Friday, March 21, 2014

The Proposed Surgeon General

Vivek Murthy
Dr Vivek Murthy is President Obama’s nominee to be the next Surgeon General of the United States. Photograph: Jason Reed / Reuters
Only in America’s up-is-down, sky-is-green, right-is-wrong discussion about guns would views like those of Vivek Murthy be considered radical. Indeed, the good doctor’s views are remarkably similar to those held by a majority of Americans. According to the most recent polls:
  • Should America’s gun laws be more strict or less strict? A full 54% of Americans go with more, compared to 9% who say less. (And 36% are fine with the way things are.)
  • ban on assault weapons? How about 54% support that and 42% are opposed?
  • Even when asked about creating a database to track all gun sales, 66% of Americans are for it, with 31% against.
So Dr Murthy’s views fall within the political mainstream – and are similar to the views of the man who nominated him. Surely that’s enough to convince the Senate to confirm him as Surgeon General, right?
Think again.
In a depressing reminder of the NRA’s outsize influence in Washington, an aggressive lobbying campaign by the pro-gun lobby to block Murthy appears to be paying off. Over the weekend, the New York Timesreported that as many as 10 Senate Democrats – many of whom are from red states and running for re-election – were leaning toward voting against him. Of course, every Republican is opposed. The White House, suddenly, is “recalibrating”.

12 comments:

  1. In a depressing reminder of the NRA’s outsize influence in Washington, an aggressive lobbying campaign by the pro-gun lobby to block Murthy appears to be paying off.

    Now that's funny--I could have sworn that the popular narrative of late is that the NRA is a "paper tiger," whose influence has been steadily waning. Now they can derail the confirmation of some punk asshole as Surgeon General?

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    1. The NRA IS a paper tiger and will be defeated!

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    2. "Punk asshole?" Does that come form you morally superior position, Kurt?

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    3. Granted, "punk asshole" is pretty mild for this . . . creature, but you know me--polite to a fault.

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  2. The Guardian is welcome to its opinion, which it's also welcome to keep to itself. This doctor has taken a stand that is against our rights, and we have to send the message over and over to Washington that we won't tolerate that.

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  3. I assume the Democrats have access to all of this information. Why are they holding up the vote on this nominee? He deserves a vote and the Democrats in the Senate need to call for a vote!

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  4. It seems believable that a former ER surgeon might support stricter gun control. Imagine the traumatic gun injuries that he has seen. What the hell kind of surgeon in his right mind would support no regulation whatsoever of firearms?

    Only in America. It defies belief.

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    1. Yeah, the gun-rights fanatics like Kurt know better than this "punk asshole."

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    2. The question of rights isn't a particular study in medical school, unless we're talking about patient rights or perhaps abortion. This particular doctor doesn't appear to be any more qualified on the subject of guns than any of the rest of us. He may be able to speak to the effects of a gunshot, but that doesn't in any way comment on the right.

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    3. A doctors concern is about the health and welfare of people. Since gun shot deaths and injuries run into the tens of thousands, it is a legitimate concern, and many doctors ask their patients if their is a gun in the home as a regular examination question because of the high number of incidents. The only nuts in this sad situation are the gun nuts who don't question, or show concern for such a high number of deaths and life threatening incidents that happen every year. That's your side, the ones who clearly don't care about peoples health.

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  5. Mikeb, the point you've missed here is that even Democrats are running scared over this. If gun control were as popular as you insist, his nomination should be assured. But instead, senators who want to keep their seats are breaking ranks with the president.

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