Somewhere in a penthouse in New York Michael Moore is feeling ill!
President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for Surgeon General may leave Michael Moore feeling a bit “Sicko”.
President-elect Obama has chosen Dr. Sanjay Gupta as the new Surgeon General when his term begins this month. You might remember Dr. Gupta from his criticisms of Moore’s propaganda film, er, “documentary” Sicko:
CNN’s Gupta Fact Checks Moore’s Sicko
and his on air debate with the corpulent one over the “facts” of the film:
You tube video of the Gupta/Moore debate over Sicko
Is it any surprise that Moore would not only question, but criticize and attack such a choice? Check out his website for the numerous references to the decision by Obama:
Considering the vast knowledge and wisdom of Moore and that fact that according to him we should never question anything HE says, what could someone like Dr. Gupta possibly offer as the Surgeon General? Well, a lot it seems according to some sources such as U.S. News and World Report:
Gupta, a surgeon and assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University (where he still cares for patients), would bring to the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services unique talents unrivaled by any of the prior 17 surgeons general going back to 1871. Among them are his truly outstanding health communication skills and the fact that he is already a trusted figure in many people’s living rooms on all matters of health and disease—particularly on the major national heath problems that are within the domain of the surgeon general.
But what about the problems facing veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan? Surely this “quack” wouldn’t know how to address THOSE issues! Or would he?:
US News & World ReportSpeaking of wars, Gupta gained some unique battlefield exposure as an embedded correspondent in Iraq with a U.S. Navy medical unit dubbed the “Devil Docs.” He will no doubt bring to the job a perspective on military health eminently helpful to his office as the Iraq War winds down and thousands of men and women return to civilian life carrying with them their wartime experiences and sometimes residual illnesses.
So why would anyone criticize such a choice? Apparently, it’s because of the fact that Dr. Gupta had the audacity to actually question the “infallible” Moore on the so-called facts in his film “Sicko”. Consider the criticism from the New York Times’ Paul Krugman:
New York Times Paul Krugman blogI 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.
So what’s wrong if Dr. Gupta accused Moore of “fudging the facts”? Which of course, Moore would NEVER do?
Gupta didn’t say “Michael Moore is an annoying blowhard”; he didn’t say “We question his interpretation of the evidence”; he said he “fudged the facts”. In other words, he accused Moore of lying. That’s a very strong accusation, which had better be backed by solid evidence. Instead, we had CNN misreading a number from Moore; CNN objecting to Moore using a projected health care spending number for 2007 instead of an actual number for 2005 (and the projection was right, by the way); CNN accusing Moore of not showing a number that was in fact right there in the movie. And Gupta did not apologize, except for the misread number.
Huh, so making strong accusations without solid evidence is wrong and therefore brings a person’s integrity into question? Really? So can Mr. Krugman or anyone else who defends Moore’s propaganda and cherry picking of information repackaged to push Moore’s agenda tell me what kind of “solid evidence” Moore EVER provides to support his accusations against anyone and everyone he’s ever attacked or accused of wrongdoing?
To be honest, I really don’t care about Dr. Gupta’s qualifications as Surgeon General. After all, what does the Surgeon General do anyway except provide warnings about stuff we already know is unhealthy? Does the Surgeon General have the power to directly influence or personally change medical policies or the health care system in our country? I’m just tickled that Obama, the man that Moore has praised and glorified and taken personal credit for helping to get elected has made a decision that pisses Moore off so badly. Although I didn’t vote for Obama and still have reservations about how he is going to handle crisis in our country when all he really won the election on was charm and cult of personality, I am really looking forward to see how many of the liberal/democrat flock of sheep start questioning him and are forced to eat crow in front of the rest of us. It looks like Dr. Gupta is the first appetizer!
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