Sheesh. With all the important economic issues and other legislation facing Congress, Conyers has time to worry about Sanjay Gupta. From the Huffington Post:
Rep. John Conyers has written a letter to Democratic colleagues urging them to join him in publicly opposing the nomination of Dr. Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General.
Here's the bulk of the Dear Colleague letter:
I join in opposition with respected Noble Peace Prize award wining economist Paul Krugman, who has very serious concerns with having Dr. Gupta be the nation's Surgeon General. [...]
Now, to me, this is the silliness that keeps Congress distracted from getting important things done. I may not agree with the CNN doctor as the best pick from all the medical experts, but it might refect Obama's new vision for the obscure post. More TV viewers will listen to Dr. Gupta explain, in plain English, the connection between obesity and our processed foods. He will not be an invisible, disembodied issuer of warnings on labels.
If you want a high profile communicator with medical creds, who would the public rather listen to? Can anyone name more than three surgeon generals? The only one I remember is Dr. Koop who now sells "life alert" on late night television.
Conyers, who is not in the Senate, is not part of the confirmation process. So, help me out. Why would he have his knickers in a twist over this?
Now, Paul Krugman objects to Gupta for falsely accusing Michael Moore of "fudging the facts" in Sicko. That may be a legitimate issue against Gupta. It is fair to bring out in confirmation hearings.
My annoyance is that a Congressional representative would choose this, of all the burning issues, on which to make a fuss. I think it is symtematic of how our electeds in Washington D.C. get sidetracked from their jobs.