More evidence that the Bush administration cares more about politics and ideology than public health and the health of democracy, as reported by Reuters:
Former Bush surgeon general says he was muzzled
The first U.S. surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush accused the administration on Tuesday of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research.
“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.
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’s comments came two days before a Senate committee is due to hold a hearing on Bush’s nomination of Dr. James Holsinger as his successor. The administration allowed Carmona to finish his term as surgeon general last year without a replacement in place.
Gay rights activists and several leading Democrats have criticized Holsinger for what they see as “anti-gay” writings, but the White House has defended him as well qualified. [full text]
Kmareka.com 
I notice an all too predictable litany from some unfrocked portfolio bearers over the years. They always complain that the wisdom they attempted to bring to whatever administration they served was either ignored, rejected or muzzled. Of course these comments of wisdom always appear after they have left their lofty positions with $150,000 salaries and many, many perks, not the least of which is sitting in the same room with the President of the United States and telling him things. One never hears that these portfolio bearers accepted the positions they held with a full understanding that the policy of the administration was set by the leadership and the price of accepting the “perky” job is to march in step with the policies that got you hired in the first place. If for whatever reason, a deignee does not agree with the administration’s policies, it would be more ethical to not accept the job and speak out on why the policies are wrong. All too often I think, these folks enjoy the political stratosphere and the limelight and then when their appointment is over–and over usually neans when the pleasure of the administration is no longer pleasureable and the appointee is asked to leave–the “gotchas” start. Most of the “gotchas” it seems to me, really are nonesenseical.
For example, to complain that the administration did not see eye to eye over the issue of stem cell research, is ludicrous. The policies of this administration, right or wrong, have been clearly stated from the beginning. To say that the administration did not have a policy on sex education and AIDS, is utter nonsense. Whether you agree or not with the administration, the policies were clearly stated and restated. For Mr. Carmona to complain now, after he was aked to rersign, and after he got his four years in the political stratosphere, is ridiculous and seems self serving.
Finally, Mr. Carmona seems to mix up policy, politics and science. This has always been a bad mix I think for science, and for public policy. There really is not much science in Mr. Carmon’s bleating. His complaints are all policy.
He was no C. Everett Koop, and no David Satcher either, but he was put in to make the President look competent and he never had the courage to do more than point out the obvious–second hand smoke is still smoke. For that he was attacked in the last few days of his tenure.
Nancy Green reminded me that she had written a post close to a year ago about the end of Richard Carmona’s rather lackluster tenure as Surgeon General. I highly recommend her piece, entitled: “Help Wanted: Surgeon General. Must be a Team Player.”
I have always been an advocate of the notion that even the most uneducated of us, and least informed, can improve and the education carrot is better than the education stick. I would also suggest that despite the many very bright people surrounding him, Mr. Bush seems to be among the least “aware” Presidents in modern history. Mr. Carmona’s task of significance might well have been the slow and steady education of Mr. Bush in matters Mr. Carmona had authority. If one looks at the record of the “best” Surgeon Generals, theirs was a record of content and not personality. That was Mr. Carmona’s failing; there was little content and the personality that emerged was a post-firing lament of a whiner.