I guess it fits: Rogue ophthalmologist Rand Paul, who once set out to found a rival eye doctors' group, is also a member of a fringe conservative medical organization founded in opposition to the mainstream American Medical Association. The Courier-Journal does yeoman work in elucidating the views of the so-called Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. I suggest you read the whole article, but here are a few choice excerpts:
But the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons published an article in 2007 saying "both official reports and the peer-reviewed literature afford substantive grounds for doubting that HIV is the necessary and sufficient cause of AIDS and that anti-retroviral treatment is unambiguously beneficial."
On its Website, the AAPS included an article in October 2008 titled, "Is Obama a Brilliant Orator ... or a Hypnotist?" It cites an unsigned paper suggesting that Obama used hypnotic techniques and speech patterns in his 2008 campaign.
The paper claims to examine Obama's speeches "word by word, hand gesture by hand gesture, tone, pauses, body language, and proves his use of covert hypnosis intended only for licensed therapists on consenting patients."
The AAPS advances the claim that women who have abortions are at a higher risk for breast cancer, although the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society say there is no such link.
And the group opposes mandatory vaccinations and promotes a now-discredited study linking thimerosal, a longtime component of many vaccines, to autism in children.
There's even a tie-in to Rand Paul's favorite hobbyhorse, the federally-funded Operation UNITE. The AAPS thinks that doctors who over-prescribe pain medications have been unfairly targeted; UNITE fired back, saying "If the (AAPS) truly cared about their profession they should champion enforcement efforts, encourage stiff penalties for those abusing their medical oath and save people's lives."
Of course, I'm sure this stuff - especially the Obama lunacy (read the article, there are more goodies) - will only make Rand Paul more appealing to his fellow Republicans.
UPDATE: Great reminder by atdleft:
As GOP Senate nominee Sharron Angle attempts to parry charges from Harry Reid's campaign that she is "just too extreme," she is the headliner at an event Saturday promoted by a physician's group that is far out of the mainstream. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which is a major promoter of the Doctors Tea Party in San Diego on Saturday, has given voice to some bizarre theories, believes the advent of Medicare in 1965 was "evil" and "immoral" and once published a piece arguing HIV may not cause AIDS. There's more, too, with the group promoting one of Angle's previously expressed theories that abortion may cause breast cancer and it also once argued the FDA is unconstitutional.
As atd says, "I guess 'King Tea-nut' and 'Queen Tea-nut' have been reunited yet again!" |
