Posted on 09/16/2011 4:22:40 PM PDT by smoothsailing
Bryan Preston
September 16, 2011
Something about Michele Bachmann’s video has been bugging me (and Matt Lewis too) ever since I posted it earlier today. Aside from the irresponsible lunacy of issuing a blanket opposition to “any governor or president who mandates a family’s healthcare choices and violates the rights of parents on these issues” and scaremongering about a vaccine known to be safe, there’s a word she should use in the video but never does. See if you can spot it:
“Whether its Obamacare or Perrycare I oppose any governor or president who mandates a family’s healthcare choices and violates the rights of parents on these issues – especially if the decision-making process occurs behind closed doors, bypassing legislative action, and favors campaign contributors over families.”
Which GOP candidate has had his state-run health care program linked with ObamaCare? Not Perry, since Texas doesn’t have anything like ObamaCare. No, that would be Mitt Romney. But Bachmann doesn’t use “RomneyCare.” Why? Has she allowed herself to become a stalking horse for Romney? If so, on what grounds?
And then there’s the crony capitalist problem. Bachmann has taken a lot of money from pharma companies. One company stands out.
Meanwhile, Bachman has taken somewhere north of $140,000 from pharmaceutical companies. Those donors include Abbott Labs, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Eli Lilly and Bayer. Yet, not a dollar of all that pharma money, from such a wide range of the world’s largest drugmakers, came from Merck. Might Bachmann be going after Merck on behalf of that company’s competitors who also happen to be Bachmann donors?
Why bold GlaxoSmithKline? Because they make the only other viable HPV vaccine on the market, Cervarix.
If it’s fair to levy the “crony capitalism” charge at Perry, then it’s fair to levy the exact same charge at Bachmann, especially after her attacks on Perry.
For the record, I know the “crony capitalism” charge doesn’t apply to Perry and I don’t believe it applies to Bachmann. The stalking horse possibility is definitely in play, though.
That makes too much sense to ever happen.
Cain's 9-9-9 plan institutes a flat 9% corporate tax. That would help.
Unlike the Governor of Texas, she did not mandate, without the approval of the People's representatives, or the parents of these children, the injection of a vaccine into any young girl, after being lobbied by a former aide, who was then an agent of the company which produced that vaccine, and which stood to profit by her actions.
How can you possibly defend Governor Perry's actions in this matter?
You talkin' to me?
MINNESOTTA 2007
Tax-Payer Funded Gardisil Vaccines, Merck & Co., Inc
From: HPV Vaccine: Report to the Minnesota Legislature 2007
The Minnesota immunization program is completely federally financed and receives no state funding.
In the public sector, the cost of Gardasil (the currently licensed quadrivalent HPV vaccine) is $96.75 per dose. Since a woman requires three doses of the vaccine, the total cost per patient in the public sector would be $290.25. In the private sector, the cost is $120.00 per dose or $360 for a complete series. These figures do not include administrative costs.
(snip)
MDH administers the Minnesota Vaccines for Children program (MnVFC), which covers Gardasil for eligible children through 18 years of age.
(snip)
For HPV vaccine, MnVFC focuses on covering routine vaccination at 11-12 years of age and catch-up of 13-18 year olds who are uninsured or underinsured. MnVFC also pays for HPV vaccine for uninsured and underinsured adult women ages 19 to 26 years in public health clinics, which is a temporary catch-up program, and was planning on expanding this to Title X family planning clinics.
(snip)
GlaxoSmithKline has developed another HPV vaccine, Cervavix, and is seeking FDA licensure for women ages 10 through 55 years. It is possible that this product will be available in 2008. This vaccine is called a bivalent vaccine because it only protects against two types of HPV: types 16 and 18. It does not protect against genital warts caused by viruses 6 or 11. As with Gardasil, studies in females show Cervarix to be almost 100 percent effective against HPV types 16 and 18 precancers.
