Before I Continue, Let Me Just Say Bush Bush Bush

Jesse Walker | July 11, 2007

Nick already blogged the former surgeon general's testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, but a passage in The New York Times' account of the hearing is juicy enough to deserve a post of its own:

Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings.

And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization's longtime ties to a "prominent family" that he refused to name.

"I was specifically told by a senior person, 'Why would you want to help those people?'" Dr. Carmona said.

The Special Olympics is one of the nation's premier charitable organizations to benefit disabled people, and the Kennedys have long been deeply involved in it.

When asked after the hearing if that "prominent family" was the Kennedys, Dr. Carmona responded, "You said it. I didn't."

To be fair, it's possible that when the official asked why Carmona would want to help "those people," he was referring to the Special Olympians.