Michael Moore and Paul Krugman : Is Sanjay Gupta a 'Sicko?'

CNN’s Sanjay Gupta vs. Michael Moore
By Jim Galloway / January 9, 2009

See 'PNHP Opposes Gupta for Surgeon General,' by Larry Jones; and Video of Sanjay Gupta and Michael Moore on the Larry King Show, Below.

Speculation in Washington is building that Democratic opposition to President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of CNN’s Sanjay Gupta as U.S. surgeon general is rooted in Gupta’s clash with another media figure — liberal documentarian Michael Moore.

Today, the newspaper notes:

Conyers also cited a Jan. 6 blog item by Paul Krugman in The New York Times. Unlike Conyers, however, Krugman does not have a problem with Gupta’s qualifications.

Krugman pointed out that Gupta engaged in a televised argument with Moore in 2007 over his movie, “SiCKO.”

Conyers is friends with Moore, a Michigan native who is an ardent backer of the legislator’s universal healthcare bill. Moore’s film made the case for the U.S. to adopt a “single-payer” healthcare system like Canada’s.

On Thursday, Moore’s website prominently highlighted Krugman’s blog on Gupta.

Specifically, here’s what Krugman posted on his NYTimes blog:

I don’t have a problem with Gupta’s qualifications. But I do remember his mugging of Michael Moore over Sicko. You don’t have to like Moore or his film; but Gupta specifically claimed that Moore “fudged his facts”, when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong.

Moore's web site now also gives prominent display to both Krugman’s remarks and Conyer’s letter of objection.

Below is a YouTube clip of the Moore-Gupta confrontation on CNN’s “Larry King Live” that seems to have caused several pairs of underwear to twist themselves into a wad:

Sanjay Gupta and Michael Moore on CNN's Larry King

Source / Political Insider / Atlanta Journal-Constitution

PNHP Opposes Gupta for Surgeon General
By Larry Jones / January 8, 2009

Physicians for a National Health Program has declared its opposition to the expected appointment of Dr. Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General of the U.S.

Here's why PNHP is opposed to Gupta:

Among our concerns are these:

• 1. He has very little background in public health, preventive medicine or administration.
• 2. He has openly opposed progressive health reform, going so far as to cite false information to denigrate single payer (e.g. in his error-laden attack on Michael Moore's film "Sicko") and parroting the health insurance lobby's distortions of single payer.
• 3. As a media figure, he has been disturbingly cozy with Big Pharma. He co-hosts Turner Private Networks' monthly show "Accent Health," which airs in doctors' offices around the country and which serves as a major conduit for targeted ads from the drug companies. Another example: In 2003, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, he publicly downplayed concerns about the dangers of Vioxx. It was removed from the market a year later by its manufacturer, Merck.
• 4. In the 2008 election campaign, his reporting on John McCain's health proposals was misleading and implicitly positive, giving undeserved credence to McCain's claims that buying private health insurance on the open market is a financially viable option for most Americans.

We urge you to write to President-elect Obama and express your opposition to Gupta's possible nomination, and to urge Obama to nominate a more acceptable candidate for this critically important post. You can do so by clicking here: http://change.gov/....

Sincerely yours,

Quentin Young, M.D.
National Coordinator

Source / Daily Kos

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