The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Preach It, Dr. Wolf!

Posted on | February 23, 2014 | 20 Comments

by Smitty


For having made some insensitive remarks, the Vichy GOP incumbent is trying to disqualify Dr. Wolf, who responds:

My training as a diagnostic radiologist included the critical component of studying medical images published both in textbooks and online. I have myself authored and published educational material that teaches medical imaging to medical students and doctors. Of the thousands of medical images I have published I have taken care to maintain patient privacy.

Several years ago I made some comments about these images that were insensitive to the seriousness of what the images revealed. Soon thereafter, I removed those images and comments, again several years ago. For them to be published in a much more public context now, by a political adversary who would rather declare war on doctors than answer serious questions that Kansans have, is truly sad. However, my mistakes are my own and I take full responsibility for them.

I have said throughout this campaign and long before it began that I bear the scars of taking the Oath to my patients. When I was 15 years old, I stood at my father’s bedside, himself a rural doctor, and watched him take his last breath. It was at that moment that I knew I would take his torch and dedicate my life to serving patients in need. I’m reminded just how extraordinarily difficult the burden is when I have failed to live up to his example.

It is an incredible honor and an enormous burden to work shoulder-to-shoulder with dedicated people who every day run towards the screaming instead of away. The cumulative effect of day after day, year after year, witnessing so much human suffering, so much tragedy, takes its toll. I’ve seen the burdens of practicing medicine tear apart families and drive good people to vice and as great as the honor is to serve, I would still not wish the burdens of it upon anyone. To those I have offended, I am truly sorry and I ask for your forgiveness.

And now, years later, because I have declared that I am willing to stand up for my country, Senator Pat Roberts wants to attack me as a doctor rather than giving Kansans a reason to vote for him. It’s sad. Pat Roberts has not been able to identify a single issue on which he thinks I am wrong and so he’s doing things the Washington way: character assassination. Kansans should know that I will not be intimidated by their bullying. I did not back down when Barack Obama’s IRS audited me and I will not back down from the desperate attacks of a 47-year Washington insider either.

Hopefully Kansans can tell the difference between an old goat past his sell-by date, and a serious, fresh face of reform.

via Hot Air

Category: Kansas, Republicans

Comments

20 Responses to “Preach It, Dr. Wolf!”

  1. Political Rift » Preach It, Dr. Wolf!
    February 23rd, 2014 @ 7:45 pm

    […] smitty by Smitty 2014: YEAR OF THE CONCERN TROLL => Primary challenger to Pat Roberts found to have […]

  2. slp
    February 23rd, 2014 @ 8:09 pm

    Here is the gotcha video:

    http://cjonline.com/news/state/2014-02-22/doctors-x-ray-postings-unsettling

    The big problem is that Dr. Wolf uploaded x-rays to public social media sites and other online venues.

    Public media sites!!!!!

    He is an idiot.

    Since the guy is an idiot, everyone is wasting their time and energy defending him.

    There must be some one else in Kansas who is not this stupid.

  3. smitty
    February 23rd, 2014 @ 9:05 pm

    I can’t tell if you’re just trolling, or buying off on Robert’s line of hooey.

  4. Funeral guy
    February 23rd, 2014 @ 9:12 pm

    I agree with sip. Just because there are some Republican squishes that need to be primaried doesn’t mean we’re required to vote for idiots. I’m sorry, but if Dr. Wolf isn’t bright enough to realize that you have to leave your shenanigans off of Facebook than he’s not bright enough to be a U.S. Senator. And that’s a pretty low bar. Better now than finding out in October that he’s a Peenie Tweeter.

  5. McGehee
    February 23rd, 2014 @ 10:07 pm

    What is obvious is that “sip” didn’t bother to read the post.

  6. slp
    February 23rd, 2014 @ 10:45 pm

    I am certainly not trolling.

    You should read what I wrote.

    To repeat myself, Dr. Wolf uploaded x-rays to public social media sites and other online venues.

    He dug a very deep hole for himself.

    He is not the only Tea Party conservative in Kansas.

    There is no reason to waste your time and energy trying to defend and minimize his stupidity.

    There must be some one else in Kansas who is not this stupid.

  7. K-Bob
    February 23rd, 2014 @ 10:56 pm

    The private profile and the repeated lines (in another comment) are leading indicators of trollish tendencies.

    I’m wondering if he actually breached anything ethical here. It looks to me like the same sort of stuff that made M*A*S*H a hit for eight years. Not executed nearly as well, perhaps, but definitely in the same vein of dark humor.

    It’s not like the Doctor has “Clinton” for a last name, or sounds remotely like Alan Grayson when speaking in public.

