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Conyers Vs. Gupta. Oh, It's On.
January 08, 2009 2:17 PM
A "Dear Colleague" letter was sent from Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to other members of Congress to solicit signature for a letter to the President-elect protesting the notion of a Surgeon General Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(Yes, Mr. Conyers misspelled "Sanjay" and "Nobel" Prize.)
"January 7, 2009
"Dear Colleague,
"Please join me in signing a letter to President-Elect Barack Obama that Dr. Sunjay (sic) Gupta not be nominated for the post of Surgeon General.
"I join in opposition with respected Noble (sic) Peace Prize award wining economist Paul Krugman, who has very serious concerns with having Dr. Gupta be the nation’s Surgeon General. (See January 6, 2009, New York Times Hosted Blog, 'Conscience of a Liberal.' Available at http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/the-trouble-with-sanjay-gupta.)
"Also, there are highly experienced medical professionals who question whether Dr. Gupta has the necessary experience or even the medical background to be in charge of some 6,000 physicians or more who work in the United States Public Health Service. Gerard M. Farrel, Executive Director of the Commissioned Officers Association, stated in the January 7, 2008 Washington Post that Dr. Gupta will certainly face a 'credibility gap' because he never served in the National Health Service Corp, and furthermore, does not have the 'experience or qualifications to be the leader of the nation’s public health service.' Clearly, it is not in the best interests of the nation to have someone like this who lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health care assistance to some of the poorest and most underserved communities in America.
"For more information, please view my web site at www.house.gov/Conyers. ...
"Sincerely,
"John Conyers, Jr.
"Member of Congress"
Paging, Dr. Gupta....
-- jpt
January 8, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (49)
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I think Obama hit a home run with the selection of Dr. Gupta. This guy is a practising brain surgeon - a professor at a medical school and is associate head of neuro surgery department in a major hospital *in addition to* his TV activities.
It tells me he is a brilliant person and has tons of energy. We need all such people. They represent Change and bring home the message of "change" promised by Obama.
I could not think of a better pick than Dr. Gupta for SG post.
Posted by: Steve | Jan 8, 2009 7:46:20 PM
Should a pandemic occur, the Surgeon General would be the most important doctor in the country. But with no US Public Health Service experience, he makes me uneasy. How on earth would he manage if millions of people took ill? How does his experience as a celebrity help US in a situation like this? If there were an epidemic or pandemic, I probably wouldn't trust him to tell us the truth.
Trivial, blown out of proportion, who cares? You should care.
Posted by: nene | Jan 8, 2009 7:00:58 PM
There is nothing on his website either.
Maybe someone on his staff jumped the gun...
Posted by: BertieW | Jan 8, 2009 6:14:35 PM
Wow. Conyers needs an editor. I need a job. Hmmmm.....
I wonder if Krugman has been informed of his Peace Prize award; what did he do for peace anyway?
And why doesn't the link to Conyer's website work?
This all seems very weird.
Posted by: hunter | Jan 8, 2009 5:38:14 PM
Conyers is also wrong in that Krugman did not win the Nobel *Peace* Prize.
Posted by: Jason X | Jan 8, 2009 5:27:11 PM
"If qualifications mattered Obama wouldn't be putting a cabinet together in the first place, now would he ?"
Ahhh yes the bitterenders from free republic who think Obama is not a natural born citizen.
Posted by: Ryan C | Jan 8, 2009 4:55:34 PM
WHY IS THIS NEWS?? ABC you need to have a (journalist lay-off) in your newsroom and save good money.. Why would every person who disagrees with anything Obama does be HEADLINE NEWS??????
Posted by: Houston | Jan 8, 2009 4:32:59 PM
If qualifications mattered Obama wouldn't be putting a cabinet together in the first place, now would he ?
Posted by: Diana | Jan 8, 2009 4:30:46 PM
This is some sort of an odd trend. Barney Frank has just come out against the tax cut part of the Best Stimulus Ever.
Do these guys just want their name out there? Do they feel slighted by the Obama love? Are they waiting for a payoff?
Posted by: BertieW | Jan 8, 2009 4:29:41 PM
Wait, a Democrat is complaining to Barack Obama about an appointe not having enough experience? Since when has that been a problem?
Posted by: Sobek | Jan 8, 2009 4:22:33 PM
Excuse me for bloviating a bit, but at least I'm self -correcting! Daschle played a major role with Clinton in trying to enact healthcare reform back in the early nineties. His book from 2004 analyzed what went wrong then. I still have reservations in Gupta.
Posted by: kat | Jan 8, 2009 4:14:22 PM
Typo: healthcare reform plan
Posted by: kat | Jan 8, 2009 3:43:25 PM
I'm not sure what to think of Obama's health picks. It's a hard for me to imagine the telegenic Dr. Gupta being an advocate for major changes in the healthcare system as it is with Tom Daschle, who is the pick for the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He was a major opponent of Hillary Clinton's health reform plan 15 years ago and even wrote a book critiquing her proposals.
Posted by: kat | Jan 8, 2009 3:42:12 PM
Sorry to say it, but this article contains too many silly things (who cares about Bush's surgeon?).
Posted by: Mark | Jan 8, 2009 3:23:10 PM
Conyers and his buddies represent the business as usual types who keep doing what they always did and are doomed, if we don't intervene, to get the same results they always got. We need better and I think Gupta is very qualified for the job. Personally, I think Conyers has another agenda and it isn't pretty.
Posted by: Michael Fenton | Jan 8, 2009 3:19:59 PM
I will remember the very informative interview Dr Gupta has conducted with Dr Peter Piot former Executive Director of UNAIDS. That has shown the world how broad Dr Gupta's knowledge of public health was. So getting a young talented and brilliant SG is very critical at this juncture. Obama's picks are sharp and intelligent people who can help him make the change a reality. This is not time for business as usual: the same old Washington people doing the same over and over and thinking that a different result will come out.
Posted by: Panama Canal | Jan 8, 2009 3:17:03 PM
Dave: Paul Krugman won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics. The 2008 Nobel Peace Prize went to Martti Ahtisaari of Finland. So Rep. Conyers got that wrong, too.
Posted by: TN | Jan 8, 2009 3:14:46 PM
Handing over the post of Surgeon General to Dr. Gupta is how Pres. Elect Obama is paying back CNN for getting him elected after so much butt-kissing. No surprise here. Another person NOT qualified for the job handed to them. This administration is going to be a doozy.
Posted by: Gabrielle | Jan 8, 2009 3:12:54 PM
Yeah Krugman didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize either...
Conyers has a first class staff!
Posted by: Evan | Jan 8, 2009 3:10:44 PM
When did Krugman win the Nobel Peace Prize?
Posted by: Dave | Jan 8, 2009 2:57:17 PM
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