Ex-Surgeon General Rips Partisanship

This is just more of the same. When are people going to learn.

Ideology, theology and partisan politics thwart the work of the U.S. Surgeon General to a previously unseen degree, according to the man who held the job most recently in the Bush administration.
Dr. Richard Carmona, the nation's 17th surgeon general, told lawmakers on Tuesday that he wasn't allowed to make a speech at the Special Olympics because it was viewed as benefiting a political opponent. However, he said was asked to speak at events designed to benefit Republican lawmakers.
The following are excerpts from Carmona's testimony.

"I came to our nation’s capital ready to serve all people, and prepared to carry on what I believed was a tradition of implementing non-partisan, evidence-based solutions to public health challenges. My fellow U.S. Surgeons General warned me that partisan political agendas often undermine the public health and well-being of our nation."
"During my first year as Surgeon General, I was still quite politically naive in the ways of the Beltway. As I witnessed partisanship and political manipulation, I was astounded but also unsure of what I was witnessing -- for I had no reference point. I asked myself whether this was just happening to me as the new Surgeon General, or whether this was the norm for all Surgeons General."
"I turned to my fellow Surgeons General, the men and women who came before me and had made tremendous positive contributions to the science and practice of public health, who had saved and improved millions of lives through their work and dedication. They became my mentors. They said that they had all been challenged and had to fight political battles in order to do their job as 'the doctor of the nation.' But each agreed that never had they seen Washington, D.C. so partisan or a new Surgeon General so politically challenged and marginalized as during my tenure."
"They told me that although 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’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological, or political agenda is ignored, marginalized, or simply buried."
The White House responded by saying that, "It's disappointing to us if he failed to use his position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation," said Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto.
"We believe Dr. Carmona received the support necessary to carry out his mission."
Confirmation hearings are scheduled to be held Thursday for Dr. James Holsinger Jr., the Kentucky cardiologist Bush nominated as the nation's 18th surgeon general. The nomination has been criticized by gay rights groups.
At his nomination, Bush called Holsinger "an accomplished physician who has led one of our nation's largest health-care systems, the state of Kentucky's health-care system, and the University of Kentucky's medical center. He also has taught at several American medical schools, and he served more than three decades in the United States Army Reserve, retiring in 1993 as a major general."
The New York Times reported that Holsinger served on the board of a Methodist group that in 1998 criticized the "radical homosexual/lesbian lobby" for trying to force the church "to grant approval to the practice of homosexuality."
The Times also reported that Holsinger led the denomination’s highest court, which in late 2005 decided to reinstate a pastor who had been suspended for refusing to allow a gay man to join his congregation.


http://www.kptv.com/health/13658906/detail.html