Dr Fauci, Acclaimed Scientist

In yesterday's news:

Dr. Anthony Fauci has won the $1 million Dan David Prize for “defending science” and advocating for vaccines now being administered worldwide to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The Israel-based Dan David Foundation on Monday named President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser as the winner of one of three prizes. It said he had earned the recognition over a lifetime of leadership on HIV research and AIDS relief, as well as his advocacy for the vaccines against COVID-19.

In its statement, the private foundation did not mention former President Donald Trump, who undermined Fauci’s follow-the-science approach to the pandemic. But it credited Fauci with “courageously defending science in the face of uninformed opposition during the challenging COVID crisis.”

“As the COVID-19 pandemic unraveled, (Fauci) leveraged his considerable communication skills to address people gripped by fear and anxiety and worked relentlessly to inform individuals in the United States and elsewhere about the public health measures essential for containing the pandemic’s spread,” the foundation’s awards committee said, praising Fauci for “speaking truth to power in a highly charged political environment.”

What I've seen of Dr Fauci, which I've discussed frequently here, is that his public statements are frequently contradictory, and in fact they frequently acknowledge that there is in fact no scientific basis for his pronouncements. In general, his positions confuse "science" with secluarist materialism and have nothing to do with a viewpoint that encourages experimental confirmation, reproducibility of results, or peer review.

Meanwhile,

The partisan campaign arm for House Democrats has been raising money from a "Thank You” card for infectious disease physician Dr. Anthony Fauci, raising ethical questions about using a government official to endorse political activities.

Former President Trump was often accused by Democrats of abuse of the Hatch Act, which prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government from engaging in some forms of political activity. However, the Hatch Act contains broad exceptions for the president and vice president, exceptions which would not extend to Fauci, who serves as chief medical advisor to President Biden.

The DCCC ad includes a photo with Fauci standing and speaking from the podium in the White House press briefing room with the official White House logo prominently displayed. "Thank You, Dr. Fauci!" the site reads. "Sign the card to thank Dr. Fauci for his work." When a user clicks through and enters in an email address to sign the digital "card," a fundraising page comes up and asks users to donate.

Fauci is just another public phony in a long line, at this point probably starting to overstay his 15 minutes of fame. I suspect his narcissism will catch up with him at some point, with some public disclosure of kickbacks, groping, or whatever else to send him back to obscurity.

The basic contradiction in Fauci's public persona is that he's a timeserving deep-state bureaucrat who's been elevated to a position of greatness where he doesn't belong. Inevitably there's a regression to the mean.