Hosts Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson react to Heidi Overton’s Senate HELP Committee hearing on her nomination to lead the FDA. She gave evasive, non-committal answers on vaccines, reproductive health, and other high-stakes topics, dodging questions about her own well-documented views. Rob compares her approach to Dean Smith’s “four corners” stall offense, running out the clock without ever offering a real opinion.
The hosts play clips of Overton declining to say whether an IUD is an abortion, which they read as a sign of fringe positions she’s been coached to hide. Throughout, they raise concern that a nominee who won’t contradict the president can’t serve as an independent arbiter of science, and Rob wishes future Democratic nominees would be held to a “just answer the question” standard.
Miles closes by outlining two possible timelines: a fast-tracked committee vote, which would suggest the votes of Sens. Cassidy, Collins, and Murkowski are already lined up, or a delay until after the election. Either way, he urges listeners, especially those in states like Louisiana, Maine, Alaska, and Ohio, to contact their senators.
LINKS
Learn about what you can do to fight the nomination of anti-abortion, anti-vaxx zealot Heidi Overton in the Committee’s Medical Professional Toolkit HERE.
Thanks to Aaron Rupar for the video clips used in today’s On Call:
