The trouble with Sanjay Gupta (Paul Krugman)

[MelissaB]

The trouble with Sanjay Gupta

By Paul Krugman / New York Times

So apparently Obama plans to appoint CNN’s Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General. I don’t have a problem with Gupta’s qualifications. But I do remember his mugging of Michael Moore over Sicko. You don’t have to like Moore or his film; but Gupta specifically claimed that Moore “fudged his facts”, when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong.

What bothered me about the incident was that it was what Digby would call Village behavior: Moore is an outsider, he’s uncouth, so he gets smeared as unreliable even though he actually got it right. It’s sort of a minor-league version of the way people who pointed out in real time that Bush was misleading us into war are to this day considered less “serious” than people who waited until it was fashionable to reach that conclusion. And appointing Gupta now, although it’s a small thing, is just another example of the lack of accountability that always seems to be the rule when you get things wrong in a socially acceptable way.

Link: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=12995

NY Times link: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/the-trouble-with-sanjay-gupta/

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Oregone]

2. Ive been taking a break lately...Gupta as SG?!?

You gotta be fucking kidding me? Is Oprah getting an appointment?

[Skittles]

3. no, it is for real

another Obama misstep

[Oregone]

13. Isn't a misstep something you do on accident?

Or something you didn't entirely mean to do? Who knows what the hell that man is thinking?

Now, I always knew Obama wasn't exactly liberal ("pragmatic progressive" for all you apologists). But Ive always thought he was a thoughtful intellectual, with credentials to back it up. We deserve better from him. We don't need celebrity appointments, and certainly not one like this.

[Skittles]

15. I am corrected

you are indeed correct

[ColbertWatcher]

21. "We don't need celebrity appointments" That is beautiful. n/t

[kath]

24. something you do *by* accident

or "accidentally" <grammar pet peeve>

another disgusted member of the Democratic wing of the Democratic party here...

[MelissaB]

25. That phrase has been rolling through my head for hours

The Democratic wing of the Democratic party...

[Geek_Girl]

38. I agree

Gupta WTF?

I'm hoping this is still just rumors.

[Missy Vixen]

130. You'd think he'd at least pick someone that would do some GOOD

Imagine how health care in this country would be revolutionized if Dr. Howard Dean were the Surgeon General.

Julie

[KoKo]

36. I guess Obama got the "Message" from "McCorporate Media" then...

So much for "Change" and "Yes, We Can." Clever Slogans dreamed up in the Carville/Begalla Back Room?"

:-( Sanjay Gupta? Shill for Big Pharma? So Much for Obama's "Health Care Plan." Let's let CNN's Dr. Gupta Push it. After all the "Brain Dead Media Mavens" all love "Dr. Gupta" and hang on his every word.

What the hell is with Obama? Has he gone HOLLYWOOD? :shrug:

[lumberjack_jeff]

52. What health care plan?

Obama positioned his campaign on the basis that unlike Clinton or Edwards, his health care plan is not scary at all. It's almost just like what we have now! And now we have the kindly and well-groomed Dr Gupta to explain why it's good for us!

More people die each month as a result of our fucked-up healthcare system than die in a decade from hate crimes, war, terrorism, and the environment combined. This was the #1 issue of this election and we screwed the pooch.

[Maru Kitteh]

106. When I saw Obama in Omaha, he said he was "hoping to get something into place"

by the end of his first four years. :-( That stood out for me and was very disappointing, but I'm not the type to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so I stuck with Obama and I'll continue to do so. That doesn't mean I won't express my opinion, it just means I have many other settings on my dial that fall between utter bliss and HYPERBOLIC OUTRAGE11111!!!!!!!

I'm not surprised, or even overly alarmed by the Gupta appointment because I've never heard anything from Obama that indicated he was interested in going up against the insurance industry and pharmaceuticals in a big way to begin with - so I really wouldn't expect his appointment to be of that nature, even if it were someone other than Dr. Gupta. Bearing these facts in mind, there will be a few advantages to the Gupta appointment over some other, less known, crusty old white guy less famously in the pocket of the current system, but in that pocket none the less.

[SammyWinstonJack]

77. I doubt it's a misstep.

I think if you give them a seat at the table, they'll eat all the food.

[rpannier]

80. And either

stick you with the bill or leave before it's time to do the dishes.

[burythehatchet]

42. I just heard and I am LMAO

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

85. I guess Dr Phil is not available

:crazy:

[ikojo]

4. Will those DUers who think Gupta is fine now that

OBAMA has selected him listen to a Nobel prize winning economist?

[QueenOfCalifornia]

6. No...

Obama walks on water. Haven't you gotten the DU memo?

We are not allowed to think anything at all... It is Il-dUleagal.

[ikojo]

17. It's going to be an interesting four years.

Obama is the first Democratic president since DU was created.


:popcorn:

[Occam Bandage]

7. "An economist thinks this evidence of a double standard for credibility in our society."

I agree. I don't really think that impacts this choice significantly either way.

[earthlover]

28. Would you go to an economist if you were having a heart attack?

While I don't disagree that Gupta is not the best choice....pulling rank on economics honors just doesn't seem relevant here.

