Michele Bachmann: Accidental Kamikaze

RedState ^ | September 13, 2011 | streiff

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I’ve been leaning towards Rick Perry for a few weeks with Michele Bachmann as my second choice if he implodes. My first preference didn’t change last night but my second place choice did.

Last night Michele Bachmann lost my support.

She not only lost it for consideration as a presidential nominee, she lost it period. Full stop. In my view she beclowned herself beyond redemption and the sooner she disappears from the national stage the better.

For reasons that seem to have more to do with being behind Ron Paul in the polls and trying to scab some of the Paul supporters than any policy reason she made an unhinged attack on Perry on what should be a non-issue: his never-implemented executive order making mandatory a vaccine to protect women against a virus known to cause cervical cancer. What is worse she insisted that a fringe position is, in fact, a touchstone of conservatism.

From the transcript

BACHMANN: I’m a mom. And I’m a mom of three children. And to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong. That should never be done. It’s a violation of a liberty interest.

That’s — little girls who have a negative reaction to this potentially dangerous drug don’t get a mulligan. They don’t get a do- over. The parents don’t get a do-over. That’s why I fought so hard in Washington, D.C., against President Obama and Obamacare.

President Obama in a stunning, shocking level of power now just recently told all private insurance companies, you must offer the morning-after abortion pill, because I said so. And it must be free of charge. That same level coming through executive orders and through government dictates is wrong. And that’s why again we have to have someone who is absolutely committed to the repeal of Obamacare and I am. I won’t rest until it’s appealed.

She followed up with Greta van Susteren (skip to 1:58) in her post debate interview by saying

The problem is, it comes with some very significant consequences. 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. There are very dangerous consequences. It’s not good enough to take, quote, “a mulligan” where you want a do-over, not when you have little children’s lives at risk.

There are several threads of crazy running through this which leads one to believe that Bachmann, who if not anti-vaccine herself, was playing to the confusion the anti-vaccine fringe has managed to throw into what should be a fairly straightforward public policy debate.

As Ben Domenech points out in his indispensable The Transom:

But here’s the real reason this is a silly debate: the policy never went into effect. Not one girl was vaccinated under the policy. Not one shot was given. Demanding apologies from Perry for a policy that never went into effect gets tiresome after a while – particularly when Mitt Romney has never apologized for his namesake health care reforms, in effect in Massachusetts still today.

There is much to be criticized in the way Perry acted but no one received a “government injection,” whatever that may be. (For a more detailed take on what is wrong with the fringe anti-Gardasil argument visit Ace. It is worth the read.)

Let’s take the easy parts first. The HPV vaccine is safe. Some 26 million doses have been distributed in the United States and to date there have been about 1500 reports of serious incidents

A serious incident is defined as:

Any VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) report that indicated hospitalization, permanent disability, life-threatening illness, congenital anomaly or death is classified as serious. As with all VAERS reports, serious events may or may not have been caused by the vaccine. [italics mine]

Despite what you may read there is not a single fatality associated with the vaccine. Again from the CDC:

In the 32 reports confirmed, there was no unusual pattern or clustering to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine and some reports indicated a cause of death unrelated to vaccination. [italics mine]

The claim that Gardasil caused mental retardation is specious and seems calculated to appeal to the vaccines-cause-autism fringe. The international patient advocacy group, the Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partership, an organization with a vested interest in finding what causes Asperger Syndrome and autism, says:

”Congresswoman Bachmann’s decision to spread fear of vaccines is dangerous and irresponsible. There is zero credible scientific evidence that vaccines cause mental retardation or autism. She should cease trying to foment fear in order to advance her political agenda.”

Regularly on these threads we get people advocating “abstinence” as a way of combating HPV. Because sex, you know, merits cancer. The idea that we should allow some diseases free rein because we don’t like how they are spread strikes me as silly. Evidence indicates personal abstinence doesn’t work in regards to preventing the spread of HPV. It isn’t sufficient that you be abstinent. Your spouse must also have been abstinent prior to marriage and any/all former sexual partners of your spouse must have been abstinent. In the United States, by age 50 at least 80% of women will be infected with HPV.

While Bachmann is right, there is no do-over for girls who may be injured by the vaccine, she seems a lot less concerned that there is also no do-over for women who die from cervical cancer that could have been prevented. In this case Bachmann’s policy preference is the avoidance of hypothetical risk rather than preventing a real disease that kills people. This type of fuzzy – or cynically opportunistic – thinking is not what we need.

The “liberty interest” argument is just as silly. Unless you’re going to argue that every mandatory vaccine – like fluoridated water — is an affront to some “liberty interest,” using this line of attack on a vaccination that was always subject to parental consent simply defines liberty down to an absence of any personal or parental responsibility.

This particular attack was an own-goal by Bachmann in every conceivable way. It plays into the anti-science meme with which the Left is trying to festoon conservatism. Her constant invocation of “little” and “innocent” children gives one flashbacks to Hillary Clinton and her tossing the “for the children” mantra about. It was a senseless attack on Perry that played well with a segment of the debate studio audience. But it is one that makes Bachmann look extreme to the majority of GOP voters while making Perry more acceptable to nearly everyone else. If her goal was to take the lead from Rick Perry, something she can’t do even by the addition of all of Ron Paul’s supporters, she chose a suboptimal tactic.

The real question for Bachmann is, “if you had a vaccine that you knew prevented your kids from developing cancer would you support it being available.” This is all Perry did. His executive order made a very expensive vaccine affordable while at the same time allowing anyone who wanted to opt out to do so. This isn’t progressivism or liberalism. It isn’t even “compassionate conservatism.” It is common sense. In fact, it is exactly what Sarah Palin did as governor of Alaska.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Good links embedded at the source.

