So, Sanjay goes to Iraq, becomes the story instead of reporting on the story; then writes a pilot for a TeeVee series based on his experiences. Ho Boy. In the same interview with Emory Magazine, he tells the interviewer how much he enjoys driving his Jaguar XK8. Much more can be found at
http://mediabloodhound.typepad.com/weblog/2007/07/we-all-witnesse.htmlAs Frank Rich noted at the time, in the op-ed "The Spoils of War Coverage":
At CNN, a noble effort by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, an embedded medical reporter, to rescue an injured 2-year-old Iraqi boy by performing on-the-scene brain surgery was milked for live reports. Lest anyone not grasp the most important moral of this incident, Dr. Gupta himself declared that ''it was a heroic attempt to try to save the child's life'' after the child had died.
One year later, in a 2004 interview in Emory Magazine, this is revealed:
He has written a pilot for a television series about his experiences in Iraq that he just sold to ABC. The series, he says, is “M.A.S.H. on speed.” Ironic, isn’t it? How many episodes of M.A.S.H. were there where Hawkeye exposes a character for being a grandstanding self-interested phony?
Oh, by the way, the interview also relates how much Gupta “enjoys driving his Jaguar XK8.” Of course. And my point isn't that he drives this car, but rather the mentality of someone who feels the need to mention this in an interview without any awareness, or care, of its elitist overtones - especially when he owes much of his fame to those experiences in Iraq, a place from which he seems to have blithely moved on with his life while leaving our soldiers behind. So, you see, when Michael Moore also blamed Dr. Gupta for helping to sell the war in Iraq, he was on the money. Literally and figuratively. It would be unseemly enough if Gupta mentioned such a thing in an interview today, but, remember, he said this back in 2004, just a year after his stint there.
The spoils of war, indeed.
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I would imagine America-at-large isn't going to care much about this. And I do know it is being said that Obama just wants a spokesperson who is recognizable.. but GOOD GRIEF !! This guy, as far as I'm concerned, is a money-hungry/power-hungry disintegretous shill and does NOT deserve to be the "Face of Healthcare in America."