[rucognizant]

90. I am not.............

a neurosurgeon or a noble economist. N But I am one very smart, wise old lady who was endowed at birth with a lot of abilities that i didn't pursue.
Krugman is a well rounded renaissance person, whose opinion I really respect.
Gupta the doctorate endowed surgeon has made errors on TV that I have been able to pick up on, even lacking medical training!
Being old and wise I know that people USED to be good at a number of things until the TV Gen came along and started believing in what they were fed!
Performance Medicine, ( separating siamese twins, installing a new heart in a fetus in utero......etc. has superceeded, good old fashined diagnosing and treating the majority of ills, that every day people experience!
75% of the people I know who went last year for any invasive procedure, came away with a terrible staff infection! In one the staph infection in her lungs as a result of a biopsy resulted in her almost death ( they s didn't diagnoise it soone enough) and loss of 35 lb, early retirement ...
The other walks with a straight leg, after staph in her elective knee replacement surgery. SHe almost lost the leg, chose to live with a metal pin straight leg and 1" shorter then the other rather than amputation!

[northernlights]

133. didn't you get the memo?

healthcare in the U.S. IS economics.

The rich get it all.

The middle-class pay insurance companies a small fortune and *think* they're covered. Until they get some dread disease or into some dread accident, and discover they're bankrupt and homeless. (And it's all their own fault for not taking care of themselves and not saving enough and, and, and.)

The 46+ million poor can grow herbs and heal themselves.

[tom_paine]

70. No. Most people's minds don't work like that, doubly so after 30 years of Bushification

of the National Mind and National Dialogue.

It is so pervasive, thanks to media saturation and one dedicated cadre that was and is Karl Rove and the RNC's Goebbels v2.0 Team.

But I digress. It has been my observation that most people's minds don't work like that. Most people are simply inacapable of admitting they are wrong. Most people, even most DUers, have had their minds Bushified (i.e. unable to think critically or in other than 1s and 0s, yes/noes) by repetition and NOT defending against it, mostly because they're unaware of it.

As any psyhcologist, advertiser, or marketer could tell you, the more unaware a person is that they are being manipulated, the easier they are to manipulate. This scientifically-based, experimentally-determined axiom has been borne out these last 28 years in America and elsewhere.

And we have ALL been Bushified, since media saturation is nearly inescapable and pervasive and invasive as the air we breathe. I include myself, lest anyone think I am saying that I am better or smarter than anyone else. I'm not.

But we all better re-learn how to resist Psyops Manipulations and restore our National Critical Thinking Skills, or else Obama merely represents a rest until the next Bushies comes back topick up where they left off as if nothing happened.

[PVnRT]

120. No. Krugman is a PUMA out to take down Obama single-handedly

As is anyone else not 100% happy and orgasmic about everything he does.

[Occam Bandage]

5. Gupta was indeed wrong in that segment.

No argument here. I just don't find that horrendously offensive.

[supernova]

8. Gupta? You gotta be kidding me?!?

x(


Fuck stick on a cracker!!!

:puke:

There are some really wonderful, brilliant and caring Docs out there. Why him?

[Skittles]

9. take a big fat guess

if you say he appeals to rightwing morons, you would be correct

[Jamastiene]

32. Oprah is doing the advising, apparently. n/t

[supernova]

39. Then how come it isn't Dr Oz?

:rofl:

Him I'd like!

[Missy Vixen]

131. All women should love Dr. Oz

He says women should have a minimum of 200 orgasms a year to be "healthy".

LOVE HIM. Plus, he seems to actually do good, doesn't he?

Julie

[road2000]

121. He plays a doctor on TV. n/t

[malaise]

10. I remember that Gupta rubbish well

I also remember him hacking for Bush's war.

[Jamastiene]

35. I remember when Oprah "discovered" him.

*sigh*

[customerserviceguy]

92. Maybe this appointment was some sort of a payback to Oprah

In any case, the position doesn't mean squat. Few people could name any SG's since Elders, anyway. And anybody remember the first time they heard the phrase "Surgeon General"? My bet is that it was as part of a phrase on a cigarette pack, which people have been happy to ignore for the last forty-five years.

I'm far more concerned about Obama's re-appointment of Chimpy's Secretary of Defense than I am about who is going to be the new national nanny.

[Shardik]

11. K&R

I remember Gupta's "outrage" of Moore's film.

Bad choice. But the SG seems to be a non-entity in most cases. We will see.

[Dennis Donovan]

12. Recommended!

[K Gardner]

14. "If you want to avoid the flu, stay away from sick people", and other Gupta Pearls of Wisdom:

From Brian Schwitzer's blog - full of humorous and rather sad programming notes from CNN and Sanjay:
https://blog.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=704&search=sanjay+gupta

CNN's "House Call" Makes Some Bad Calls
You get a half hour on an international news network to report on health news and you use it to:

1. Tell people if you want to avoid the flu, "try to avoid getting too close to sick people."

2. Feature a doctor who lost 70 pounds by using lots of hot sauce, even though you admit "it doesn't really have any science behind it."

