The attacks on Regina Benjamin's weight

Fox News has stooped to a new low, said David Kurtz in Talking Points Memo. Anchor Neil Cavuto recently did a segment on whether President Obama's new surgeon general nominee, Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, "is 'too fat' for the post," complete with a guest wearing a "No Chubbies" T-shirt. (watch the Fox News segment on Dr. Benjamin's weight) Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop wasn't exactly svelte, but he wasn't treated so disrespectfully because "he wasn't black or a woman."

There's no evidence that anybody is really making a big deal over Dr. Regina Benjamin's weight, said David Frum in New Majority. "But now that you mention it—it’s not completely crazy." Obesity is a real problem, and even though surgeon general is mostly a symbolic post, you'd think Obama would pick someone who has overcome this challenge.

"Leave the woman alone," said Jazz Shaw in The Moderate Voice. Dr. Regina Benjamin is a MacArthur Grant genius who championed the poor at a medical clinic she set up in Katrina-ravaged Alabama, for crying out loud. She's more than qualified to do this job, and Americans have far more important things to worry about than whether "the new Surgeon General looks hawt in a bikini."

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