Surgeon General told not to attend Special Olympics!

Just when we thought the Bush administration couldn't go any lower, Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona says that he was discouraged from attending the Special Olympics for political reasons. "I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?' " Dr. Carmona said. "Those people" were the Kennedy family, which is heavily involved with the Special Olympics.

What I don't understand is why Bush (or Cheney, or Rove, or whoever) thought that supporting the Special Olympics would be seen by anyone as supporting the Kennedys, in any way. Under that logic, were those of us who gave money to the Tsunami relief fund "helping" Bush Sr. and/or Bill Clinton, who acted as spokesmen for the cause? And until now, I wasn't even aware of the Kennedy family having any involvement with the Special Olympics - and based on unscientific sample of folks I've talked to about it, I doubt most Americans think of the Kennedy family when they think of the Special Olympics.

The Special Olympics wasn't the only issue where the Surgeon General felt hampered by an obsession with partisan politics - the article also discusses how the administration ignored the science on issues like global warming, secondhand smoking, and prison health care.

"Surgeon General Sees 4-Year Term as Compromised" [New York Times]
PDF: Dr. Carmona's Prepared Testimony [New York Times]