3. Promote a "permanent" wrinkle filler, while minimizing evidence - and failing to quantify potential benefits or harms.

That's what CNN did this weekend with its "House Call With Dr. Sanjay Gupta" program.

The first two were just laughable. The last was more dangeous.

The story described "ArteFill, billed as the first permanent filler." It said "known side effects are minimal."

But it's easy to find the following on the FDA website:

Side effects of ArteFill® include:

* Lumpiness at injection area more than one month after injection
* Persistent swelling or redness
* Increased sensitivity
* Rash, itching more than 48 hours after injection

Let's let consumers decide if those sound "minimal" or not. The story never mentioned that one of the conditions of FDA approval last fall was that a five-year study for safety be done after approval, a clear sign that reviewers were not convinced that all the evidence on safety was yet in.

Meantime, the story profiled a woman who had the injections: "In less than 30 minutes, (she) was sold. She thought she looked fresh with, if anything, her wallet, not her face, showing fatigue."

Let's let consumers decide if this sounded like a news story or a commercial.




Posted by schwitz at February 4, 2007 02:41 PM | TrackBack

[4 t 4]

16. The trouble with S.G. is

he's been bought and paid for 100 times over.

[K Gardner]

19. Yes. For example, here is Sanjay pushing the latest migraine drug, shamelessly:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/07/hcsg.01.html
(paid for by GlaxoSmithKline and Pozen, who are making tons of money by combining two existing drugs, readily available, into a NEW DRUG)

GUPTA: All right, sir, thank you. And you can blog your thoughts about these new guidelines by going to CNN.com/health. Click on the paging Dr. Gupta blog.

Now some encouraging news for people who suffer from migraines. And I'm one of them, incidentally. An experimental drug made up of two common migraine medications may actually offer more relief. The new drug is called Trexima. It combines a migraine drug Imatrex and the pain-killer Napercin. Researchers found the combo actually works better than each of those drugs in isolation.

Now the majority of those studied were pain-free within two hours of taking the drug and they stayed pain-free for about 24 hours. A lot of people - a lot of benefit for that. So how do you know if you have a bad headache or a migraine? Judy Fortin got us some clues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[Lorien]

122. Yep, that's pretty much an advertisement

he obviously never mentions alternatives. I've been using Botox for nine years for migraines and haven't had even a serious headache now in all of those nine years...this after swallowing six to eight Tylenol a day for persistent headaches for about 15 years (it's a wonder my kidneys still work)! But the makers of Botox want to keep it's "cosmetic" label for some profit based reason, so they don't advertise the many other effective uses of it. You won't hear any stories by Gupta about those, or any "alternative" treatment for much of anything that doesn't keep his corporate handler rich.

[JDPriestly]

156. For migraines, try lemon balm tea and bio-feedback.

Try to feel your blood going to your feet and hands. I guess there are new medications since I suffered, but my methods are a lot safer than the Goobers'.

Gupta is a horrible choice. He lacks the dignity that is needed.

An, by the way, for those who wanted a good health care plan -- either Kucinich or Edwards were your guys.

[skids]

53. Don't forget the beef industry...

...because we all know now thanks to Dr. Gupta that we shouldn't panic about mad cow disease, just use a meat thermomemter.

(Seriously, he said that on the air. And no, cooking does not destroy mad cow very well.)

I will hold off formally being disappointed until Kurtz is verified. But this is very disappointing. Not that I wasn't expecting to be disappointed. Gupta may be a great neurosurgeon but he has no credibility due to a lack of intellectual honesty, and less than adequate ethics for this post.

Obama should do like he did for Secretary of Energy and appoint a principled scientist.

[K Gardner]

94. Oh dear, I'd forgotten about the mad cow fiasco, LOL. Your point about ethics is spot on. n/t

[wryter2000]

18. Get things wrong in a socially acceptable way

Lord, that man nails it every time! All hail Krugman!

[JohnnieGordon]

40. Ditto, that's a great line, Paul nailed it again..nt

[Lisa0825]

20. K&R

[depakid]

22. Gupta is a classic example of the culture of lies that's taken root in America

and it's the very LAST thing that Obama or anyone else in America needs to be reinforcing or rewarding.

[MsLeopard]

23. K&R

Now M$M enters PE Obama's circle. Another day of disappointment in his selections.

[MadJohnShaft]

26. My thoughts exactly, I don't trust Dr Sanjay Gupta at all, he's a corporate shill

[acmavm]

27. Oh crap. I said I thought this guy would be great. Boy, was I full of shit.

[whathehell]

29. This is really one mistake too many...I voted Obama, primary & general

of course...but this feels like Celebrity Central...Or "Centrist Central"...I'm starting to have some real doubts now..Although it is, indeed, too late.

[Bette Noir]

58. In spite of all the disappointments,

He's still a helluvalot better than McCain/Palin would have been.

