Editorials, Opinion Pieces Address Recent Congressional Testimony Of Former Surgeon General Carmona

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Stem Cell Research;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 20 Jul 2007 - 18:00 PDT

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Several newspapers recently published editorials and opinion pieces looking at former Surgeon General Richard Carmona's testimony last week at a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing. Carmona at the hearing said the Bush administration routinely blocked him from speaking out or issuing reports on human embryonic stem cell research, abstinence-only sex education, emergency contraception and other sensitive public health issues. He also said the administration often edited his speeches for politically controversial content and encouraged him to attend internal political meetings (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/16). Summaries appear below.

• Akron Beacon Journal: In his statements on Capitol Hill last week, Carmona "offered a revealing view of the relentless drive within the Bush White House to turn the appointive office into a political echo chamber and the surgeon general into a 'loyal Bushie,' one more wheel in a propaganda machine," a Beacon Journal editorial states. "As the Senate proceeds with the confirmation hearing of Dr. James W. Holsinger to replace Carmona, the former surgeon general's testimony should be its cue to examine the nominee's commitment to science" the editorial concludes (Akron Beacon Journal, 7/16).
  
  
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The White House regarded Carmona more as a public relations emissary than a medical expert," a Journal-Constitution editorial states. The Bush administration "has not only made blind loyalty a virtue; it has made it the most important credential that a political appointee brings to the job, even a job where the health of the American public is at stake," the editorial continues (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/17).
  
  
• Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Carmona learned as President Bush's surgeon general that politics "and a hard-right ideology ... trumped everything else, including -- and perhaps especially -- science," editorial page editor Tucker writes in the Journal-Constitution. "When his four-year term was over, Carmona was not asked to stay," Tucker writes, adding, "The Bush administration instead has found someone more to its liking, [Holsinger], who has written, among other things, that homosexual sex is unnatural and unhealthy" (Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/15).
  
  
• Long Island Newsday: Carmona's testimony shows that "the Bush administration has often led by willfully keeping the public in the dark," which is the "unacceptable result when what should be honest, objective medical and scientific information is politicized," a Newsday editorial says. The surgeon general "needs the freedom to speak based on the best available science," the editorial continues. In light of Carmona's remarks on Tuesday, Newsday concludes, "Congress should find a way to ensure that independence so that future surgeons general can't be muzzled" (Long Island Newsday, 7/14).
  
  
• Miami Herald: A "president determined to shape [health] policy to his liking starts with a stacked deck" because the surgeon general's office is part of HHS, which is led by a presidential appointee, according to a Herald editorial. Although the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is considering ways of giving the surgeon general's office "more independence," such changes "may not be enough," the editorial states. "What can be hoped is that the Senate rigorously vets all nominees and that appointees have the courage to speak their mind and enough integrity to stick to their principles," according to the editorial (Miami Herald, 7/17).
  
  
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "It is clear" that the White House "has sought to turn a bully pulpit for public health into a platform for political positions, and Americans should not stand for it," a Post-Gazette editorial states. Holsinger "should not be given the benefit of the doubt," the editorial continues, concluding, "After this week's disturbing testimony, Americans need no further cause for skepticism in a venerable office shamed by political pressures" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/14).
  
  
• Wall Street Journal: The Office of the Surgeon General was "created in the 19th century with no specific mandate, and it has no real powers besides the bully pulpit," so there is "no reason this megaphone should be exempted from the give and take of political debate," a Journal editorial states. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) have proposed legislation to make the surgeon general "all but" independent of the executive branch, the Journal continues. The bill would make the position "accountable only to ... Congress. What a surprise. It would be better to abolish the office entirely," the editorial concludes (Wall Street Journal, 7/16).
  
  
• Richard Cohen, Washington Post: "In his own way, Carmona is a poster boy for the Bush administration, ... another nonquitter, a saluter who went along with the program and now talks more in defense of his own reputation than he ever spoke as an internal critic or, more likely, secret doubter," columnist Cohen writes in a Post opinion piece. Although people such as Carmona "come before Congress thinking they are about to say something heroic, ... all they are testifying to is their own lack of courage," Cohen writes. What "Carmona and others like him too often forget is that when it comes to loyalty, they owe it not to the president but to you and me. Last time I looked, we were still the boss," Cohen concludes (Cohen, Washington Post, 7/17).

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