Michele Bachmann Talks HPV Vaccine, Homosexuality on Jay Leno Show (She ain't backing down)

A daring Michele Bachmann appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and faced grilling questions on the HPV vaccine, gay marriage and homosexuality.

As the liberal host of the late night talk show thanked the GOP presidential hopeful for being a “good sport,” he said, “We’ve done a million jokes. Hopefully, you haven’t been watching any of them.”

However, soon thereafter Leno appeared unusually serious as he threw questions at Minnesota Congresswoman Bachmann.

Leno’s first question Friday evening concerned Bachmann’s attacks on Texas Gov. Rick Perry for supporting the HPV vaccine. “Is that bad? It’s a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer,” asked Leno.

“Well I think so,” Bachmann replied. “The concern is that there are potentially side effects that can come with something like that. But it gives a false sense of assurance to a young woman when she has that, that if she’s sexually active that she doesn’t have to worry about sexually transmitted diseases.”

Perry signed an executive order in 2007 requiring Texas middle-school girls to get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted HPV. The order wasn’t implemented though.

“I’m not sure it’s a sense of assurance. It can prevent cervical cancer, correct?” Leno interrupted.

“It’s something that could potentially have dangerous side effects,” Bachmann replied.

Referring to Bachmann’s meeting with an unidentified woman after last week’s GOP debate in Florida who said her daughter suffered “mental retardation” as a result of the HPV vaccine, Leno asked, “Do you regret not getting this woman’s name and address?”

“I don’t know who this person was,” Bachmann replied. “I wasn’t speaking as a doctor, I wasn’t speaking as a scientist, I was just relating what this woman said.”

Questions on homosexuality and gay marriage followed. “That whole ‘pray the gay away’ thing, I don’t get it,” Leno said, referring to her family’s Christian counseling clinic.

Bachmann jokingly pointed to her hair and said, “When I heard that I really thought it was like kind of a mid-life crisis line, like, ‘Pray away the gray.’” But Leno wasn’t in a mood to joke, it seemed.

Bachmann defended the clinic saying it did not discriminate. But she didn’t hesitate to repeat her position that marriage is between a man and a woman.

“It sounds like, if two gay people want to get married, that’s their business, that doesn’t concern us,” Leno responded. “Why is that even an issue? I know gay families that are married, they have children. And they’re wonderful people. It doesn’t seem like they shouldn’t be allowed to be happy. But I’m not going to change your mind on that one.”

Leno also asked about Bachmann’s opposition to raising the debt ceiling. Bachmann said it wasn’t an attack on President Barack Obama, and that she would have taken the same stand even if it was George W. Bush.

Pressed on her slipping down in the polls after Perry’s entrance in the race, Bachmann acknowledged it “changes the dynamic.” “But we’re in for the marathon. We’re not in for the sprint,” she added.

Leno then asked her who her running mate would be if she won the Republican nomination. “You’re taken. You don’t want a cut in pay,” Bachmann replied, teasing him. Leno replied, “Well, we’d probably have an argument over the gay thing.”

“You do realize that this is exactly the kind of “mandate” we are talking about with the HPV vaccine, right? If you homeschooled, went to a private school that didn’t require the vaccine, or chose the opt-out provision, you didn’t have to get the vaccination. That is not saying the mandate was the right way to go - just that it is exactly the same mechanism that is used for other vaccines. It’s not like the state of Texas was going to go house-to-house and track down all of the young girls, then strap them down to get their injections (although that may be what some have surmised from Bachmann’s comments).”

NO they are NOT the same class of pathogen. Whooping cough, measles, diptheria, rubella, polio,etc. that are mandated before attendance at public schools are all pathogenic diseases that are spread by contact of a casual nature and are very contagious. All of these pathogens can cause ACUTE and immediate life threatening contagious disease.

HPV is spread by sexual contact....which I don’t believe is supposed to be taking place at school. Also, it is not a fulminating pathogen that has ACUTE and immediate life threatening effects and is easily spread. So, the HPV vaccine is NOT in the same class as these other pathogens. It is NOT an ACUTE public health hazard....it is a long term potential danger that won’t manifest itself for years. It is overstepping the boundaries of medical necessity to even remotely “mandate” this vaccination. Also, there ARE MORAL implications that cannot be ignored. IF such a vaccine is to be offered, it should be ENTIRELY volutarily....meaning you don’t “opt out” the government has to get parental permission first. Even the parents of children in public schools should not be subjected to unnecessary Nanny-State tactics. IF you have been reading what TX posters have been saying, they will tell you that the “opt out” provision would not work. Governor Perry was entirely wrong on this....it is an unnecessary attempt to circumvent parental medical control.

There are reasonable, good public health practices, and then there is the overstepping and the Nanny-State. Rick Perry was pulling a Nanny-State, and I suspect it was for reasons of political favor not compassion. Plus, it was an abuse of power to do it by excecutive order. What is to keep him from doing something similar as POTUS? It is something to ponder. It has soured me on Perry. Granted, I would still vote for him in a general election, but not without hesistation. He has actually made Newt start looking good to me. Michele Bachmann should have stopped with what she said during the debate...it was spot on. However, because she started quoting hearsay, she lost credibility....which is a shame. Her original point was correct and it stung Perry hard. He needed to be stung...not to knock him out of the race, but to wake him up.

The best thing Perry could do is admit is overstepped his proper authority as Governor and promise never to do such a thing again. However, I suspect he is too arrogant to do so. Michelle Bachmann needs to get back on the original point about how parents rights were threatened by an unnecessary medical proceedure....and stay away from the extreme views of saying vaccination caused mental retardation. So, both are wrong is different ways. Perry because he attempted what he did, and Bachmann because she went beyond what was known to extreme examples.

There are a great many things either prescribed or proscribed that would improve the health of Americans. For instance the proscription of tobacco. However, there is a point to where we start stomping too much on the individual - and banning tobacco would be such. I am not a libertarian, I won’t abide anarchy, I believe in proscriptions of illegal controlled substances (drugs) and prostitution. I am for the reasonable prescription of some things like chlorinated water....it has saved lives many times over...the same as the proscription of outdoor privies. However, we have to be so very careful. I don’t want to live in a police state. A nanny state is just “police state light.” It is a delicate line to walk.

“But with all of the mandates, the “coercion” was the same - if you don’t opt-out and don’t get the vaccine, you can’t go to school.”

I apologize for misreading you. I thought you were defending it.

I realize there are times, although undesireable, when the government(with overwhelming consent of those governed) must force vaccinations on all for certain highly contagious and immediately lethal diseases...just like quarantines are a necessary evil. I just wanted to be sure and emphasize that vaccinations against HPV do not rise to that level where coercion is remotely a necessity. And Perry’s mandate (supposedly so the poor would be covered) was a terrible abuse of authority. It was reprehensible and a lame excuse for being a dictator.

If I have you found this chart anywhere else?

WHO has top 10 causes of death...
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/index.html

Low-income countries	Deaths in millions	% of deaths
Lower respiratory infections	1.05	11.3%
Diarrhoeal diseases	0.76	8.2%
HIV/AIDS	0.72	7.8%
Ischaemic heart disease	0.57	6.1%
Malaria	0.48	5.2%
Stroke and other cerebrovascular disease	0.45	4.9%
Tuberculosis	0.40	4.3%
Prematurity and low birth weight	0.30	3.2%
Birth asphyxia and birth trauma	0.27	2.9%
Neonatal infections	0.24	2.6%

Middle-income countries	Deaths in millions	% of deaths
Ischaemic heart disease	5.27	13.7%
Stroke and other cerebrovascular disease	4.91	12.8%
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	2.79	7.2%
Lower respiratory infections	2.07	5.4%
Diarrhoeal diseases	1.68	4.4%
HIV/AIDS	1.03	2.7%
Road traffic accidents	0.94	2.4%
Tuberculosis	0.93	2.4%
Diabetes mellitus	0.87	2.3%
Hypertensive heart disease	0.83	2.2%

High-income countries	Deaths in millions	% of deaths
Ischaemic heart disease	1.42	15.6%
Stroke and other cerebrovascular disease	0.79	8.7%
Trachea, bronchus, lung cancers	0.54	5.9%
Alzheimer and other dementias	0.37	4.1%
Lower respiratory infections	0.35	3.8%
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	0.32	3.5%
Colon and rectum cancers	0.30	3.3%
Diabetes mellitus	0.24	2.6%
Hypertensive heart disease	0.21	2.3%
Breast cancer	0.17	1.9%

World	Deaths in millions	% of deaths
Ischaemic heart disease	7.25	12.8%
Stroke and other cerebrovascular disease	6.15	10.8%
Lower respiratory infections	3.46	6.1%
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	3.28	5.8%
Diarrhoeal diseases	2.46	4.3%
HIV/AIDS	1.78	3.1%
Trachea, bronchus, lung cancers	1.39	2.4%
Tuberculosis	1.34	2.4%
Diabetes mellitus	1.26	2.2%
Road traffic accidents	1.21	2.1%

Where is cervix cancer...?

And here's the CDC number of deaths female only categorized by race and by type of cancer for 2007 only...

Are you certain this post is directed to me? I agree with this post and your prior one.

When I posted re 'conflating politics with science' (#72), I was cc'ing you as a courtesy while directing my post to Jim from C-Town whose posts have been all over the place regarding the science behind Gardasil, seems to have a problem with patients and informed consent, and has been arguing for nanny state intervention regarding Gardasil which you accurately portrayed as:

"Vaccinating preteen girls that “may” be exposed to a virus that “may” cause them cancer later in life IS NOT a matter of immediate public health. Using your “Nanny-State” reasoning, like I have stated, we may as well ban tobacco and alcohol....you would save many more lives than genital warts or cervical cancer will take" .

In fact I pointed out to Jim from C-Town in my post #57, the same kind of nanny state reasoning would also ban tobacco, sodas, fatty foods.

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