[Jakes Progress]

62. It's starting to look like we'll be saying this a lot.

It's a helluvacrappy slogan though. "Hey, I'm better than McCain"

[bjobotts]

64. Yeah, but look who he appointed as head of OLC. Wants Bush prosecuted.

[bjobotts]

65. And CIA director...WOW..."Torture and Wire tapping without warants illegal"

[bjobotts]

66. Gupta's a jerk but there are many excellent appointees also.

[Jakes Progress]

67. We'll be saying that a lot too. nt

[peace frog]

74. Crappy slogan indeed

"We suck less!" Hardly inspiring, is it.

[tomp]

117. yes, but that's the perpetual democratic party slogan. nt

[rpannier]

81. Unfortunately that's not saying much

That's lowering the bar about as far as you can go and still have space between it and the ground.

[tomp]

116. i suspect that is correct but we will never know for sure...

...because we will never be able to compare a real administration with an imagined one.

all we have is what obama is doing, and it's not good.

[whathehell]

30. delete. dupe.

[beac]

31. This definitely bums me out. n/t

[KoKo]

33. If Gupta is his Nomination...and he appoints Michael Powell to come back to FCC as Head....

then I'm finished with Dem Party for the rest of my life. Don't naysay about "Where will you GO!"

Those of us who care about this STUFF will ALWAYS FIND A PLACE...WE WILL and BE PREPARED!

[dorkulon]

49. What's this about Powell?

You're kidding, right? Is that in the pipeline?

[Metta]

34. Gupta's an uncritical shill of big Pharma.

And not afraid to lie in the face of facts.

[tomp]

118. as are most MD's. nt

[OhioChick]

37. K&R

:kick:

[mchill]

41. I think Obama must have missed that Gupta/Moore exchange on Larry King - first thing

that flashed through my mind when I heard of his possible appointment - with a "are you kidding me?" I almost hated Gupta after that one on one.

I think Gupta has all the right qualities for a spokesman, but he has sold his soul when it comes to the American Health business...and you can imagine why, the guy is a neurosurgeon. What doctor makes more than a neurosurgeon, let alone CNN talking heads.

[JDPriestly]

158. The Goober should apologize about his unfounded attacks on Moore.

[TroubleMan]

43. This is a joke, right? No way Obama's going to appoint Sanjay Gupta to anything.

I don't believe it.

[dpbrown]

44. THAT'S the problem with Gupta - even if only as a spokesman, he's a mouthpiece with no credibility

He's been proven so wrong, and been spanked so hard by Michael Moore, he's worthless as a "health czar mouthpiece."

[skids]

54. Bingo.

Doctors don't want to admit there's a crisis of confidence not just in the health care system but in the profession itself. They think they can just talk over it. Won't work. They have to show us better ethics standards and enforcement, or you'll have much more resistance to any plan that asks the huge paranoid segment of the population to pay for health care they are afraid to use -- and even after it's forced through there will be low volunteer rates for preventative checkups which will necessarily be a keystone of any plan.

Gupta would only hurt that situation. His celebrity status will make it even worse -- even some of those that haven't been keeping tabs on his numerous errors and sellouts will view this as not taking the health care situation seriously.

The political math just doesn't work on this. Surprisingly deaf move.

[invictus]

45. K&R

[Canuckistanian]

46. I thought this Gupta thing was a joke

The man is a hack.

He's a regular contributor to CNN, ferchrissakes. That alone should scream "I have little or no credentials but I'm here talking anyways"

[YOY]

47. Dr. Gupta...the MD who gives economic advice...

I wonder if MBAs like me can write prescriptions with his blessing. Fair is fair after all.

[mod mom]

48. I really love Paul Krugman!

[Kat45]

50. I KNEW there was a reason I had a negative opinion on Gupta.

I just couldn't remember what the subject was when his comments pissed me off. Now I know. This appointment sucks.

[ClayZ]

51. K and R

[Laelth]

55. Hear, hear!

Krugman's got it right here.

:dem:

-Laelth

[LiberalFighter]

56. Recommend everyone contact your Democratic Representative and/or Senator about this.

[memory]

57. Thank you Mr. Krugman!

Thank goodness for Paul Krugman. He is still one of the few people speaking truth to power. :applause:

[w4rma]

59. Obama decided to put Robert Rubin's failed free trading economic team in his cabinet too. nt

[Marr]

60. Who will be the next member of Team Obama? I say Ann Coulter as

Press Secretary, or maybe John Stossel for Secretary of the Interior.

[Norrin Radd]

72. LOL

[BlancheSplanchnik]

89. Aiii yi yi.....

I wanted to rofl at this, but in spite of living in a cave, I actually have seen Stossel, twice. And nearly jumped through a plate glass window. ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! :puke:

[Boudica the Lyoness]

137. Too late for John Stossel.

Obama has already appointed a complete dick head to be Secretary for the Interior.
I'm so pissed off about the Ken Salazar pick.

[Grinchie]

164. Don't Forget GMO Schill Thomas Visack for Agriculture Sectretary

We are doomed

[Boudica the Lyoness]

172. Yes!

I was so disappointed.

[Career Prole]

61. Jesus...I saw Gupta mentioned earlier

and I thought it was a gag post. It's for reals?!

