The Daily Background

As I’ve written about earlier, Bush’s new Surgeon General nominee, James Holsinger, has some truly draconian views on homosexuality. There are plenty of more qualified people for the job. Like who? Well, for starters, the guy who used to have the job. But Bush’s initial Surgeon General, Richard Carmona, who left office in mid 2006 (an acting Surgeon General has been filling the place for now), is now alleging that the Bush Administration muzzled science and medicine for political reasons:

Former surgeon general Richard H. Carmona yesterday accused the Bush administration of muzzling him on sensitive public health issues, becoming the most prominent voice among several current and former federal science officials who have complained of political interference.

Carmona, a Bush nominee who served from 2002 to 2006, told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that political appointees in the administration routinely scrubbed his speeches for politically sensitive content and blocked him from speaking out on public health matters such as stem cell research, abstinence-only sex education and the emergency contraceptive Plan B.

“Anything that doesn’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried,” he said. “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.”

For instance, Carmona was told to keep silent and not weigh in on the embryonic stem cell debate, because officials did not want the country’s chief medical professional contradicting the president with a professional opinion on the matter. There are apparently tons of such examples. Knowing this Administration’s record of making climate change science take a backseat to political posturing doesn’t make me surprised by any of this.

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