Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) is a medical doctor. As such, he has to have had considerable exposure to the scientific method. In addition, he gas to have taken the Hippocratic Oath, promising to do no harm. Sadly, he seems quite content to ignore both.
Today, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held its confirmation hearing for Gina McCarthy, who was nominated by President Obama to be our next Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator. During the hearing, one of her chief inquisitors was Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), who is one of three doctors in the United States Senate and a long-time opponent of public health safeguards from dirty air, water and climate pollution.
Barrasso used this opportunity to indicate that he only applies the physician’s Hippocratic Oath to “keep them from harm and injustice” when the harm would occur to the profits of big oil and coal companies. Furthermore, he frequently denies the ever-strengthening scientific understanding that human activity is responsible for climate change. It’s like a physician denying that smoking causes cancer.
Barrasso began his opening statement today by falsely accusing the Obama administration and the EPA of “making it impossible for our coal miners to feed their families…. These people are heroes and they deserve better than what they are getting from the EPA.” The facts say otherwise — the average number of coal-mining jobs under the Obama administration has been over 15 percent higher than under George W. Bush. Moreover, McCarthy has received a lot of support from industry officials including American Electric Power, a company that relies heavily on coal…
…So why is Senator Barrasso is protecting polluter interests over public health? Maybe it has something to do with the $526,866 in campaign donations from oil or gas. Or maybe the $122,831 from the coal industry? Whatever the reason, the doctor is a longtime practitioner of political malpractice. [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
The spelling in my graphic is NOT a typo. I’ve shared the beginning and the end of the article. Click through to read the details on how Barrasso has abandoned his medical training, his oath, and his constituents to support the destruction of our planet for polluter profit.
7 Responses to “Barrasso’s Oath”
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Add Traitor to the American people to his titles as well as Hypocritic Doctor.
This just boggles my mind. He went to Georgetown U for Med School, and Yale for his residency – so he can't be dumb – stupid … clearly – but not dumb.
And as the saying goes, "You can't fix stupid."
"…So why is Senator Barrasso is protecting polluter interests over public health? Maybe it has something to do with the $526,866 in campaign donations from oil or gas. Or maybe the $122,831 from the coal industry? Whatever the reason, the doctor is a longtime practitioner of political malpractice. [emphasis added]" Oooooh yeah! I would suggest that it has a LOT to do with the campaign donations!!!
Hippocrates is rolling over in his grave at the mere thought of this animal being a doctor!
Make Republican/Teabaggers an endangered species but don't give them the protections of the Endangered Species Act, or any other act for that matter!
Nothing is sacred to these shills and yes Hypocrits– Absoluely nothing!
I don't think any of these wacko republicans actually believe any of that idiocy they are forcing on the rest of us. They simply know where a lot of the money is – in wealthy fundamentalist churches. So Barasso will come out piously in favor of anti-science and no education for the unwashed masses. That's how he gets those Super PAC donations.
And the Koch brothers, who dream of ruling the world, do not want an educated and aware American population. They donate billions to the rethuglican cause.
And if Barasso actually gave a damn about coal miners, he'd do something to make their lives better. He won't – no republican ever has done a thing for coal miners, nor ever will. They lack unions, they work in unsafe conditions,they risk their lives every time they go down into those mines and they live in abject poverty. They were practically slaves until very recently, owing everything to the coal mining "stores." He and the other republicans could work to bring other industries to the dead-end that is W. Va. Have they? Nope. They never will. They just misuse the coal miners badly for their own personal agendas and then forget about them.
I hope there are coal miners out there who realize that Barasso is using them for his own fortune.
What Barasso and the other troglodytes fail to realize is that history will be extremely unkind to them all. History will remember them for exactly what they truly are: phat white parasites hell-bent on wrecking the country for their own personal gain.
I love it when these politicians carry on about saving coal mining jobs. My dad, uncles, brother-in-law, and brother were all union miners and had fairly decent lives. There are very few union mining jobs in this area now. Our politicians support COAL and vote down any thing that stops coal from destroying where we live or polluting our air and water. The few miners who still have jobs are terrified they will be out of work if the EPA does its job because that is what the coal companies tell them. Mountaintop removal is destroying coal country and the ony reason is profit. They can employ one third the number of workers for MTR that they need for underground mining.