Now it's a gag post. :puke:

[Jakes Progress]

63. Krugman in 2010. nt

[Jakes Progress]

68. I don't want to post over there

but did you read the pro-Gupta thread? The consensus seems to be that he is a really, really, smart guy. They support that position with strong arguments like how cute he is and how CNN thinks he is great. It's a nauseating thread from the usual crowd of cheerleaders who think Krugman is a big old dumb head.

[Bluenorthwest]

69. Bully, liar, hack.

That is Gupta. And those attempting to say the job is that of 'spokseman' do not know what they are talking about. Learn some history. Playing down the importance of the job to make room for a talking head to use it for profit making is a cheap tactic. The SG has potential to be a hugely important position, and it has been in the past.

[Enthusiast]

71. This is a horrible choice!

Gupta is a spokesman for the insurance and pharmaceutical indistries. He is a cheerleader for the status quo. The influence of these two industries is why the American Citizen have to pay twice as much for less effective health care. Let's get this straight.

If Obama chooses Gupta, it is a clear sign that he is representing corporate America at the expense of the citizen. I can come to no other conclusion.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

73. Let's face it, BO has a re-election campaign to fund in 2012 and needs pharma & ins. corp money .

Top priority for any politician is getting re-elected, everything is structured to achieve this goal.

[Enthusiast]

78. I guess this need to be corrected, then. nt

[sarcasmo]

75. Krugman nails it again.

[endlessfugue]

76. This is no surprise to me.

Does anyone remember FISA? Anyone wonder why Obama wont speak on Israel's terrorism in Gaza? His medical plan has never been anything all that ground breaking...still keeping insurance companies at the center. Warren anyone?

I voted for Obama and believe he will do some good things. But he has shown over and over that he is going to run from a "center right" position. The right wing media has told us we are a center right nation and he seems to be running with that. Not ideal but as they say...it is what it is. Hopefully once in office we will see some more liberal kinds of statements and policies...but I aint holding my breath.

[Lorien]

124. He's always been center-right. A lot of people here have never admitted that

from www.politicalcompass.org



and during the primaries:

[Kolesar]

79. Obama's way of disabling a Time/Warner-AMA-HMO-Big-Pharma mouthpiece

Let's see: "It's better to have him on the bedpan pissing in ..."

[Marr]

136. Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

So in order to deal with one, easily-replaced corporate mouthpiece, you let him help shape policy? It's not as if Gupta's presence will erase the influence of the big industries that *pay* him. Gupta's just an employee.

[Alcibiades]

82. ANOTHER CLINTON RETREAD

Is this change, people? He's a former special advisor to Hillary Clinton!

Where's the outrage?

[eShirl]

83. Sanjay "Fluffy Bunny Brain" Gupta

your friendly MSM doctor
:puke:

[BlancheSplanchnik]

88. lol! n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

84. My Obama honeymoon is definitely over

This is absolutely insane. :crazy:

[Buzz Clik]

86. I've got to say that when I heard of Gupta's nomination, I was repulsed.

I do not like professionals who ride their personalities into the national media.

Maybe the Surgeon General is just a PR position, but Gupta's face is not the face I'd prefer in front of the cameras.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

87. I'm not a Dr., but I play one on TV

geeez, I didn't know who S.G. is till I read this whole thread...I don't have cable, have never watched CNN, Larry King, any of that stuff.....

yeah yeah, I live in a cave.....
But I do love Krugman.

I only hope that the reasoning behind this is, "pick someone as a mouthpiece who the morons will listen to. <and have his scripts written by a real MD>"
(Surg. General has always seemed like more of a P.R. position than a directive one, to me)

[Dumak]

91. I'm sorry Barack, that was an incredibly naive pick

If you plan to open up a Department of Information, I have just the man for you:

http://www.mlesko.com/

[autorank]

93. Is this a joke, seriously. Come on. It's a joke right.

Surgeon General is a serious position. Gupta is a TV guy, and not a very smart one.

This is just awful. I can't even begin to say how awful it is.

It's a joke right?

[wildbilln864]

95. Excellent post! Thank you. K&R! nt

[BlueMTexpat]

96. My first reaction, upon hearing of this appointment,

was exactly like Krugman's. But I am also a major Krugman fan.

To me, this appointment adds insult to injury ... unless Howard Dean was offered the post first and refused.

I am extremely disappointed in Obama, insofar as he is letting DLC hack Emanuel run the show and give the cold shoulder to Dean, among the most deserving of all.

I am certainly not tossing Obama under the bus, or abandoning him, just wondering why he's not choosing to benefit from the wisdom and experience of one of the wisest and most common-sensical of those who would be willing to serve in his administration.

:shrug:

[cascadiance]

97. Barack, why didn't you "reach out to the other side" and pick Howard Dean instead?

Dean's qualified with a history in medicine too!

And you'd be bringing in those on the opposite side of your administration now, as you'd indicated in your campaign!

