ZOMG! Dr. Regina Benjamin isn't teh skinny!

[blogslut]

So, believe it or not, this is an actual segment coming up on the Doctor Nancy Show: "Is Surgeon General appointee Regina Benjamin's weight an issue?"

Thing is, I can't remember anyone making an issue out of C Everett Koop's weight when he was appointed Surgeon General.

[el_bryanto]

1. Yeah but that was back in the days people respected ability and credentials

Obviously we are past that now.

Bryant

[BlooInBloo]

2. I couldn't believe I was hearing that on CNN...

I'm not sure why I was surprised, now that I think about it.

[senseandsensibility]

6. It's MSNBC

I believe.

[blogslut]

7. Oh, I'm sure CNN is on top of this very important news

Probably once on the hour, every hour.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Yep - thanks!

[Sanity Claws]

3. Females are always criticized for their appearance

Men are not subjected to criticism on their appearance in the same way.

[babylonsister]

4. You read my mind! I saw the intro to that segment, and after

shutting it down because it was so ridiculous, I thought of Koop, too.

I'm hardly a fan of this show. I guess I just don't like doctors, period.

[liberal N proud]

5. They are running out of Michael Jackson topics

[TahitiNut]

8. It makes a kind of sense, though.

As we see ourselves on the threshold of National Health Care with shared costs, there is a rise in the political pressure to control lifestyles and habits. Obesity and smoking are the two hot-buttons ... and the push to "encourage wellness" and penalize (as though illness ain't enough) people for being fat or smokers, we have a nominee for Surgeon General who has emphasized "preventative" health care. Dr. Benjamin has already made note of tobacco use. (Never mind that the societal costs are more than offset by the taxes smokers now pay.) So, the question moves to one of obesity.

There are MORE obese people than smokers in America today ... but there is NO ofsetting taxation. It's just too bad that we can't scapegoat a single commodity used by some voting minority who aren't numerous enough to prevail, huh???

[blogslut]

11. Isn't health more about mobility/exercise than body shape?

It is possible to be round yet healthy. Personally, I think there's too much emphasis on figure as opposed to regular exercise and a balanced diet. I've known too many people who have put their hearts through the ringer with yo-yo dieting instead of accepting they will always be larger than the supposed norm.

[TahitiNut]

15. I'm merely talking the politics, not the reality. I doubt we'll see parks and swimming pools ...

... provided as a result of National Health Care. CLEARLY, our physical health would benefit FAR more by the availability of clean, convenient, and accessible facilities for exercise and physical activity than by the negative harangues of taxation and animosity. Sadly, there's not a chance we'll take the positive approach.

[blogslut]

21. I agree

As well, I would love to see an AD Council campaign centering on walking/bicycling, tied to energy conservation and wellness.

[Missy Vixen]

19. They do it because as long as they are "fat",

they're considered open season re: those who believe all bodies should be a size 2. The women who live in our neighborhood are size 2. They throw up, chain smoke, or live on Diet Coke to do it, but they're "healthy". :sarcasm:

I think Dr. Benjamin looks great. She's normal. We just don't see that anymore, do we? :eyes:

[SoCalDem]

24. When they outlaw HFCS and tobacco, I'll believe that the govt is serious

Dr Nancy seems to be in favor of 'eating healthy", but until the Frankenfood lobbyists are sent packing, and their companies required to go back to "real food", I don;t see obesity going away..

and dumping a chemical stew into products, and calling it just as good as sugar, is not the solution, either.

[azmouse]

10. She looks pretty average to me.

I don't know how current this pic is but I don't see a problem with her.

[Inuca]

12. That's how she was dressed when Obama introduced her

so it must have been taken the same day I assume.

[dogtag]

18. I think she's lovely.

Isn't that what used to be called pleasantly plump?

[azmouse]

20. I do too.

I'm on her side. Not all of us can be a size 4 or less.

[Believing Is Art]

23. She is heavy, but

from the way she holds herself it's obvious she has a lot of muscle. She doesn't look unhealthy.

[MADem]

29. I think she's just nicely thick. There's a difference between fat and thick.

She looks pretty solid to me.

[undeterred]

13. When I heard they were making a big deal about her weight

I thought she must be 4 or 500 lbs.

[Missy Vixen]

14. OMG! She's not a size 2!

Concern trolls at MSNBC, huh?

God, this makes me mad.

HALF of American women are over a size fourteen. They're not fat. They're NORMAL!

[MADem]

16. Neither Koop nor Benjamin are in the "more chins than the Beijing phonebook" catagory

but it does, to me, look like C-Ev is "sucking it in" a bit for this pic:

[madmom]

25. Is this why some men have beards? To hide the double chin?

[MADem]

27. Or the "no chin" look. Put a beard on Don Knotts, and he'd have looked like a

Prussian general!

[BlooInBloo]

17. The stupidest part of it is that national news media decides it's a story...

that teh intertubez are ripping on a fat person.

Your idiot media at work.

[blondeatlast]

22. She looks healthy and normal to me, but that's the g-d media for you.

I'm a size 2 trying very hard to gain muscle. In the media's eyes, I'm "ideal" and I AM healthy, but I don't like my bones sticking out everywhere.

If she's too fat to the M$M, I'm a Turkish prisoner. :mad: women cannot win.

[get the red out]

26. I guess fat only shows on women right?

The sexism where weight is concerned is idiotic. I beleive to conservatives, men can't be fat because they don't have breasts.

I just looked at a picture of the good Doctor and she has a problem I have grappled with in life, some people think having large breasts makes you "fat". I once had a store clerk take a look at my top half and hand me a pair of jeans 2 sized too large.

They day their God Rush Limbaugh can see with his own eyes if the Viagra is working or not, they can harp on this lady's "weight problem".

[FrenchieCat]

28. Well we all know that the media will go as low as they can go.....

and this is pretty much rock bottom, sorta speak.

[Gabi Hayes]

30. "Dr." Nancy is nothing but an insurance industry shill, who got suspened by ABC, even:

http://mediamatters.org/research/200707260002

A July 23 Daily Kos diary by "nyceve" noted that three medical correspondents -- Robert Bazell and Nancy Snyderman of NBC News and Susan Dentzer of PBS' NewsHour -- "all participate on the AHIP Speakers Network." AHIP describes itself as "the voice of America's health insurers" and "the national association representing nearly 1,300 member companies providing health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans." Its board of directors consists mainly of insurance-company executives. A July 25 Roll Call article (subscription required) described AHIP as "the lobbying group for the health insurance industry." The Daily Kos diary also noted that none of the bios for the three journalists on the websites of NBC or PBS disclosed the journalists' roles with the AHIP Speakers Network. Each of the reporters was, indeed, listed on AHIP's website as part of its speakers network, but all three names have since been removed from the list.

The diary highlighting Bazell's and Snyderman's ties to AHIP was posted on Daily Kos less than a week after Media Matters for America noted that their colleague Jim Miklaszewski, NBC chief Pentagon correspondent, reportedly took $30,000 from the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce to address its Business EXPO 2007. During his talk, Miklaszewski reportedly attacked Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, calling him a "loser."

......

Nancy Snyderman was suspended without pay for a week once after she recorded a radio commercial for Tylenol. Then she left ABC a weeks after that to go to Johnson & Johnson—the company that makes Tylenol.

[LWolf]

31. Interesting responses,

in light of the responses about weight on this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6103613

[spanone]

32. i put 'dr. nancy' right up there (or down there) with 'judge judy'....