'It's complicated': Biden team weighs whether to retain Deborah Birx

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team is weighing whether to give Trump administration coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx a role in its Covid-19 response, even as it prepares a broader purge of officials closely tied to the president’s handling of the pandemic.

The debate over Birx’s future has vexed transition officials, with advocates for the longtime public health official arguing that her experience on the front lines of the pandemic could aid a Biden administration that will be thrust into the middle of a deepening crisis.

Yet others are far more skeptical, voicing worries that her nine months as coordinator for the Trump White House’s coronavirus task force have permanently eroded her credibility — and that keeping Birx on would jeopardize Biden’s plan for selling the American public on a full reset of the federal government’s pandemic response, according to interviews with Biden’s Covid-19 advisers and others involved in the transition.

“It’s complicated,” said Céline Gounder, who sits on Biden’s Covid-19 advisory board. “It’s almost like she herself has been politicized.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/18/biden-coronavirus-team-deborah-birx-437923

[choie]

1. not "almost" Ms. Gounder...

her reputation is ruined and it's her own doing.

[Hoyt]

2. I wouldn't. I believe she was trying to influence trump, but she should have

shouted out in a press conference that we’ll all die if trump isn’t removed. The presser where he asked about injecting bleach would have been perfect.

Honestly early on, Fauci was wrong on masks, etc. I like to think he said masks were not helpful because of the shortage, but still . . . . .

[C_U_L8R]

3. Oh come on.

Scarfy is a self-serving collaborator. She just sat there as Trump lied, people died and she did not say a thing. Our country does not need her kind of help.

[rickford66]

4. I believe she's run out of shawls.

[JDC]

5. Keep her until her knowledge is transferred, then ask her to leave

To spend more time with her family.

[Rebl2]

8. That's the way to go

[patricia92243]

30. YES!

[lastlib]

47. Is there any way we can just download her knowledge onto a thumb-drive,

and then shove her over the side??

asking for a fiend.





(no, that was not a typo....)

[Phoenix61]

6. She did it to herself when she sat there and

let Twitler blather on about bleach and lights. I don’t trust her as far as I could throw her. I’m sure there are plenty of other people just as qualified as she is.

[iluvtennis]

10. + 1 nt.

[L.Pharmstrong]

18. It's not about punishing her or retaliating

But rather whether she is uniquely qualified to contribute to the Biden Administration and it’s COVID-19 response. I don’t know enough about the science or Dr. Birx’s qualifications to make that call, and I’m guessing that no one else participating in this discussion does either.

[Phoenix61]

23. Twitler has a sterling record of appointing

totally unqualified people. On the outside chance that she may be qualified there’s the issue of whether or not she is believable. I think she torched her reputation when she refused to push back against Twitler’s insane statements about covid and ways to treat and control it. There are plenty of people who are as qualified as she is without all the baggage.

[L.Pharmstrong]

41. I'm not disagreeing

Last edited Thu Nov 19, 2020, 11:19 AM - Edit history (1)

There are certainly issues that could make her reappointment problematic. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/inside-story-how-trumps-covid-19-coordinator-undermined-cdc

But she has been in Government for a long time and was appointed by Obama as Ambassador at Large and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator as part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.

She certainly has lost some credibility working for the Trump administration. But there is also a reason she has been moved to the background by Trump and less visible for the past few months.

[Mr.Bill]

26. Any medical professional that would sit there silently

while Trump was saying that to a national audience should have their license to practice medicine revoked.

[Dave Starsky]

44. If I saw my own PCP on TV smiling and nodding to that insane blather...

I'd be immediately on the phone with my HMO asking to be reassigned, as well as requesting a second opinion on everything he ever diagnosed.

[catrose]

7. No.

[yankeepants]

9. She was a pathetic embarrassment. NEXT!

[LiberalFighter]

11. I would go with Fauci's decision.

If he thinks she should stay it would only be under the following conditions:
1) She does not make any public appearances.
2) She retires after the pandemic is over unless it lasts another 18 months then she retires at the end of 18 months.

[Hekate]

19. That works for me

[magicarpet]

12. Birx has credibility issues that she brought upon herself.

Biden needs a new clean slate where the baggage of trDump is left behind and competence rules the day. The pandemic is a health issue that must be taken seriously and not co-mingled or muddled up with politics.

Brix failed to discipline herself to draw a line in the sand to remain serious,.. professional,... and non-political so she rendered herself ineffectual as a respected pandemic solver. She seems more concerned the direction the political winds are blowing and how she can best gain from the prevailing breeze in Washington DC and the hot air that emanates forth from trDump.

[TeamPooka]

13. I do not trust her word as a public official anymore.

[LogicFirst]

14. Four words: Get Rid Of Her!

[Cha]

38. Two words..

Bye Felicia

[crickets]

54. +1

[Skittles]

15. GET.RID.OF.HER.

there are far better people for the task out there

[NBachers]

16. She's the nodding bobblehead on the dashboard of the trump morgue wagon.

[Hekate]

17. ETTD, and sadly enough, after a lifetime of public service, Scarf Lady succumbed

No, I think she has become too compromised and politicized.