:sarcasm:

[rambler_american]

101. Touche' n/t

[anitar1]

103. Thanks, Cali, Why not Dr, Dean ? n/t

[tomp]

119. does the surgeon general have to be a surgeon? nt

[anigbrowl]

144. Yes, that would have been a better idea. MUCH better. Gupta....er, no thanks.

[Supersedeas]

98. CNN was wrong??

[wildbilln864]

99. k&r! nt

[rambler_american]

100. Gupta

is not a doctor, but he plays one on TV

[La Lioness Priyanka]

102. the rich and powerful forgive each other for the way they treat the rest of us

personally, i dont really get particularly mad at obama for this. since this is endemic to the rich/powerful, not just him.

[onehandle]

104. I get putting a high profile individual in that role. But Gupta is the wrong person. nt

[Overseas]

105. K&R ! My first thoughts on the appointment were the same.

When I heard of the appointment I remembered the awful segment Gupta did with Moore. He was trying attack Moore's indictment of the U.S. medical care for profit system, rather than acknowledging the huge problems it has.

Perhaps Gupta was scripted to do so following some idiotic concept that any "left" leaning commentator must be opposed, no matter what the facts are.

I remember shouting at my TV during that segment because Gupta was wrong and Moore was right, so I am very glad Krugmann has spoken out on it.

I can only hope that Gupta's segment was scripted by others who felt obligated to draft an opposition statement no matter how true Moore's "SICKO" was.

[deathrind]

107. Who Knows...

Lincoln said when asked about a changing of his position on a subject and I am paraphrasing here. "I like to think I wake up everyday a little more intelligent than I was yesterday"... so wait until the man is nominated and gives his current position. I believe Obama would have taken Guptas previous positions into careful consideration before picking him.

[nightrain]

108. does anyone have info about Gupta's positions on universal coverage

or single payor?

[bleever]

109. K&R.

[ann_american2004]

110. BACK FROM HIATUS

just for this post. I AGREE 100%. Gupta's a hack. A misinformed conformist and I will never forget how Moore handed Gupta his ass stuffed in a hat. Wrong choice for Surgeon General.

[ensho]

111. what is Gupta's take on maryjane? anybody know? important.

it is important to get maryjane not a crime and the people in prison/jail for pot released.

and for profit jails/prisons outlawed.

[madaboutharry]

112. I saw that incident live on CNN and was horrified

by Gupta's pompous ass behavior. He was acting like a complete elitist creep. That is the person I believe that Gupta is and I never had any respect for him after that.

[Faygo Kid]

123. Me, too. He got his facts completely wrong, and Moore called him out.

He was obviously out to discredit Moore.

I am shaking my head over some of Obama's actions. You would think he would throw progressives a bone once in a while, instead of appointments like this.

[tomp]

113. that obama thinks that it's acceptable is the problem.

there must be hundreds of surgeons equally if not more qualified than gupta who have not made libelous statements on television.

still waiting for change.

[diamidue]

114. He's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. n/t

[msfiddlestix]

115. Gupta is a Corporate Shill and Hack for Big Pharma..

Nominate this OP.

[JitterbugPerfume]

125. truth

is a rare commodity. I love Paul K . Gupta's treatment of Michael Moore was dispicible and in my opinion Obama made a big mistake with this appointment.

[frogmarch]

126. That was the first thing I remembered when

I read that Obama plans to appoint Gupta. :mad: I stopped watching Gupta's spiel on CNN after he dissed Michael Moore. Gupta is full of shit - and probably a repuke on top of it.

[RobinA]

127. It Would Be Nice

if Krugman took up this particular issue, but at it stands now he might as well decry gravity or the sun in the sky. I have worked for a large law firm, a large corporation, private mental health, public mental health, and with the exception of the law firm, which was only neutral on the issue, being wrong in a socially accetable way is ALWAYS preferable career-wise to being right in an unsocially acceptable way. And any truth to power is always socially unacceptable.

[Indepatriot]

128. Don't "like" Gupta much either, but fact is he's THE PERFECT CHOICE.

His job will be to sell Obama's health care agenda to the American People. He's a practicing,publishing neurosurgeon,and a popular, veteran,high-profile media pro. I can't think of a better choice to pitch Obama's plan to The People. Besides, Moore absolutely owned Dr. Gupta in that ill-advised ambush. Ouch! that one left a mark.

[Cleita]

141. I doubt if Gupta will sell the plan we need being that he advocates for

privatized, free market medicine, you know what we already have.

[Indepatriot]

153. I hear you Cleita, but you know he'll do whatever Obama tells him to do.

Myself, I'm for Universal, cradle to grave healthcare for all Americans. No way we're gonna get that right now, but I think we'll make a significant step in that direction. I still think Gupta's a great pick, his job is much more P.R. than policy.

[cascadiance]

166. So is Obama going to micromanage all of these DLCers to do his wishes?

I don't think he'll have time for that! Nope! If we're being sold a line that he'll make sure that the DLCers / Blue Dogs he's appointing will stay in line and do what he wants (and that what he wants is more what WE want), I think we're being sold a line (or something smellier!)... There's way too many of them on his cabinet now for him to keep them from playing the corporatist's fiddles.