MINNESOTA 2010
Providing Tax-Payer Funded Cervarix, GlaxoSmithKline
Providing Tax-Payer Funded Gardasil, Merck & Co., Inc
From New VISs for Gardasil and Cervarix in MN 2010
New VISs for Gardasil and Cervarix There are now two VISs for HPV: one for Gardasil and one for Cervarix, both dated 3/30/2010.
Michele has never attempted to force her will on the people. Perry cannot make that statement.
The specific instance of the HPV executive order (the parent article) does not support your assertion. I draw your attention to the so called "opt-out" provision included in the Parents Rights section:
The Department of State Health Services will, in order to protect the right of parents to be the final authority on their children’s health care, modify the current process in order to allow parents to submit a request for a conscientious objection affidavit form via the Internet while maintaining privacy safeguards under current law.
You can find the text of the order here. I wish more of the articles about this provided links to the primary sources...
I can’t stand Bachmann! ( there, I’ve said it )
I just read that Michele will be on with Jay Leno tonight.
Tax-Payer Funded Gardisil Vaccines, Merck & Co., Inc
From: HPV Vaccine: Report to the Minnesota Legislature 2007
Michele Bachmann was elected to the US House of Representatives in November of 2006. She was no longer a member of the Minnesota Legislature when this matter was introduced.
Got anything else?
Rick Perry had dinner with Donald Trump last night.
You’re right, it is BS.
It was boneheaded to focus on it instead of unifying in an attack on Obama.
Gingrich has been saying that all along. Don’t play the media gotcha game.
How do you feel about Barack Obama?
Well, there you go!
Perry for President!
Michele has never attempted to force her will on the people. Perry cannot make that statement.
Actually, the more I think about that statement, the more ill-posed I think it is. Any governor, representative, senator, or president who has voted for or signed a revenue bill that includes taxes or required a permit to drive, hunt, or cross a border has forced his or her will upon the people. This is the nature of a representative form of government. The question might be better framed, "How has politician X balanced the often opposite forces of protecting individual liberties while maintaining the order and other conditions required for a functioning society?"
The HPV executive order shows one example of Gov Perry's attempt to maintain both individual liberty and access to what the NIH calls an effective vaccine against a leading cause of cervical cancer. One might raise legitimate questions around whether he was right to bypass the legislature or whether his aide had an apparent conflict of interest with Merck, but the text of the order is what it is.
I might ask you, as a supporter of Mrs. Bachmann, to point to some legislation she was instrumental in crafting that shows how she balances individual liberties with the need to have a functioning government.
Let’s see palmetterflat, I replied to #25, which means I shouda used ESP to know you were going to try some crawfish act 4 posts later on #29?
That PDS addition is hurting your thought patterns.
I see that the concensus of replies to you say you don’t know butt from third base.
Excellent research.
Point taken.
Yet the elected representatives of the People of Texas found this section insufficient to protect their rights, and voted to overturn Governor Perry's mandate.
What other mandates will Governor Perry impose upon the People, should he become President, and will the elected Representatives of the People of the United States be able to oppose him, if necessary?
Stick a fork in her. The irony of it all is that Perry will pick up alot of her supporters.
Don’t Mess With Texas! :)
Yet the elected representatives of the People of Texas found this section insufficient to protect their rights, and voted to overturn Governor Perry's mandate.
I have no problem with the legislature's action. I prefer "opt in" as the default too. My point was and continues to be that he sought a way to balance individual liberties and public health. I was reacting to the charge that he was "forcing his will on the people" where Rep. Bachmann was not. I indicated in my second post that Gov. Perry was open to legitimate criticism both for the apparent conflict of interest by his aide with Merck and for bypassing the legislature.
I am really more interested in seeing Rep. Bachmann's supporters point to legislation that she had a substantive hand in drafting to see how she handled difficult issues. In other words, I want more than sound bytes and want some idea of how she really governs...
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