  8. Funeral guy
    February 24th, 2014 @ 1:40 am

    I don’t think anyone’s saying that what Dr. Wolf did is a hanging offense, but you have to remember Wolf is fighting on two fronts. Front number one is an entrenched Senator who will fight like hell to keep his job. Front number two (should he successfully get rid of Roberts) is the mainstream media who will make the most of the “Doctor who is so insensitive that he jokes about the horrors of gun violence.” They’ll do anything to turn that seat red. The last thing you want to do is hand them the sword.

  9. K-Bob
    February 24th, 2014 @ 4:07 am

    Reagan’s speeches are full of the kinds of comments that would be deemed “handing them the sword.” Not even such a gifted speaker as he could manage the sheer perfection required to prevent the media from latching on to some comment and making it into another “macaca” moment.

  10. Adjoran
    February 24th, 2014 @ 4:42 am

    Some of our friends in the Purity Police are too quick to endorse challengers like Christine O’Donnell, Buck, Miller, or Mourdock, and then react to any criticism as if it were treason. Vet the candidates first, before jumping on the bandwagon like Pavlov’s dogs.

    I suppose you would all be just fine if one of your family members’ x-rays were the subject of his mockery after they died.

    If you don’t wish to be considered a bunch of rubes, quit acting the part.

  11. slp
    February 24th, 2014 @ 7:40 am

    I do not troll.

    I am only pointing out the obvious.

    Dr. Wolf was stupid uploading x-rays to public social media sites and other online venues.

    Hopefully, he is not the only Tea Party conservative in Kansas.

  12. Jason Lee
    February 24th, 2014 @ 9:45 am

    The pearl-clutching reaction to Wolf’s remarks is amusing. He probably is unelectable now because conservatives are wusses. Conservatives look for the fainting couch every time the media orchestrate a witch hunt. In this era of NSA/IRS abuse coupled with social media scrutiny, right-of-center candidates don’t stand a chance. No one with an ounce of charisma is pristine enough to make it through this process unscathed.

    Doctors deal with the horrors of their profession with humor. When the jokes don’t violate patient privacy, this isn’t a problem. It’s a healthy defense mechanism. If a liberal doctor were being scrutinized this way, the media would rush to his defense and moderate Repubs would shrug their shoulders.

  13. Enzyte Bob
    February 24th, 2014 @ 9:49 am

    Enzyte Bob
    Righhhht.

    You were probably one of the people fuming when Reagan made his joke about bombing Russia. I laughed.

  14. Enzyte Bob
    February 24th, 2014 @ 9:50 am

    Repeat:

    Righhhht.

    You were probably one of the people fuming when Reagan made his joke about bombing Russia. I laughed.

    People love a sense of humor.

  15. Enzyte Bob
    February 24th, 2014 @ 9:52 am

    Righhhht.

    Can you RINOs be any more clueless?

    Facebook and venues like that are THE place for politically incorrect cracks you can’t say in person anymore.

  16. Jason Lee
    February 24th, 2014 @ 9:53 am

    Yeah, the purists need to give up and let the Rupublicans drift lazily leftward. Just lie back and think of the GOP establishment. They never get prematurely excited about disaster candidates.

  17. K-Bob
    February 24th, 2014 @ 10:46 am

    You take it for granted that what he uploaded was every bit as bad as the lefty critics claim. From what I saw it was nothing near as bad as the daily raft of crap flowing from the mouths of people like Alan Grayson and occasionally even barack.

    So to say it was “stupid” is silly, at best.

    If anything, it seems he was guilty of not being as funny as he’d hoped.

    So yeah, my money’s still on troll.

  18. Hagel to Gut Military | Regular Right Guy
    February 24th, 2014 @ 5:41 pm

    […] Preach It, Dr. Wolf! […]

  19. Kansas_Kid
    February 24th, 2014 @ 11:33 pm

    Milton Wolf has never been elected to any office before, and has not built local support. He’s gotten more donations from Texans than Kansans. Also, Pat Roberts is currently ranked the 5th most conservative senator by Heritage Action, and every Kansas conservative I’ve talked to (I live here) likes Roberts. It’s fine to cheer for the ‘more conservative’ candidate, but in this case we (Kansans) have no idea how Wolf will actually vote. He needs to spend some time in Topeka serving in the state legislature before running for Senate.

  20. Kansas_Kid
    February 24th, 2014 @ 11:46 pm

    Follow-up. Here’s why I’m offering the caution: I really expect Wolf to lose, and by a substantial margin. Some of the most powerful political forces in Kansas are the Kansas Rifle Association and National Right to Life, and they both endorsed Roberts. Huge majorities of the Republican state representatives and senators, and all the statewide officeholders, have endorsed Roberts.
    If we make this race about “Tea Party vs. Establishment” the Tea Party’s going to get a black eye on this one. Which is a pity, because that’s not this race. It’s better described as “Strange New Guy vs. Well-liked Grandfather We Trust”. And how do you think that’s going to go?