U.S. Edition
(CNN) – Former President Bill Clinton got personal in a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is filing in for Larry King on Wednesday's Larry King Live.
When Gupta raised the issue of Clinton’s trademark finger wag, the former president interrupted the neurosurgeon.
“Sometimes it shakes,” Clinton said. “See, it’s a little shake,” he added as he lifted both hands, “but no shake here. I’ve been tested for it, I don’t have Parkinson’s.”
Clinton told Gupta he was “quite concerned” when he noticed his hands were shaking sometimes. “Because if I had Parkinson’s, I wanted to know so I could prepare. And I had it tested and the doctor said ‘no,’ he says it’s just a normal aging phenomenon.”
During the interview Clinton also discussed health care reform; stem cell research; and President Obama’s ambitious agenda on health care, energy, and education.
Watch Clinton and Gupta on CNN’s Larry King Live Thursday beginning at 9 pm Eastern time.
(CNN) - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers wrote a letter to fellow representative Thursday saying the selection of CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta is “not in the best interests of the nation.”
“It is not in the best interests of the nation to have someone like this who lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health care assistance to some of the poorest and most underserved communities in America,” he wrote.
A Democratic aide close to Conyers says he opposes Gupta for surgeon general because the Michigan Democrat "is a strong advocate for single-payer healthcare, and is unconvinced that Gupta will advocate for the type or reform that he believes is needed."
Conyers does not serve on any committees with jurisdiction over healthcare, but has pushed for a single-payer system for years, introducing the same bill every Congress.
Gupta and the Obama transition have not commented publicly on the letter. None of the senators who would be voting to confirm Gupta have spoken critically of him.
When President-elect Obama recently solicited people to write into change.gov and give suggestions for new approaches in the healthcare system, Conyers appealed to grassroots organizations he's worked with on the issue to write in and tell the administration to consider the single-payer system.
Gupta, a former White House fellow and a special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton, has been approached by the Obama administration about the U.S. surgeon general's post, according to sources at the transition and within CNN. Gupta, a neurosurgeon, has declined comment on the matter.
(CNN) – CNN has been paging Dr. Gupta for years, but now it may the Obama administration who is calling. In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, Jason Carroll talks about our resident neurosurgeon as a possible pick for surgeon general. And: It’s a power lunch like none other. President Bush hosts President-elect Barack Obama, and three former presidents - George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter - Wednesday at the White House. CNN’s Elaine Quijano has the story on what the former chief executives may discuss during their elite and historic meeting in the Oval Office. Plus: Roland Burris insists he is, by law, the junior senator of Illinois, but the recently appointed former state attorney general was turned away from the Senate door Tuesday. CNN’s Jeanne Moos takes a look at Tuesday’s antics - the “Burris circus.” Finally: Get ready for the “T” word. If Barack Obama’s stimulus plan passes in the Congress, it could approach the trillion dollar mark. That’s more than the government spent on some major events in our nation’s history, including the construction of the atomic bomb, the race to put a man on the moon, and the New Deal during the Great Depression. But if the stimulus plan doesn’t work, what is Obama’s ‘Plan B’? CNN’s Jim Acosta reports.
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(CNN) – Chief CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been approached by the Obama administration about the U.S. surgeon general's post, according to sources inside the transition and at CNN.
Watch: John King on Dr. Gupta
The transition team is impressed with the combination of Gupta's past government experience, as a White House fellow and a special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton, along with his medical career as a neurosurgeon and his communication skills, the transition source said.
Gupta has declined comment on the matter.
CNN released a statement saying, "Since first learning that Dr. Gupta was under consideration for the surgeon general position, CNN has made sure that his on-air reporting has been on health and wellness matters and not on health-care policy or any matters involving the new administration."