Surgeon General Sees 4-Year Term as Compromised – New York Times:
Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations.
The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues. Top officials delayed for years and tried to “water down†a landmark report on secondhand smoke, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm.
Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings.
Wait, what was that?
Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches.
No, that can’t be. That’s something that an insecure rock star’s publicist would insist on from a morning radio DJ interview, not something that the President of the United States would require from the person he had appointed as a watchdog over the public health of the people of the United States of America. Let me read that again.
Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches.
I… Wow. Just… Wow.