzzled, Censored By Bush Administration

Richard Carmona served as President Bush’s first Surgeon General from 2002-2006. Today he spoke before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and revealed that political appointees in the Bush administration muzzled him on key issues such as “stem cell research, contraceptives and his misgivings about the administration’s embrace of ‘abstinence-only’ sex education”:

[A]lthough most Americans believe that their Surgeon General has the ability to impact the course of public health as “the nation’s doctor,” the reality is that the nation’s doctor has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas. Anything that doesn’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological, or political agenda is ignored, marginalized, or simply buried.

Watch it part of Carmona’s testimony:

Carmona revealed that when he tried to explain the science of stem cell research to the American public, he was “blocked at every turn, told a decision had already been made, stand down, don’t talk about it.” Additionally, political appointees were specifically assigned to “vet his speeches” and “spin [his] words in such a way that would be preferable to a political or ideologically pre-conceived notion that had nothing to do with science.” He was also barred from speaking freely to reporters.

The politicization of “America’s doctor” fits with broader White House efforts to politicize faith-based initiatives, global warming, contraceptives, and the Justice Department.

On Thursday, the Senate will consider the nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to be the next Surgeon General. Perhaps not surprisingly, Bush has this time nominated someone who has repeatedly put ideology over sound science, peddling views of homosexuality that have been rejected by the medical community.

Here’s a press release today from Senator Kennedy:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Laura Capps/Melissa Wagoner
July 10, 2007
(202) 224-2633

STATEMENT OF EDWARD M. KENNEDY ON THE HOUSE’S OFFICE OF THE SURGEON
GENERAL HEARING

WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to the U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the Surgeon General nominee, Dr. James Holsinger, Jr.

“Dr. Carmona’s strong testimony is yet another disturbing account of how the Bush Administration has put ideology ahead of the health needs of the American people – this time in the Office of the Surgeon General. Americans want their families to be safe and healthy. As we consider the President’s nominee for Surgeon General this week, we owe it to the American people to be sure that he will base his policies on sound science and best medical practices, and not the politics and ideology that have put our health care at risk.”

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• Bigotry , Conservatism , Homophobia , James W. Holsinger
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