[org.whodat]

What a crock!!!!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Fox News post debate interview, September 12, 2011:

…..>>>"VAN SUSTEREN: Well, there's a big difference, though, at least in my mind, whether you do it because you really believe it's the right and you're just flat out wrong or you shouldn't have done it or whatever, and the other difference is whether you did it because you wanted a campaign contribution. And I'm curious which you think was the one here with the governor.

BACHMANN: Well, of course, I don't know the thoughts and the intents of the governor's heart. I have no idea what they are, nor would I speculate."<<<….. SOURCE

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Opposing HPV Vaccine "Unethical" - M.D. Anderson Cancer Center President

[MNJohnnie]

Red State exposes itself here as a bunch of RINO clowns.

Having a Government Official MANDATE anything be given to your child with your prior consent should be a red flag for any Conservative. Even Perry admits it was a mistake.

Red State demonstrates with this column they are just a bunch of Rovebot wanna bees.

[Servant of the Cross]

Rush Limbaugh: 'Bachmann may have jumped the shark'

[McGruff]

I’ve been leaning towards Rick Perry for a few weeks with Michele Bachmann as my second choice if he implodes...

Well he came close to last night. A couple or more debates and he just might. He did get booed for his open borders stance.

[Diogenesis]

PerryCARE, RomneyCARE, HillaryCARE, ObamaCARE.

NOTICE SOMETHING HERE?

[Kahuna]

MB is finished in our family. She will not get our support for any position PERIOD.

[MNJohnnie]

Trying to spin this is a pathetic fail by the Perry camp.

NO Conservative should EVER be conformable with a Government official, no matter how well intentioned, demanding the right to inject into children anything without the parent’s consent.

There is NO WAY to square Perry’s actions here with Conservative values.

The Perry camp would be really wise to stop trying to justify the unjustifiable.

[Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears]

You are so full of crap, saying the vaccine decision is no big deal, because it was repealed.

That's like saying if Obamacare gets repealed, it was never a big deal.

---

Plus, I am going to inform you of this once more. If you continue to propagate the lie that Rick Perry humbly retracted the decision when confronted by public will, I will expose that lie every time I see it in the future.

From an article by Michelle Malkin:

----

"When both the House and Senate repealed the law six weeks later, Perry did not — as he now claims — listen humbly or “agree with their decision.”

Human shield demagoguery. In response to the legislature’s rebuke, the infuriated governor attacked those who supported repeal as “shameful” spreaders of “misinformation” who were putting “women’s lives” at risk. Borrowing a tried-and-true Alinskyite page from the progressive left, Perry surrounded himself with female cervical cancer victims and deflected criticism of his imperial tactics with emotional anecdotes.

He then lionized himself and the minority of politicians who voted against repeal of his Gardasil order. “They will never have to think twice about whether they did the right thing. No lost lives will occupy the confines of their conscience, sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.” Perry, of course, has now put his own ghastly Gardasil order on that same altar — but with no apology to all those he demonized and exploited along the way."

-----

Rick gets funny when you start messin with his money.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2777761/posts?page=14

[Deb]

I thought she had 5 children.

[shield]

Perry Ping....

IF you'd rather NOT be pinged FReepmail me.

IF you'd like to be added FReepmail me. Thanks.

[SMARTY]

Perry's “...never-implemented executive order making mandatory a vaccine...”

And for my money, Perry addressed this long before the debate. He was and has since been clear in his statement that he has changed his views about the issue. He didn't lie about his prior views or invite more of the already toxic press he gets about this... he was forthright and clear in his admission of error. Perry was succinct and consistent in his response and did this more than once.... so why Bachmann would want to throw away her chances berating him over this issue is really beyond me.

[bvw]

The measure of most success is not how you fall, but how you get up after a fall.

Bachamnn’s now coming up on Hannity’s radio show.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

PerryCARE, RomneyCARE, HillaryCARE, ObamaCARE. NOTICE SOMETHING HERE?

Yeah!

You forgot PalinCARE

[Mozilla]

Considering the source and all I know about it. I don’t put much stock into the article. People are going to treat Palin the same way if she gets in. Basically she wasn’t tough enough they said that the earlier debate last week and now she is too harsh and a Kamikaze.

[Diogenesis]

It has NOT been fully addressed, although Rick Perry
began to consider it.

GOVERNOR PALIN: "I was governor of Alaska at the time that that issue came down,
and I told our health and human services department Alaska
was not going to mandate immunizations for our teenage daughters.
And there had to have been something to that whole issue
because it just didn't sound like Governor Perry. Governor Perry was,
you know, the proverbial anti-government type of maverick there in Texas,
and yet on this issue, he decided that he was going to know
better than a parent was going to know in terms of what the health care
or health benefit would be for their teenage daughters.
So I knew there was something to it."

Rick Perry was the 'mandator' who by his Executive Order
deemed chaste children to have injected into them
a poison with a risk (and a possible benefit beyond
the immediate lucrative one directly to
RINO Perry's Chief of Staff and others who bought Merck stock)
a substance they did not want and for which
informed consent was never taken or cared about.

====> Mandator Perry the RINO.

. Guard the Borders!! .... "Gard a sil?"

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The measure of most success is not how you fall, but how you get up after a fall. Bachamnn’s now coming up on Hannity’s radio show.

Michele Bachmann (Sept 12, 2011) "There are no mulligans; there are no do-overs!"

[Diogenesis]

By Gore, here is Perry supporting HillaryCARE.