Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
This time with the former Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona, who testified in front a Congressional committee that Bush political appointees routinely censored him in the name of political ideology:
"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation's top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee."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. The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party," Carmona added.
Well said. Here are some of the details of this interference with his duties:
Carmona said Bush administration political appointees censored his speeches and kept him from talking out publicly about certain issues, including the science on embryonic stem cell research, contraceptives and his misgivings about the administration's embrace of "abstinence-only" sex education...Carmona said he was politically naive when he took the job, but became astounded at the partisanship and manipulation he witnessed as administration political appointees hemmed him in.
Bush in 2001 allowed federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, but only with heavy restrictions that many scientists condemn as stifling.
Carmona said the administration prevented him from voicing views on stem cell research. Many scientists see it as a promising avenue for curing many diseases. But because it involves destroying human embryos, opponents call it immoral.
Carmona said he was prevented from talking publicly even about the science underpinning the research to enable the U.S. public to have a better understanding of a complicated issue. He said most of the public debate over the matter has been driven by political, ideological or theological motivations.
"I was blocked at every turn. I was told the decision had already been made -- stand down, don't talk about it," he said.
Carmona testified with two predecessors, Dr. C. Everett Koop, who served under President Ronald Reagan, and Dr. David Satcher, named by Clinton but whose term ended under Bush.
Carmona said some of his predecessors told him, "We have never seen it as partisan, as malicious, as vindictive, as mean-spirited as it is today, and you clearly have worse than anyone's had."
This should come as a surprise to not one who has been paying attention. As Chris Mooney documented in The Republican War on Science, this administration has routinely bullied and censored government scientists to prevent them from deviating from the party line on a wide variety of issues.
Comments
Makes me long for the days when we were just encouraged to masturbate.
Posted by: Will E. | July 11, 2007 9:40 AM
(I'm wondering what Will E. is talking about. Perhaps he's talking about a Clinton nominee that was never pushed through.)
Dr. Carmona could have talked about this stuff years ago. He just decided it was more important to keep his job. Yes, it's nice that he speaks out now, when he's no longer working for Bush. But it sure would be nice to see an appointee make a principled stand when it mattered.
Like before the 2004 election.
Posted by: RickD | July 11, 2007 12:01 PM
I read somewhere that he was also supposed to mention the Bush administration about three times per page in any report he generated.
While the rest is bad enough, this, I thought, was particularly chilling, and right out of the playbook of any number of totalitarian regimes we've seen in the past century.
Posted by: tacitus | July 11, 2007 12:31 PM
I was referring to Clinton's surgeon general Joycelyn Elders, who was forced to resign by Clinton after making the horrific suggestion that maybe masturbation could be mentioned in sex ed. classes. Why do we have surgeon generals if the government ignores or suppresses them?
Posted by: Will E. | July 11, 2007 1:19 PM
Sorry, Will, couldn't remember if Elders was one of the people the Righties had attacked before or after her nomination process. Apparently it was after. It was stupid in any case.
Elders never "encouraged" anybody to masturbate. If your intention is snark, you might be well-advised not to simply repeat the exact language that wingnuts use. It makes it hard for the reader to tell whether you are being sarcastic or whether you are simply a wingnut.
Posted by: RickD | July 11, 2007 1:38 PM
I read it as snark. And I rather liked Elders' idea, but it could have seriously changed the dynamics of education. Teach kids to masturbate and the next thing you'll hear is, "Billy, how many times have I told you not to do your homework at the dinner table?"
Posted by: Ed Brayton | July 11, 2007 1:46 PM
"Billy, how many times have I told you not to do your homework at the dinner table?"
A slippery slope indeed...
Posted by: rpsms | July 11, 2007 2:03 PM
Ed said -
Teach kids to masturbate and the next thing you'll hear is, "Billy, how many times have I told you not to do your homework at the dinner table?"
You're lucky I swallowed my sip of coffee just before reading that. My poor laptop has suffered enough, I daresay a stream of coffee would have killed it.
Posted by: DuWayne | July 11, 2007 2:08 PM
Wow RickD ... chill dude. I find it incredible that anyone could read Will E.'s original comment and not think it a joke. And how is the word "encouraged" a "wingnut" word? Geez...
Posted by: yoshi | July 11, 2007 2:21 PM
Unless I am mis-remembering, the Jocelyn Elders debacle was even worse than you guys are saying. My recollection is that she never encouraged masturbation, or recommended teaching that masturbation was good. As I recall, she was asked at a press conference whether she thought we should teach (in sex ed classes) that masturbation was a good alternative to sex. She was fired for answering that it was something we should maybe look into.
Yeah, okay, here's her quote: "I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught."
Not exactly a strong endorsement. But apparently you have to come down much more strongly against that sort of thing to keep your job in this country. And that was under Clinton; in this administration she probably would have been stoned to death.
Posted by: Johnny Vector | July 11, 2007 4:52 PM
Ed: Now that is classic.
It seems to me that the US made a mistake by copying the European civil service model, the British one is much superior. In New Zealand some government research agencies (such as the Foundation for Research Science and Technology) have high levels of independance from Ministerial oversight. Specifically, the researcht hat gets published cannot be line edited by Cabinet.
Posted by: James | July 12, 2007 2:22 AM
I seem to recall that Jocelyn Elders was a "controversial" appointee (read: had actual opinions and therefore subject to constant and unjustifiable attacks from the right wing) throughout her tenure. It's just that the masturbation thing is what got the anti-Clintonites yelling so loud that the Clinton administration threw her under the bus to buy a few seconds of quiet.
Posted by: Mithrandir | July 12, 2007 2:09 PM