There’s no excuse for Anthony Fauci’s behavior.
I’m not talking about his handling of the pandemic. I’m not talking about his financial disclosures. I’m talking about his name-calling of Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas.
Dr. Fauci let that one slip during a Senate hearing, evidently thinking his microphone wouldn’t pick it up. To be precise: “What a moron. Jesus Christ.”
The comment came after an exchange with Sen. Marshall, who prior to his election to the Senate represented the Manhattan area in the U.S. House. Sen. Marshall was essentially accusing Dr. Fauci of hiding his financial disclosure forms, which show where he has his money invested. Those forms are required of many government officials so as to illuminate potential conflicts of interest.
The forms for Dr. Fauci are accessible to the public, although getting the originals from the government is a rather tortured process. You can find them with a Google search in about 10 seconds from a variety of sources, including factcheck.org. They don’t show anything particularly noteworthy. Which is part of why Dr. Fauci got so annoyed with Sen. Marshall’s line of questioning.
“The big tech giants are doing an incredible job of keeping it from being public,” Marshall said of the disclosure form. “We’ll continue to look for it. Where would we find it?”
Fauci: “All you have to do is ask for it. You are so misinformed it’s extraordinary. All you have to do is ask for it.”
Still, there’s no excuse for calling a United States Senator a moron. And on behalf of those of us in Kansas, I’d say, he’s not a moron, and even if he was a moron, he’s our moron. So back off.
I have a great deal of respect for both men, on the grounds that one is the longtime head of the federal government’s public-health operation. And the other is a United States Senator. Agree or disagree with either of them, they are worthy of respect.
So as to not come off as passive-aggressive, I need to be clear: I think Sen. Marshall’s line of questioning was ill-conceived and unnecessary. Questioning him like this seems intended solely to undermine his credibility in the middle of a deadly pandemic, and to provide support to other half-cocked conspiracy theories.
I also think Sen. Marshall’s record in the aftermath of last Jan. 6 – essentially coming down on the side of election-conspiracy kookiness and supporting the false claims of Donald Trump – is inexcusable.
But you still just can’t call a U.S. senator a moron. You will undermine your own cause – which, in this case, is the cause of science and reason – and you will rally people to defend that Senator. You make yourself look slightly unhinged, which is entirely unproductive.
All in all, a sad episode in a long line of sad episodes, doing nothing but further undermining public confidence. Dr. Fauci, at least, should have known better.
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January 15, 2022 at 12:48AM
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FROM THE PUBLISHER | The moron' comment, and other inexcusable behavior - Manhattan Mercury
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