BUSH/KINDLY TV DOCTOR SMACKDOWN!

You know Bush is in trouble when even the Kindly Doctor Guy on TV gives him a tongue-lashing.

Last night that happened -- first ABC reported this news:

The number of deaths from cancer saw the largest drop ever recorded between 2003 and 2004, according to an American Cancer Society (ACS) report released today....

This year's decline is the second consecutive year-by-year drop in the number of deaths caused by cancer....

Anchorman Charles Gibson brought on ABC's medical commentator, Dr. Tim Johnson, for a comment. The exchange isn't online, but here's part of what was said:

CHARLES GIBSON: ...The president today was pointing to all the money that the government has put into cancer research. Other people say, "Look, it's earlier diagnosis." Others say better treatment is responsible for these numbers. Some people say better living. So, what is it?

DR. TIM JOHNSON: Well, it's a combination of all the above, but when the administration tries to take credit for increased spending per se, I think they're misleading. It is true that the total budget for the National Cancer Institute has gone up by 1.2 billion dollars since 2001, but most of that occurred in those early years under a Clinton initiative. The budget was actually cut last year, and the projected budget for this year is to be cut even further, so I think it's a real tragedy that we are cutting the budget for the National Cancer Institute at a time when we are on the verge of many exciting discoveries.

Don't hold back, Dr. Tim. Tell us how you really feel.

(Johnson, by the way, doesn't exactly live up to the liberal media stereotype -- he's an assisting minister at West Peabody Community Covenant Church in Massachusetts and the author of a book about his Christian faith.)

More on cancer funding here:

"I am a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board, and deeply involved in these budget debates. While no final budget is available for 2007, it is likely that there will be no increase. The budget will be flat. The key effects are on funding of grants. The pay line for grants will be at an all-time historic low of 10 percent of grants submitted."

— Dr. Bruce Chabner, clinical director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center

"To be short and sweet, the pay line for NIH funding is going further down, and the grants that are getting funded are being cut drastically. There simply is not enough money going towards research at a time when progress is so likely. It is a real tragedy, and academic centers must find alternate ways to fund research, and they are not easy to find."

— Dr. Len Zwelling, vice president for research administration at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Enjoy those tax cuts!

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UPDATE: Think Progress has the video.