Posted on 09/14/2011 6:05:05 AM PDT by freespirited
Up to now I’ve thought Michele Bachman was the most impressive performer in the GOP field, going toe-to-toe with the “big boys” in the field, out-arguing them on several occasions, and introducing serious constitutional arguments that the rest of the field (even Perry) are too timid to attempt. She’s right to go after Rick Perry on the issue of mandating the use of the Gardisil vaccine, along with the issue of “crony capitalism,” both of which get at the issue of a potential president’s sense of the reach and limits of state power. Perry is a mixed bag on this (as is Romney obviously) and he should be pressed hard to explain himself and refine his views.
But her embrace of the wacko idea that the vaccine is dangerous or causes autism, mental retardation, or other risks is simply irresponsible. Is Bachman, Glenn Reynolds quipped, trying to go after the Jenny McCarthy vote? (Glenn also links to Jonathan Adler’s quick take on this, which is the same as mine.)
Bachman passed along with complete credulity the claim of someone who she says came up to her after the debate attributing her child’s mental issues to the vaccine. I’ve heard a few people speculate darkly about whether such a person actually exists, or whether Bachman made it up or is trimming a bit from something she was told another time. You’d think our inquisitive news media would find this person and investigate, or that the person would now step forward (or that other people with similar claims would now step forward). Above all, this is a political mistake as well as a scientific one, as it has shifted the focus from Perry’s use of power to Bachmann’s scientific credibility—a lose-lose for everyone.
Which raises the last point. NBC Nightly News last night went to some trouble to attack Bachman’s views on the Gardisil vaccine. Fine; but why doesn’t NBC or the other major media perform the same service when anti-vaccine quackery comes from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Jenny McCarthy? No mystery here.
It’s not what she did, it’s the way she did it. And by doing so she helps Romney.
She should have went after them both about their mandates, tied it to the Obamacare mandate, and then brought it back home to personal responsibility v. intrusive govt, and done so calmly. She would have come across very good if she’d done it that way.
So what? If this is the biggest issue with Perry, he’s pretty darned good. I’ll take him. You go find someone perfect. We must stop eating our own.
What we just witnessed Monday night was a Tea Party candidate (Bachmann) team up with Romney and attack another fellow Tea Party candidate so just who is the GOP wanting?
You have a good sense of humor.
Unintentional, though it may be. :D
Bachmann reminds me of those female boss’s who made the job a living Hell.
Boy, do I agree with you there! Laws and more laws. I always think that one day the entire American public will be convicted of some obscure crime and we’ll all be in jail.
The more we let personal responsibility go by the wayside, the more our representatives pass laws protecting us from ourselves.
The MSM isn't talking about the two Republican landslides last night. They're talking about Perry forcing innocent little children to get vaccines against their will.
Thank you, Michell Bachman!
Texan here. I can tell you that the original outrage over Perry’s gardasil fiasco was as much about HOW he did it as about the vaccine itself. We have all kinds of mandated vaccines in Texas, but those shots are designed to protect from easily-communicable disease, not behavior-controlled disease. The question is whether public and legislative input is involved in deciding, instead of drug companies and a governor on the dole.
Perry chose to cram it down our throats without debate, and in typical Perry fashion, refused to back down till forced to by the legislature.
And the Merck connection. We knew about it. But this came on the heels of his unholy alliance with Cintra-Zachry, which almost certainly lined his pockets well. The Merck payoff was overkill.
That said, Perry has strengths to balance the ethical challenges (and his hamhanded debating skills, which aren’t likely to change). He’s right on most issues, and stubborn enough to stick to his guns.
I’ll vote for him if we can’t do better, and so far we haven’t. Can’t believe I’m saying this.
It’s just important to know what we’re getting and be prepared to keep him in line.
It definitely is a factor.
Sheesh. It’s a year out, and most of the country doesn’t even care yet.
It’s just us political junkies that want more blood in the water.
Yes, but she has doubled down on that mistake in interviews after the debate.
Using the language of the anti-vax moonbats causes me to doubt her ability to separate fact from feelings, which is a deeper problem than simply taking a questionable stand on a policy matter.
My reference appears to have been from yesterday's thread on the "gotcha" article about Alaska accepting federal funding for Gardasil that Malkin did an excellent job of debunking.
It appears that thread was deleted, though, as I have no record of the dozen+ comments I made or that were made to me on that thread.
There are lot of reasons not to like Palin but this is about the dumbest reason to abandon her.
I’m with you there.
There can be a middle ground, though. The mandate is to have the vaccines to attend public school -- therefore vaccines against diseases that a communicable by casual contact is a reasonable requirement. That would exclude HPV (and Hep-B, for that matter) but still include MMR, Chicken Pox, etc.
“Obama has defeated himself. He will not win in 2012. The GOP prefers to have one of their own replace him.”
Right. They would be happier with a establishment candidate to win. Obama is so bad he will not win re-election.
“And if they can remove our horses from the race, they figure we’ll get our collective “ass in line” and support their man.”
That is true too. It would be just about what would have happened if McCain had won. So nothing would have changed.
I live in Texas and now meningitis vaccines are required before you gO to college. Mandated vaccines are there so insurance will cover them.
I realize that my be too fine a point for the great unwashed to distinguish but that doesn't make it untrue.
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