By acknowledging that the opt-out provisions exist, the “forced vaccination” and “mandatory” arguments lose their meaning and ring hollow , which has always been my main point.
You're being contradictory, and I think you're splitting hairs on the precise meaning of Perry's order.
The vaccinations were indeed mandatory, UNLESS a girl's parents made special efforts to file the forms with the state to opt their daughter out of the program.
That is force, and an abuse of power, no matter how finely you parse the language.
Perhaps you're seeing this thing through a lawyer's eyes, and not a citizen's. It would be a great help to Perry's presidential aspirations if more people looked at the Gardasil episode as you do, but I'm afraid that isn't the case.
Parents in Texas were rightfully outraged at Perry over commanding us in such a heinous way, at the time. Most who were here (and who had minor daughters at the time) will never forget it, and will continue to have their perceptions of the man colored by the incident.
I was in Texas at the time, with a minor daughter who was directly threatened by this order, so I've got a bit of skin in the game, so to speak.
That may well turn out to be the story, maybe Guardasil will sink him, or maybe the TTC. I don't know, no one can at this point.
What is known is that Perry will have to take the heat if he enters the race. How he handles that and explains himself will tell us alot about his worthiness for the office. That's as it should be.