[Dystopian]

129. KandR. Thank you for the enlightenment....

Not a TV watcher...started watching the talking heads during the primaries. Had only seen Gupta a couple of times and had no idea about the Michael Moore 'mugging'...
Live and learn...I thank you.
Now the appointment makes me sick.

peace~

[Dystopian]

132. KandR. Sorry, two posts in one. dupe

peace~

[marshall]

134. Gupta is the Oprah Winfrey of the medical profession

Like it or not, we live in a media driven society. Personalities like Gupta are very well known to the public.

[Blue_Tires]

135. k+r

[Wetzelbill]

138. Gupta would be reporting to Daschle's assistant secretary

He's a spokesperson, little more. Obama isn't using him for policy purposes he's doing two things. He knows that the Clintons got mugged when they tried to sell universal health care, both with Congress and with the public. This time he has a majority in Congress and he's put a former Senate Majority leader in a position to sell it to Congress. Then he's got Gupta, somebody who has an interesting background good qualifications and is a likable television personality, to sell it to the American people.

So yes, Paul Krugman is right, but this guy isn't going to be the Surgeon General so he can come in and hijack policy and give his own opinions out in public, he's there to sell the administration's policy, if he doesn't do that and just shills for the status quo, he won't have a job. Now the big problem would be if he was given Daschle's job, but where he is at is basically going to be a press secretary or a communications position. He should be effective for that purpose. And yeah, Michael Moore owned him, but this guy has some things going for him that would make him good at this particular job. It sounds like most people here don't even know what the hell the SG does. He's not in charge of policy, doesn't make it and doesn't run the whole show on medical and health care issues, not by a long shot.

[Cleita]

143. Read Daschle's book on health care.

He wants us to have the same health insurance federal employees have, which is the same old private insurance companies, who have given us the health care mess we have now. He naively thinks the insurers will follow the same rules without taking into account that most federal employees are middle class and healthy enough to go to work so they are a good risk. The population at large especially a segment of uninsured who don't go to the doctor until they are desperate are a really poor risk. The insurance companies will take advantage of this with huge premiums to the government and big copays and donut holes just like the PhRMA industry took advantage of the Medicare prescription drug program, which is costing Medicare mucho dinero but we the elderly aren't getting much out of it except a fleecing.

[Wetzelbill]

146. yeah but that's a concern with Daschle

Not the Surgeon General. I'm not really a big fan of Gupta or Daschle personally, but I'm just saying the SG isn't really a policy position. And I'm sure Obama will be wanting to implement his own plan, not Daschle's or Gupta's. They're there to serve the president and he's already had his plans out for some time now.

[Cleita]

148. I'm sure Obama's plan is the same as Daschle's or he would have made

someone else, like Howard Dean, Secretary of H &HS. Yeah, I'm not that concerned about Gupta. The Surgeon General is really more ceremonial than an actual job with power.

[Wetzelbill]

150. it's similar

He doesn't require mandates either. I was nervous about Obama's plan from Krugman's critiques on it. I'm a single-payer advocate all the way. Obama's health plan is better than what we have, and maybe it's about the only thing politically feasible, but it's not what we truly need. We're hijacked by radical ideology in this country, Republicans are almost fully nuts, but too many Dems buy into it all too. Good policy is put on the backburner, and we suffer for it. It's like Obama putting in all of those extra tax breaks in the stimulus plan, it's to appease the right for the most part and those weak middle-of-the-road Dems who capitulate to that stuff. I don't like compromising with radicals.

[Cleita]

151. I just finished Daschle's book on health care and I'm frankly

disappointed in his solution, which shows just how naive even learned and smart men can be when they are removed from the realities of the hospital, the nursing home and the trailer park and homeless camp if you will. He has identified the problem, knows the history and even says that single payer is the best system that other countries use but it isn't for us. His reason is people who have a private insurance that they are happy with don't want to give it up. He's being disingenuous or incredibly naive. Insurance company propaganda is what keeps them happy until the day they are dumped because they got too expensive with a real disease. We need our own propaganda and that is something a man in his position can do instead he praises Goobernator Arnold Schwarzenegger for his health care proposal, which is of course like his, and this after Arnold vetoed a single payer health care plan that had passed our legislature and was wanted by the majority of Californians in order to try to put through a program written by health insurance lobbyists.

[Vattel]

139. I confess that I don't like Moore,

but Krugman is exactly right that Gupta did a hit job on Sicko and, when shown to be wrong on almost every point, just lied and pretended he was right anyway.

[Cleita]

147. You probably don't like Moore because he's crude and he's rude, but

underneath that crust is pure gold and a brilliant mind, who is a champion of working class in our nation.

[BelgianMadCow]

157. I lurve people like him, and think F911 is essential

his agenda does get in the way of seeing him as an neutral documentary maker.

I don't mind, but people over here that saw F911 disliked that.

Me, I think he goes down in history for the opening scene alone.

