My minds excavator cannot pinpoint the moment. The moment when I first heard the phrase “be politic”. I do recall the interpretation: in the end success will occur if there is some level of agreement.
In other words, you cannot use verbal explosives and reach a satisfactory conclusion. Agreement requires some level of agreeable behavior.
In lawyer’s verbiage, I do not have a brief for Dr. Anthony Fauci. A fair reading of his conduct: he is human. Extended: his humanity and professionalism were assaulted by self-regard. Sort of: “if I say it, it must be true because I am Doctor Anthony Fauci.”
Self-regard and its pathologies are a disease in centers of power. A provable one.
Most of America would like to see a rational post-mortem on the Corona Virus period which was a time of death and dislocation. What did we do right, and not? When once again we are confronted with a potentially deadly disease are their lessons we should apply? Fauci, if not subverted by his self-regard and threats of criminal action, could be a source of some insight.
Senator Rand Paul who chairs the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs insists Fauci should be criminally prosecuted. Fauci, under assault, turns to lawyers and they turn to the ever-ready source of evasion, the 5th Amendment.
What we want, what we need, is that Fauci’s words be used for us. Maybe, just maybe, at 85 years of age he might want to render a public service in his final chapter, informed by candor, right or wrong.
Senator Paul has opted to use the government as an assault weapon. To be fair, there is a pandemic of weaponizing. Every public policy battle these days seems to be waged with vituperation. In effect: my opponent is evil and I am here to prove it.
It is impossible, given our Constitution’s free speech protection, to legislate against weaponization, but if our democracy is to work, we better get a handle on the character of the people we elect. Harshness should not be a campaign asset.
In fact, today the bases of the two political parties do not want to be majoritarian. They want to win the arguments of the day in Primary Elections, which feature low turnout and correspondingly a much higher level of partisan control. I think of this as a decivilization conspiracy led by self-serving, so-called political leaders.
Much of today’s campaigning is performative, leaving little room for thoughtful but understated candidates. Candidates are expected to be animated (Trump dancing, for example) but the words and phrases often careen to the edge of defamation.
Reality: Fauci is not going to prison. The fact he was pardoned by President Biden and took the 5th Amendment in the Senate hearing added unwanted exclamation points to his public persona. However, a thoughtful proceeding would invite several panels of Covid response leaders and thoughtful analysts looking back and forward. Fauci should be on one of those panels and if he refuses then contempt of Congress should be considered.
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Sorry, but the MAGA “deep state” is trying everything they can to avoid the obvious…
They have lost total control of the US Government.
What ever happened to my mother’s Republican Party that was focused on honesty, cost control of government, and taking care of the American people? Look at what they have done to American people and our standing around the world in less than two years since Trump was reelected.
It appears to me that the animation of some Trump folks has gone way beyond the edge of defamation.
First, a “thoughtful proceeding” is not possible with the current Republican Congress.
Second, who among our Covid response leaders should be reasonably expected to serve on a panel for the current Republican Congress, which shows no respect or even decency to medical experts.
And finally, why would Dr. Fauci be considered in contempt of Congress for refusing to serve on a panel? Is that too now against the law?
Poor guy. I hope they don’t bring out the electric shock gloves.
Brava Ms Langfitt!
Did certain pandemic policies cause severe economic and social harm? Yes. Did Dr. Fauci save millions of lives globally? Yes.
In the United States the pandemic caused 1,238,678 deaths — making it the deadliest disaster in U.S. history. Going after a scientist who saved millions of lives seems a bit ridiculous.
Most Americans agree that one of President Trump’s greatest accomplishments was Operation Warp Speed and it was Dr. Fauci who played a key role in getting millions of Americans vaccinated. How many people on their resume can say — I saved millions of lives?
Dr, Fauci’s “self-regard” is apparently a serious issue of bad character. Its as if he recommended that a “very powerful light” or ultraviolet (UV) radiation could be brought “inside the body” through the skin or another method to treat COVID-19, shortly after a presentation on how sunlight degrades the virus on surfaces. If he suggested injecting disinfectants to “clean” the virus internally, he should be imprisoned. If he had lied to misinform the public about the gravity of the situation, he should have been jailed. Had he claimed the situation was under control and that the virus would disappear on its own, he’d be responsible for misleading millions of Americans into downplaying COVID in order to save face. Those misled people might well have continued to doubt the mortal threat of COVID and foolishly resisted precautions, like masking and vaccinations, likely contributing to the disastrous results nationwide in this country.
Had the “self-regarding” Fauci behaved with such crass irresponsibility, he should certainly be held accountable to the American public. But we all know who acted with crass irresponsibility.
Absolutely I agree with Mr Terrone.
And anyway, do we know anyone else who could have done a better job under the urgent circumstances, lest we forget?
During a visit to the CDC during his 1st term, trump stated that the physicuans and scientists were “amazed that [he] really gets this stuff”. He further commented that he “has a good brain…a really good brain” for “this stuff” citing the fact that his uncle was a long term faculty member at MIT. However, his actions and comments subsequently proved that trump has no clue about science. Neither trump nor his Sec of HHS, RFK Jr, understand the process of medical research or how medical innovations are developed, validated and subsequentially implemented. One might believe that Sen Rand Paul, being a physician (ophthalmologist), might be expected to have some insight into this process,, but his comments regarding the Covid pandemic and any role NIH funding, specifically any role Dr. Fauci may have played in this process demonstrate his lack of understanding of this process. While Sen Paul raise valid questions, the genesis of these questions appear to be Sen Paul’s particuar politcal philosophy against gov’t regulation rather than based on the medical/scientific issues (NB: he formed his own medical “certification” board, the National Board of Ophthalmology, after a disagreement with the existing Ophtahalmology certifying board). While one msy not know what goes on behind closed doors, every NIH research grant goes through a rigorous process in which essentially every step of the research is spelled out in great detail in order to gain approval and funding. If someone wants to know the specifics of a research project, all one needs to do is read the approved protocol. Sen Paul can gain access to the protocol approved by NIAID/NIH. If there are concerns regarding the public health recommendations and practices generated, Sen Paul , RFK Jr and trump can sit with any number of experts for a personal tutorial of how clinical practice guidelines are typically generated. I suspect that they may have already asked the pertinent questions but as the answers given did not mesh with their political agenda they choose to ignore the validity of these practices. In doing so, they sow public distrust in the larger medical scientific community. If anyone has misled the public on our response to Covid, is is Paul, RFK Jr and trump, and NOT Dr. Fauci.
If you’ve seen other hearings that Dr. Fauci has been called to appear in, you’d be amazed at the insulting and disgusting things that are said to him. One I particularly remember was an unprofessional attack by Marjorie Taylor Greene. It was humiliating for him and anyone else who had to hear it. And afterward he said that every time he goes to these hearings, the death threats to him and his family are ramped up. So no wonder that President Biden gave him a pardon. But he is still being dragged into these nonsense committee hearings and attacked and humiliated. My question is, why are they trying to wring answers from Dr. Fauci. Why don’t they go to China where COVID originated and try to find answers there. Seems that it is still a question as to whether it was created in a lab in China or from animals in a market. Aren’t those the answers they are looking for? I can’t imagine what else Dr. Fauci could tell them that he hasn’t already and I think he’s smart to take the 5th because Sen. Paul is looking for anything that could be turned against Dr. Fauci, no matter how he has to twist it into something it isn’t. IMHO