[Mz Pip]

20. Big no

There are many more credible scientists who Biden can recruit. Brix became anpther Trump sycophant.

We’ve had enough of that.

[kiri]

21. She believes in Noah's Flood and rejects evolution!

Deborah Birx is an evangelical Christian who has been associated with HIV research for many years, going back to the 1980s. Birx runs PEPFAR, George W. Bush's global AIDS initiative, and both she and Redfield have been involved with Children's AIDS Fund International, which lobbies for abstinence-only sex education around the world.
https://www.salon.com/2020/03/09/is-the-christian-right-now-in-charge-of-public-health-inside-the-trump-administration/

She is "part of a conservative subculture of evangelical Christians who have found a foothold in the Trump administration clustered around Mike Pence's office. Along millions of other evangelicals, it appears they really believe in Donald Trump."

"what Trump wants these people to do — cover up his own ignorance and incompetence — is totally at odds with what they must know is best for the health of the American public. Is their worshipful admiration for this man blinding them to the need to communicate honestly with the American people about this crisis"?

She is adamantly opposed to gay marriage, to abortion, of course, and to contraception. In my opinion, she has never done good in keeping her extreme religious beliefs compartmentalized from her scientific knowledge. She also believes in Noah's Flood and rejects evolution!

[democrank]

22. Retain Birx?

No, no and no.

[PatrickforO]

24. They should probably hire back that Krebs, too, for CISA.

There's a guy who will actually do the job without worrying about politics.

[patricia92243]

31. YES!

[StarryNite]

25. Kick her to the curb.

[fearnobush]

27. Dump her like a sac of bad teeth. She sucked his chode on National TV while he was undermining

The pandemic response. She told a group of reporters how a God like he was and intuitive etc etc etc. she needs to go on day one.

[jb5150]

28. Nope .... wish her well, and push her toward the door.

Have a nice life, get the fuck out.

[orleans]

29. debs: don't need ya--wouldn't want to B ya. (bleach & lights & bleach & lights) meh. n/t

[flamingdem]

32. JUST NO!!

She's another liar and a FUNDIE!

[TigressDem]

33. Yeah, the White House's coronavirus "LACK OF" task force is like a used baby diaper, full of **** nt

[JI7]

34. NO

[sprinkleeninow]

35. He11 to the NO!

[ananda]

36. It's not complicated at all.

She was a Trump toadie.

Ditch her!

[torius]

37. Can she get through to those who don't believe in science?

It certainly isn't easy. They don't listen to anyone who seems all sciency and fact-based. If she can get them to take basic precautions, then that's of value.

[niyad]

48. She apparently does not believe in science, either. And, if she could reach those people, why has

she not done so before now??

[Mike Nelson]

39. Absolutely...

... NO. Politely show her the EXIT. She will take it - she will retire and keep her pension.

[Lonestarblue]

40. Good God, no!

Get rid of her. She’s wishy washy and lost her reputation when she sucked up to Trump. She is not needed on the Biden team.

[Maeve]

42. She has proven herself untrustworthy. We've had enough of that

[Dave Starsky]

43. She completely torpedoed her own credibility.

Actions like that have serious life consequences. We must never let people in positions of authority to forget that. We have crossed over into a Twilight Zone existence where "facts" are whatever the person with the loudest voice says they are, and even the basic laws of nature are questioned. That shit has just got to stop.

[usaf-vet]

45. What's complicated about Doctor Birx? As a Medical Doctor she took the Hippocratic Oath .....

...... "First do no harm" See here for the complete oath: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath

And then she took the oath of office, saying in part, "to support and defend the CONSTITUTION against all enemies foreign and domestic."

General Milly's in a recent speech makes it clear that she failed her oath of office.

And I would suggest she also failed her Hippocratic Oath "First do no harm"

She failed on both counts IMO. PERIOD!

[soothsayer]

46. Hard pass

[Marthe48]

49. Would they deprogram her?

At least try to find out WHAT WAS SHE THINKING!

[Turbineguy]

50. Touched by trump.

[KPN]

51. Vexing? Really? After she confesses her sins and is held accountable for her role in and

being party to over a quarter of a million Americans dying, maybe then I'll be vexed. Not before.

[ssgbryan]

52. 1 Oh, Sh*t wipes out a thousand "Attaboys"....

No one in the government is "irreplaceable"

Anyone in the government can be replaced it 5 minutes. If an office can't function without someone - the leadership has failed, and needs to be replaced. (1st rule in govt. - start training your replacement (so you can move up). 2nd rule in govt. - an action passed is an action completed.)


She has to go.

[cp]

53. NO.

No, it's not complicated. No, she has nothing to offer. She is a collaborator.

[Yeehah]

56. Birx has zero credibility with more than half the nation

She should not be on the national task force.

[ProfessorGAC]

57. What Does She Know...

...that a thousand other doctors also know?
And, she was part of a team that engineered only a few marginal successes & an overall failure.
Then the word used was "reset". What part of "reset" does Ms. Founder not understand?
If she's an impediment to selling a reset, she's got to go. It is NOT complicated at all.
Our side has failed at selling good plans. If "reset" needs to be sold, we shouldn't self-inflicted our own impediments.