Krugman on Gupta

[grantcart]

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

Moore has remained silent but has posted this note from Krugman

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.

edited to add

One thing that bothered me about the Washington Post report was this:


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2009/01/06/obama_wants_journalist_for_sur.html?hpid=topnews

Gupta's only hesitation in taking the post is said to involve the financial impact on his pregnant wife and two children if he gives up his lucrative medical and journalistic careers. But he is expected to accept the position within days.

I could see a lot of reasons to hesitate like "Am I the best person for the job?". For Gupta the only thing holding him back is money. Well public health professionals are paid a lot less than their more glamorous cousins in medicine, and yet they provide a better return on investment dollar than money spent on medicine.

I wonder if Gupta has the right pathos to lead a community that is more interested in dollars than service.

[Barack_America]

1. I disagree with Krugman.

Gupta's credentials also suck.

:P

But Krugman does present an interesting and overlooked point here.

[Colobo]

3. In what way do they suck?

[Barack_America]

9. I misspoke. It's not that they "suck" it's that they simply don't exist.

Gupta has no serious public health experience to speak of.

[yardwork]

15. LOL!

[Colobo]

2. So he has no beef with Gupta's qualifications. That's all we need to know.

[polichick]

5. No it isn't - it matters to me that he lied about Michael Moore, who...

...has done incredibly important work on behalf of regular Americans.

[Colobo]

8. I didn't know the SG post was directly related with Michael Moore.

[polichick]

10. How the potential SG has behaved is directly related to whether or not...

...he should get the job.

[grantcart]

11. MM made an important statement on public health policy

Gupta tried to undermine it in an underhanded way.


Pretty straight line to me.


Question is, "is this standard practice for Gupta or an anomaly".

[H2O Man]

12. I think the concern

has more to do with his using a public platform to falsely accuse another person -- in this case, Mr. Moore -- of distorting the truth when that person raised serious questions about health care in this country. While many DUers (myself included) have great respect for Mr. Moore, this isn't really about him. It's about the method that was used to discredit him. The SG post should be based, at least in part, ipon public trust, and this incident has provided many people who think Mr. Moore raised valid questions to hesitate to trust the person that President Obama is appointing.

[Cha]

14. How ironic that Michael Moore

should be a player in bringing this aspect of Sanjay Gupta to light who just happens to be the choice for Surgeon General.

You can't make up this stuff.

[berni_mccoy]

20. Extremely well said.

[Time for change]

21. That's what I was going to say.

So rather than repeating what you said, I'll just second it.

This choice is disappointing to me.

[grantcart]

7. well yes if you want to overlook his ethical point of view when it came to a discussion

of facts on public policy.

No question that his attempt to poo poo Moore was without foundation and backfired.

[yardwork]

16. Put you down as ok with lying and maliciously undermining a reformer....check.

[polichick]

4. Good statement. Another insensitive choice imo.

[Hippo_Tron]

6. I like how Krugman starts his with "So apparently"

I use that phrase all the time. And yea I don't know what Obama was thinking here. But whatever, Surgeon General is pretty minor.

[Cha]

13. Well, Props to Krugman for shining the

light on this one. Sanjay sounds ethically challenged and that's not good for a Dr.

[Captain Hilts]

17. Gupta doesn't believe in single-payer. I do. It was great in Canada. nt

[berni_mccoy]

18. Great article and summary Grantcart!

[invictus]

19. K&R