Since this followed her slanderous bomb of that exact charge to Gov. Perry, it is a face-palm moment for MB. Michele, desperation does not become you.
Posted on 09/13/2011 8:09:37 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Earlier today, I noted that Michele Bachmann finally scored points on Rick Perry by hitting him on his ties to Merck and linking that to the Gardasil mandate Perry imposed through executive order in Texas. This is a fair point on Perry’s record, even given his apology for pursuing the mandate through EO instead of through the legislature, and it’s not surprising that Bachmann was the candidate to first take advantage of the opening. (Mitt Romney passed a mandate on health insurance for all citizens of Massachusetts, which pretty much puts this issue out of reach for him.) However, Bachmann took a winning argument about the method and the wisdom of mandating a vaccination for a limited-spread virus and turned it into an anti-vaccination argument, especially in this post-debate argument on Fox with Greta van Susteren.
>>>"There’s a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate. She said her daughter was given that vaccine. She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result of that vaccine."<<<
Huh? “Mental retardation” typically takes place in a pre- or neo-natal event. Autism becomes apparent in the first couple of years of life — and primarily affects boys. Gardasil vaccinations take place among girls between 9-12 years of age. Even assuming that this anecdote is arguably true, it wouldn’t be either “mental retardation” or autism, but brain damage.
The FDA has received no reports of brain damage as a result of HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix. Among the reports that correlate seriously adverse reactions to either, the FDA lists blood clots, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and 68 deaths during the entire run of the drugs. The FDA found no causal connection to any of these serious adverse events and found plenty of contributing factors to all — and all of the events are exceedingly rare.
The “mental retardation” argument is a rehash of the thoroughly discredited notion that vaccines containing thimerasol caused a rapid increase in diagnosed autism cases. That started with a badly-botched report in Lancet that allowed one researcher to manipulate a ridiculously small sample of twelve cases in order to reach far-sweeping conclusions about thimerasol. That preservative hasn’t been included in vaccines for years, at least not in the US, and the rate of autism diagnoses remain unchanged.
The most charitable analysis that can be offered in this case for Bachmann is that she got duped into repeating a vaccine-scare urban legend on national television. It looks more like Bachmann sensed that she had won a point and wanted to go in for the kill, didn’t bother to check the facts, and didn’t care that she was stoking an anti-vaccination paranoid conspiracy theory, either. Neither shines a particularly favorable light on Bachmann.
Rick Santorum took the correct position on the Gardasil issue. We mandate certain vaccines in children because we mandate children be gathered for educational purposes for many years (in private or public schools), and certain diseases are easily communicable in those settings. By mandating vaccinations against whooping cough, measles, and mumps, we are protecting children who would otherwise get exposed without any action on their part except compliance with the law. That’s not true with HPV, and parents should decide for themselves whether to inoculate their sons and daughters with Gardasil or Cervarix. If Perry wanted to make those inoculations more accessible, he could have crafted an opt-in system rather than forcing parents to opt out.
At the time, it was not approved for males. I believe that if you asked Perry what should be done now, as a matter of public health, he would say that he believes the vaccine should be mandatory for ALL children.
As far as I know, the only point Perry has walked back from is obtaining the effect by the mechanism of executive order.
That didn’t make any sense at all. So not-QED.
It is interesting that you come to Free Republic to promote voting as a waste of time.
So you’re saying that the state doesn’t keep record of who signed the form?
Not sure I agree with that. Perry was at least thinking about what was best for his constituents...he wanted to help prevent cervical cancer. There was an opt out available. I frankly don't see much difference between this and other mandatory vaccinations. There is a small statistical chance of problems with any vaccination, but the overwhelming majority benefit.
True.
Funny how fraud and simplicity are so easy to get out to the booths, but the “virtuous” like you make excuses to sit on your butts.
Who do you like? If not any of the current candidates who do you think would be a good candidate such that you would actually make the effort to vote for them?
Santorum was correct: this was bad policy, typical big government action.
Bachmann might have played it over the top, but this is corporatism. While I don’t think there was a quid pro quo - here’s $5K and you sign this EO - I think it is an example of crony capitalism where the donation and job for his chief of staff gave Merck access to Perry, where they were able to sell him on this.
Whether talking about Cifra, Merck, or a host of other companies, Perry is a corporatist - big government for big companies through exclusive access and no-bid contracts.
I’m just amazed how many so-called self-proclaimed conservatives are all for the government micro-managing medicine via mandates. Suddenly, the end justifies the means, although they condemned similar actions by Mitt Romney or Obama (they’re all wrong!).
I can control my teenage daughter just fine, and she won't be dating the sons of parents like those.
Does my opinion bother you?
Big Education Bullies!
Since this followed her slanderous bomb of that exact charge to Gov. Perry, it is a face-palm moment for MB. Michele, desperation does not become you.
Strawman.
“She, along with Cain, might as well drop out of the race. “
Don’t compare her to Cain. Cain is a man of honor and actually accomplished something instead of just showing up to DC in order to vote for someone else’s bill.
Get the government out of the pushing and shoving business! Controlling socialist fascists with an "R" are still over controlling socialist fascists. The docs could easily recommend this vaccination without government involvement!
Nanny staters all over this thread..yuck!!
FR is at least entertaining, and at some points, has links to useful information. What a person chooses to do with the entertainment and information, well, I'm sure that is all over the map.
I live in Maine. My vote is usually worthless, being swamped by those who hold preferences opposite to mine.
Sticking another item in the list of stuff that adds to insurance premiums — sounds like a socialist idea to me.
Thank you, I appreciate that information. The facts are a very important consideration.
I shall discount you on account of vice, then.
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