:cry:

[Cleita]

140. Dr. Gupta is an advocate of privatized, free market medicine, which is why he attacked

Michael Moore. Fortunately, the Surgeon General doesn't have much clout so I hope he can't do too much damage. However, with Tom Daschle in charge of H&HR I have little hope now for a decent NHC program unless he truly brings all sides to the table as he said he would. I don't think the socialized medicine advocates like John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich will be invited though from the looks of things. :-(

[disndat]

142. Cut Obama some slack!

He's just made the most pivotal appointment possible, Leon Panetta He sent out 3 or more crucial signals; a slap in the face of DiFi, a kick in the ass of Jay Rockefeller, enforced his strongly worded no torture statement, and maybe bring Bush/Cheney closer to indictments.

[Cleita]

145. Bully for him. He's kicking some political ass at the expense of the

changes we really need and the people who will actually get the change done.

[ExPatLeftist]

149. WTF. Gupta is a SHILL. Krugman is right - as usual. n/t

[ooglymoogly]

152. Appointing this mouth for the drug industry.....speechless

Why didn't he just appoint his friend Warren who has a "DR" after his name. Change we can believe in....that must have meant changing the decor of the whitehouse to something a little more conservative and with a lot more corporate logo's like Sanjay.

[Locrian]

154. character

We desperately need someone with strength of character (ie BALLS), that is working for the people - NOT the corporations. Sanjay Gupta is nothing but a bought and paid for whore.

Thing is - he DOES represent the vast majority of the medical industry: whores who dont even realize they are whores. They accept the market/corporations as the natural way of things.

[goforit]

155. Question is ...Will Obama admit that Gupta along the way may be wrong.

I don't think so ......Obama too has an EGO (like all men) and won't admit he is totally wrong on this one.
Well ....so much for his re-election.

[Uncle Joe]

159. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, MelissaB.

[Grinchie]

160. Another sign that this is nothing more than Lipstick on the DLC Pig.

The new and improved Clinton administration, with a new, more approachable masthead, Barack Obama, who can communicate with the masses, while the former Clinton administration hacks can carry on the back room deals with Walmart, Monsanto, Big Pharma and all the other Corporate vultures and puppet masters that run the Government.


While we may be less likely to see State sanctioned Torture, we are likely to see more destruction of of productivity, food supply, and economic choices.

I will be surprised if we see any meaningful retrospective on 9/11. Bush/Cheney fraud and war crimes, a purging of complicit Democrats or anything that will retreat back towards the U.S. Constitution.

It's still 13 days until the inaguration, but the choices of Clinton, Emmanuel, Pannetta, Gupta???, Rice, Feinstein et all are a pretty sorry dance card.

The Democrats are going so far to the Center Right that I think that it will be impossible to salvage or retain what little we have left after the DLC heavy administration gets to work with its team of lawyers, twisting and subverting every rule and regulation in favor of the big corporations.

Call me cynical, but I don't trust any administration that says one thing, then hires the same old Clowns that assisted in the rise of Bush in the first place.

[LaPera]

161. Gupta couldn't come up with one single item or fact that Michael Moore was wrong about

in Moore's very amusing, factual & excellent documentary, "Sicko" - great film-making by Moore.

But Gupta still tried to distort the facts because he is paid to, as if he is paid by the powerful, rip-off insurance companies, Gupta sure as hell stood up for them as if he truly adores them.

I have no respect for Sanjay Gupta....

Gupta is a fucking clown who will say anything if he's paid to say it....much like the clowns the republicans bring out as "experts" on Global warming, or that tobacco doesn't cause cancer or any other money making scheme republican assholes want to contradict the facts!!

I have all the respect in the world for the great Paul Krugman, (and Michael Moore).

[GreenTea]

163. Speaking of clowns & assholes....

How about that asshole (Ezra Klein) from the American Prospect on Keith Olbermann's Countdown last night, pushing for (that clown doctor - I'll say anything for hire) Sanjay Gupta!

[pacalo]

162. It's getting curiouser & curiouser.

Having seen the daily goings-on of the last 8 years, I'm keeping my eyes & ears open.

I like the magic in the air surrounding Obama, but the stench of the term "shadow government" remains in the air.

[NNadir]

165. Well, Moore got it pretty WRONG when he thought Bush was the same as Gore.

It seems to me that the state of health care would have not provided so many ticket sales to Michael Moore if Moore had been RIGHT on that topic.

Come to think of it, Moore's work for the Republicans in the year 2000 did a LOT to make a lot of money for, um, Michael Moore.

[valerief]

167. Although he's no doctor, Michael Moore would make a better SG. nt

[stuntcat]

168. I'm disappointed in Obama

-

[mascarax]

171. Me too (n/t)

[BrklynLiberal]

169. K&R

[Riverman]

170. Morans for Gupta! Warren! Panetta! and Daffy Duck for Sec. of the Interior!

The Morons Organization Raging On Natteringness denies any association with these recommendations.

What you think we just fell off a turnpike truck? We know a real moron when we see one. Takes one to know won, you moron. You think morons don't have oppions, feallins.

Equal Rights for Morons! Let morons marry each other and breed more morons! Yeah that's the ticket, moronic politicians and fake religious pastors love morons, the more morons the better!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

173. Wow, two whole paragraphs.

Not even a column's worth of objection to Gupta. :eyes: