Sanjay Gupta is an Opportunistic D*ck
Now before you start sending me your hate mail, read this guy's post:
http://daily44.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/sanjay-gupta-is-an-opportunistic-dick/
I am only quoting him.
My favorite line in the post: "This is the kind of behavior pathological social-ladder climbers learn to perfect early. This is typical of what the Canadian thinker John Ralston Saul calls a "courtier" or a "Voltaire bastard"; a man who either has no opinions of his own or is perfectly happy to substitute them with anything that can advance his carrier, create new friends that can advance his carrier or open doors to new carriers or new revenues."
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Read a diatribe this morning about Sanjay and Michael Moore and then I remembered i was mad because Sanjay sounded like a Bushee. He will just come on TV and tell me to quit smoking and eating donuts.
January 8, 2009 12:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
so what? Now he's our opportunistic dick. Better to have him inside pissing outside the tent than the other way around.
Read all about his attack on Sicko but didn't see it. I happen to think it was Moore's best movie but as usual he cut a few corners and fudged a few things to make his points. It's my understanding Gupta got his criticisms wrong. That's not hard to believe, the guy worked for CNN. But I wonder how many tickets that little kerfuffle sold to see the movie.
I don't know how much a following Gupta has on CNN and CBS but if he's a good salesman for Obama's programs that's what counts in this job. The Surgeon General is like a national medical advocate. He/she doesn't make policy, he/she publicly cheerleads for it.
January 8, 2009 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nonononono! He's not spirtually. morally or ideologically perfect and therefore he's yet another of the endless series of disappointments in Obama we've been expecting and predicting for months.
January 8, 2009 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Michael Moore makes one of the most direct and appropriate attacks on the huge flaws in America's medical system, Gupta does a hatchet job on him (effectively killing the effect of Sicko early), and Obama rewards Gupta with the Surgeon General position.
But don't get mad at Barack. It's just that Sanjay's not perfect?
Obama has no intention of getting anywhere close to Universal Health Care. It will be a fatally compromised piece of Washington cave-ins to special interest groups, with a slick gloss and no teeth. The failure will be blamed on Hillary or progressives or the economy. He hit the trifecta. (It won't be blamed on Republicans - that would be too partisan).
January 8, 2009 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately, I think you may be right on this one Des. If not, then he's sending a helluva mixed message with this choice for Surgeon General. Let's hope he's faking right, while he rolls out to the left.
January 8, 2009 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
It never fails to amaze me how you guys are able to devine all these future events from things like one story done by Gupta on TV with such perfect clarity.
Gupta is a distinguished surgeon and a full professor of medicine. He's one of the most widely known purveyors of wellness advice in the country. Obama's thinking about appointing him not to be Secretary of HHS or his health insurance reform czar, but, rather to a position whose job description consists of heading up the quasi-military Public Health Service and of nagging Americans to stop smoking, eat healthy, get lots of exercise, get flu shots if they're at risk, don't abuse antibiotics, and wash their hands after they go potty.
But hey, over the course of his second career as a journalist, Gupta did one lousy story about St. Roger Moore and got his facts wrong. And from that, like Sybil Trewlaney reading tea leaves, you can already devine twelve days before Obama is inauguarated, that he:
I mean, come on. Get a grip.
January 8, 2009 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Have a grip. Sops will be thrown to conservative Republicans to show non-partisanship, progressives will be laughed at as extreme.
You know this "hasn't been inaugurated yet" crap is getting annoying. If I watch a baseball coach recruiting skinny fast guys, I know they're not going to be hitting a lot of home runs this year, even though spring training hasn't started.
January 8, 2009 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
We'll be hearing that it's too soon to be criticizing Obama for years. His pick of Gupta sucks. His pick of Kaine sucks. His pick of Gates sucks. His economic team sucks. It's just too early to know anything. When that is all a poster can say then i think he/she has nothing to say. So far Obama has been a dreadful disappointment. Kerry and Conrad are absolutely right about his stimulus plan which has now been watered down to include an ineffective tax cut to curry favor with Republicans. What we have to figure out is how effectively to organize to oppose the center-right policies of Obama.
January 8, 2009 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
You evidently have never seen the White Sox second baseman, the Cuban Missile Alexei Ramirez. 6'3" and about 175 lb. He hit 21 homeruns with a .475 slugging percentage in 2008. The kid runs like a whippet with a string of firecrackers tied to his tail and has more power than any second baseman I've seen since Ryne Sandberg.
January 9, 2009 2:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
21 home runs is a lot?
January 9, 2009 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
For a second baseman? Yeah. For a second baseman who is as skinny as Obama? That's phenomenal.
January 10, 2009 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree NCSteve. I think this is a little like the Warren invocation thing. Basically give Gupta a nothing appointment in the grand scheme of things but it does give the ins companies a false sense of security. Then Obama can work on his healthcare plan without a lot of initial pushback.
It is actually pretty brilliant when you think about it.
January 8, 2009 7:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Brilliant. Here's Sirota at Open Left's take on Gupta on medical marijuana:
===========================================
On top of all this, Gupta has an offensive piece in Time magazine this week taking an ultra-rightwing position on marijuana. "I'm here to tell you, as a doctor," he says in his typical consdescending way, "that despite all the talk about the medical benefits of marijuana, smoking the stuff is not going to do your health any good." Thanks, for that warning Dr. Gupta - what an amazingly brilliant physician you must be to be able to be able to recite the idiotically obvious."
January 8, 2009 7:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Des, I think Gupta is an asshole too. I think Obama is brilliant though. Like the Warren invocation thing. Appointing Gupta to a nothing post, and Surgeon General is really a nothing post, he can smooth over the repugs, while not hurting anything really.
January 8, 2009 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Sicko is one of many things that turned America around over the last 4 years and got us to where we are today. On healthcare it didn't hurt that Republicans were spectacularly bad either. I think you credit Gupta with too much influence Des and I'll bet box office for Sicko bears that out.
January 8, 2009 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Disagree. Sicko got less than $25 mill at the box office domestically, and that was his post-Fahrenheit movie. I recall the Gupta flare-up and how quickly the wind came out of Sicko's sails/sales at that point. Until then it was getting quite good reviews. After that it became trendy to trash it as an exaggeration.
January 8, 2009 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well Des, as much as I admire Moore for his effective use of hyperbole, he got A LOT of the facts wrong in Sicko. It was a great tear jerker, but not really very accurate, and not terribly helpful. So crucifying Gupta over this is kind of senseless. The SG is supposed to be a mouthpiece--Bush had a parade of worthless SGs, as did Clinton, by the way. I kind of like Gupta. If he can get Americans off their asses, eating whole foods, and lowering their cholesterol, that's worth a ton of effort (literally).
January 8, 2009 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, Des, surely, you are not blaming Gupta for Sicko's failure at the box office?
Much as I love you Des, on this I'm not quite against SG yet. At least for now. Though I hear my other half fomenting on about how there are other much more qualified Indian MD's out there Obama could and should tap instead of Sanjay Gupta. He thinks SG loves the camera too much and does not love policy enough. Could be true. I need proof.
January 8, 2009 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
This thread is probably dead, but...
I halfway blame Gupta for Sicko's demise. Documentaries frequently don't do well - An Inconvenient Truth got only $24 million as well.
However, Gupta panning Sicko was close to Oprah trashing a book. If he had done it for valid reasons, I wouldn't have a problem with it. But Michael Moore's contentions are basically true, even if he's presenting them in a bombastic in-your-face meets Laurel & Hardy style. Michael Moore is a comic as well as an issues-advocate and film maker. Gupta works for CNN which God knows is more worried about superficial image than Michael Moore. Gupta looked for a quick refutation on facts - valid - but screwed it up. Which he threw back in Moore's lap. Well, CNN has a lot more weight than Michael Moore, so at that point what could have been some crossover appeal (i.e. people who don't already subscribe to progressive or far-left ideas) was squashed.
And from what I saw, Sicko was much better made than Fahrenheit.
In any case, at that point I wrote Gupta off as a weasel. Sure, hire Chris Matthews or Sean Hannity if they'll take the Universal Health Care message to the right. Don't think any conservatives will listen to Gupta either, just another failed sop to the right.
January 9, 2009 4:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
If Sicko got $25 million at the box office it's because as soon as it was out of first run theaters a lot of copies were distributed, like most Moore movies, as fundraising or freebie copies around the country with his blessing. I saw it for the first time last fall at one of our Friday night campaign literature stuffing parties and didn't pay a dime to see it. Moore's movies don't cost much to make, he's more interested in getting his message out than raking in as much as he can.
January 10, 2009 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
His "carrier"? What is he carrying? Gonorrhea? TB? Should we start calling him Typhoid Sanjay?
January 8, 2009 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
he meant career, Debbie. Career.
Besides, I think a carrier is something like yellow cabs or mac trucks.
January 8, 2009 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or a pigeon. Like a stool pigeon. And everyone knows you can get sick from pigeon stools.
January 8, 2009 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is this the same stool Burris had to stand on?
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/november_5/2009/01/why-is-burris-on-a-pedestal.php
January 8, 2009 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Speaking of pigeon stool, my window ledge is covered with it. That might be the source of the nausea that's been creeping up on me all day, but I think more likely, the nausea is in response to my sinking feeling that Obama's economic plan isn't going to do one bit of good. Harkin is my senator and he's not the type to overreact or look forlorn unless there's damn good reason.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/harkin_fears_trickle-down_stimulus.php
January 8, 2009 10:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I sometimes am not sure if my favorite senator is Harkin or Feingold. Really fine gentlemen and statesmen.
We do not have that much info on this package. Real Alter's column at Newsweek. There are some really interesting proposals out there. If I screwed up on the cite, just go to Newsweek and find Alter.
You already know that. Now I really look stupid.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/177725/page/2/CommentSuccess/true#CommentBox
January 8, 2009 11:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the link. That's the kind of stuff I want to see happen.
January 9, 2009 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who cares? If he can be a public face for getting kids to stop sucking down soda and eating french fries, why does it matter if he's shallower than a puddle?
Can you name our current Surgeon General, or anything he has done for public health?
January 8, 2009 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah I can:
Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H.
Don't smoke, do not eat fats or meat fats or transfats (those are the fats that cannot figure out if they are male or female), do not have sex with THAT woman, if you had sex with THAT woman--for heaven sakes get a bloods test and do not have sex with any woman until you do, stay away from bars, candy bars, liquor bars, admiral bars,...
Always pray before you eat, but let others begin their ritual first so you can see if they get sick or not.
After finishing medical school, get a good certification in some specialty--you will make more money and pay off your student loans quicker.
Just a few things that you can learn from the Surgeon General.
January 8, 2009 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now that's some funny stuff right there. :)
January 8, 2009 7:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is our current SG the guy from KY who beat his wife? Gupta looks like a prince compared to that guy.
January 8, 2009 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hell even Harry and Louise were doing commercials during the election demanding massive healthcare reform.
January 8, 2009 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Sanjay Gupta is EXACTLY what Dr. Daschle ordered
Bring on Harry and Louise
January 8, 2009 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, Gupta will now be part of a team and all the old people that would watch him on CNN will feel he is doing something for them. And he will not bad mouth the Administration.
Besides he will go out and give speeches and probably be a fine PR guy.
January 8, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can't say I've ever been impressed with Gupta, and I haven't seen "Sicko", but anyone who takes a shot at Michael Moore, for any reason, can't be too bad.
I mean, just because Moore lied about different things from the things Gupta mentioned (if, indeed, Gupta was wrong and Moore right), doesn't mean it wasn't a good idea to try to discredit Moore early, often, and generally.
I can't think of anyone less worthy of respect than Moore. Maybe Larry Flynt?
January 8, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about George W. Bush?
January 8, 2009 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course el presidente has a point, he comments are startling in their acuity, Moore made 4 movies:
Roger and Me - GM is a badly run company headed by a bunch of greedy a**holes. - Fact: Wrong! GM's market cap is the same now as it was in 1950, as in 1950 its best years are in the future!
The Bowling Columbine Movie: Moore claimed easily available guns and ammo are dangerous and kill too many Americans. Fact: WRONG! Although 25,000-35,000 Americans are killed by guns each year, and although more Americans die from guns per capita than any nation outside of Somalia, the NRA says even more would die without the deterrent effect of so many armed citizens.
The Fahrenheit 9/11 Movie: Moore claimed Bush lied us into a war for the oil and the profiteering. Fact: Wrong! Although the reasons for the war changed a lot, the fact that a man threw a shoe at Bush shows it was worth it!
The Sicko Movie: Moore said the US healthcare system is not the best in the world. Fact: Rich foreigners like Middle East potentates come here for healthcare so it must be best in the world, at least for the rich!
January 8, 2009 8:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you. I would recommend this comment if I could. It just goes to show - just because the messenger may be annoying, it does not mean the message is not legit.
January 9, 2009 12:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, see that's the problem. Moore did not lie about the things Gupta was trying discredit him about. And Moore even provided his facts to the CNN producers, but Gupta kept on blabbing.
That's the problem. And it doesn't matter whether or not the Surgeon General doesn't actually do jack sh*t. It still looks bad for Obama to appoint somebody who doesn't seem to care about the facts. Only the first in a long line of dissapointments that we have in store as far as I am concerned.
January 8, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why don't you respect Michael Moore? Did you see Farenheit 911? Bowling for Columbine? You said you didn't see Sicko but you opined about it AND Gupta whom you also say you haven't seen.
You really don't do yourself much credit spouting off about things you admit you know nothing about. Why NOT respect someone who tries to educate us about what's going on?
Or is it just that you think 9/11 was Bush's finest hour/ kids should shoot up their schools/ and we should have shitty health care compared to most other countries?
January 8, 2009 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Michael Moore is something akin to infotainment. If you walk out of his films thinking, "Hey, that's all there is to it", then you probably buy a bit too much Amway for your own good. There's a bit of bloviating, but the presentations are basically valid and highlight important topics in important ways. And then "journalists" like Gupta who can't manage to ask pertinent details of the Administration like "exactly how much will the prescription benefit cost? No, really, the true cost, not just your fantasy wish cost?" will bust Moore's chops over a few piddling details, which in this case Gupta even got wrong.
January 8, 2009 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
The answer is simple: Moore is a sensationalist, not (even) a journalist. He is essentially a feature-length equivalent of Rush Limbaugh.
Oh, there you go. Rush Limbaugh is just as unworthy of our respect as Michael Moore.
Moore doesn't inform anyone about anything, he just tries to get people excited about things, which in my view makes him one step from yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater. I am sure he does well and has lots of fans. So does Rush.
But that doesn't make him correct, or a worthwhile human being.
(I've seen, or been dragged, to all of Moore's output before Sicko. I think that George Bush has been a terrible President, possibly the worst ever. I still think that Fahrenheit 911 was manipulative, cheap and disrespectful.)
January 8, 2009 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
What about Farenheit 911 was "sensationalist?" The part about Bush making fun of the CIA guy who brought him the news that "BinLadin Determined to Attack the USA?" or the part where Bush stared off into space for an eternity in that schoolroom after learning that our country was under attack? Or maybe you have something else that is out of proportion to the absurdity detailed in the movie.
If not for people like Michael Moore, the "Legacy Project" run by Karl Rove might just do the same thing to history that George Bush did in real time; ie -- fit the picture to fit his lies.
You may not like Moore's filmaking, but the truth is that he has made an historical account - subject to refutation - that will have less of a problem with the facts than the Bush story.
What is wrong with sensationalism as long as it is true? This 8 years deserves nothing less than outrage; sensational outrage. We have been pussies for too long.
January 8, 2009 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Petraeus is also a sensationalist. So is Karl Rove. So's Barack Obama and David Axelrod. So's Maureen Dowd and Keith Olbermann. How many times did the White House hire fake journalists to pump questions, or pay ex-generals to go pimp for them?
Part of Michael Moore's job is to make an entertaining movie to sit through for well over an hour, while sticking reasonably close to the truth on subjects people don't normally drop $8 for.
January 8, 2009 7:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
You really ought to see Sicko. I get pissed at Moore's movies all the time. I don't think he does ambush journalism nearly as well as 60 Minutes in it's heyday. Some of his stunts are just dumb. And in Fahrenheit 9/11 he went off on tangents when there was so much better stuff he could have put in instead. But Sicko was definitely intended for a broader market, all of us blue and red. He did a really remarkable job.
January 8, 2009 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Also, because of the beating he took over F911, he was painstakingly thorough and accurate in all of his quoted statistics.
Gupta had a very hard time trying to pick this movie apart. In the end, Gupta ended up lying to make Moore look bad. CNN actually put its logo over one of Moore's statistics that Gupta incorrectly quoted.
It was truly sad. Here is the vid. The problem with it is Moore is all stressed out, while Gupta is calm cool and collected. More people were fooled by the demeanor of the messenger than the truth of the message.
Gupta is a hack. Plain and simple.
January 8, 2009 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
My understanding is that the surgeon general is basically the media face for basic health issues (don't smoke, exercise, eat right, etc.) Basically the SG is a spokesperson who is not involved at in the policy decisions, such as health care reform. So it would make sense that you would choose someone who is comfortable in front of a camera. Obama was hiring a newscaster not a reporter.
January 8, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
All good and well, but I wouldn't hire Anita Bryant to ride a float in the gay rights parade.
January 8, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the history of the Surgeon General I am sure there has never been this much concern over someone who is at best a figure head and has no policy clout or input. All this angst over a nobody.
Now if he was being made head of Health and Human Services I'd understand and agree, but he's the freakin' Surgeon General, maybe since he hasn't been nominated yet. The next time you hear from him is when he retires and is doing commercials.
January 8, 2009 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unless, of course, he says something insane and controversial like respond to a direct question by reflecting that ""I think that it [mastrabation] is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught." Then Obama would sack him, because that's the kind of cynical, opportunistic, convictionless guy he his.
January 8, 2009 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
And, in all fairness, there was a lot of outcry over C. Everett Koop's anti-abortion views when Ronnie appointed him.
Ironically, the guy turned out to be one of the rare lonely heroes of courageous and conscience the Reagan Administration--not but what you didn't take your heroes where you could find them in those days.
January 8, 2009 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesus H. Christ if American kids have to be taught how to masturbate we're doomed, I tell ya doomed!
Frankly I think the next surgeon general will be concerned with more important subjects. Like getting the word out that eating rats and sawdust are not healthy no matter how hungry you are.
January 8, 2009 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, I don't know. A Republican SG would tell us that an large increase in rat-eating among the newly homeless will be a public health silver lining in the dark cloud of recession.
January 8, 2009 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
A Republican GAIA. The homeless are fed, the rat population is decreased, and no new taxes.
January 8, 2009 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh c'mon now, next thing you'll be telling me is they'd classify ketchup and mustard as vegetables in school lunch programs. Oh wait...
January 9, 2009 1:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dr. Gupta is now forced to elucidate the food pyramid. If he were left to be the most recognizable celebrity MD, he could use his media outlets to criticize Obama's health plan. Keep your enemies closer and all that rot. What was done to Moore could easily be done to Obama.
I think it is smart politics.
January 8, 2009 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's a good twist on the motivation for hiring him.
January 8, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
If we're just taking Moore as infotainment (if he really is Ann Coulter for the left handed crowd), then fine.
But too many people take his diatribes seriously.
January 8, 2009 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't see see Gupta's comments on *Sicko*. However, I have watched his series on health care reform, and he was effective in making the case for health care reform. I would have wished more detail on the breadth of insurance companies contribution to the problems--but it's CNN, not PBS. On the whole, I think he may have had far more influence with the unconvinced than Michael Moore. (Just to be plain, I like MM, but the majority of conservatives are not going to even sit through one of his films.) Getting health care reform done is going to involve getting widespread popular acceptance of whatever is proposed. The people who are Moore fans are already convinced. Gupta's job will be to bring on the rest of them. I'm really surprised that people aren't jumping for joy that Obama hasn't used the financial meltdown as an excuse to drop health care reform. Single Payer is a non-starter, so there's going to have to be a lot of compromise and persuasion. There's not much will for paying more so that other people will have coverage or any sacrifice of what people lucky enough to have coverage changed. If making Rush Limbaugh Surgeon General would move this along, I'd be holding my nose and supporting the appointment. I have CNN on for background noise so I've seen/heard a lot of Gupta. He doesn't strike me as extreme as many people seem to think.
January 8, 2009 8:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
On the field of health insurance reform, the surgeon general isn't a player. He's the bat boy.
But then, if one is absolutely convinced that the new manager is going to be a disaster before pre-season starts (because, say, one's own favorite choice was passed over by the front office), it's entirely possible to see even the selection of a new bat boy as fitting nicely into one's prophecies of doom.
And, of course, even if the team makes it to the Series, its likely to be accompanied by protests that it happened despite the manager's best efforts to drive the team into the sewer.
January 8, 2009 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Crap. That was supposed an addition to my argument with Des.
Oh well, it was getting kind of skinny up there anyway.
January 8, 2009 8:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
For shame that this jerk took someone else's spot in medical school--you know, someone who might be a doctor and *help* people.
He came to Temple about a year ago. We all gave him hell. He's not good speaking off the outline. Spent most of our time on this: so how are people supposed to stop eating donuts and twinkies in urban areas where the only grocery is the corner store? that doesn't have produce? Or if it does, it looks disgusting and is very expensive?
He's in love with himself. Perfect Adonis. Except he's not that good looking.
January 8, 2009 11:11 PM | Reply | Permalink