Silencing the surgeon general

Why should that post be any freer from the political manipulation of the Bush administration than, say, Commerce Secretary?

"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation's top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee.

"The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science, or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds. The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party," Carmona added.

Carmona said Bush administration political appointees censored his speeches and kept him from talking out publicly about certain issues, including the science on embryonic stem cell research, contraceptives and his misgivings about the administration's embrace of "abstinence-only" sex education.

Public health, you say? Why should ideology not get in the way of good public policy?

But Carmona's statement does call to mind a question: why did he serve four years in a job the administration repeatedly undermined? This seems to a pattern among Bush appointees. At least Todd-Whitman had the good grace to get outta there, although it would have been more helpful if she had told the truth about why at the time.