Big Time!
Posted on 09/13/2011 12:51:57 PM PDT by 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.
Big Time!
MB is not Palin. Palin doesn’t think that vaccines give you cooties.
Yes, you certainly are.
But wasn't Ron Paul adorable last night as he was defending al Qaeda and all that other cute stuff?
+1
Thanks for your comments.
I have no ties to his campaign. I expect that he’ll speak his mind and tell the truth — as he sees them and how things are here in Texas and how all of this effects not only us but the nation.
MB is finished here too. She was shrill and hateful. I know my Governor and all the nasty attacks began to hurt him personally. He is tough and can take it, but MB crossed the line. She made him seem like some Nazi saying, “you vill do it and you vill like eet!”
He is a caring man who loves his state, and its people regardless of race, religion and background. Regarding the bill on education for illegals, it was overwhelmingly passed by the legislature with only 4 votes against it, so a veto would have been overridden. I didn’t like his stance on the bill, but it is what it is.
The Gardasil mandate was never implemented and no “innocent little girl” ever was vaccinated by Perry’s EO. He signed the order because HPV was running rampant in the Latino community and to get Medicaid to pay for it, it had to be mandatory. He went about it the wrong way and in the end, he realized it and apologized.
I'm sorry but that was way below your usually good FReeper standards.
Michelle Malkiin: The right and wrong way to talk about Gardasil; Update: A really, really stupid attack on Palin
Sarah Palin on mandatory immunizations (e-mail from 2008)
Some say she had a rebound after last night. I think that today she is trying to get "momentum." Any "momentum" will be temporary.
After being mildly interested in Bachman I definitely turned against her after last night's performance. Her strident voice, half truths and her demeanor indicated a desperate bid to remain relevent.
This country needs a radical shift towards freedom and a return to the governing principles of the Founding Fathers. Perry has made some noisy attacks lately trying to sound "conservative", but his track record just does not reflect a principled, robust grasp of the conservative worldview. Bachmann isn't perfect, but she is far closer and has been much more consistent in defending conservatism.
Now if she'd just come out stronger against the "My country can beat up your country" 'neo-con' crowd. They style themselves as conservatives, despite being as opposite to the Founders on foreign policy as economic collectivists are to free markets.
OH my.
THAT’S rich!
How funny.
How TRUE!
LOL
I see, it’s only “BAD” when the other guy is accused of it.
Got it.
“After being mildly interested in Bachman I definitely turned against her after last night’s performance. Her strident voice, half truths and her demeanor indicated a desperate bid to remain relevent. “
She sounds like one of those people who would censor Harry Potter because it mentions witchcraft.
There aren’t any, she’s right. What’s your point, Sabrina? Can you make YOUR point?
Sure she does, sure she does. Now please tell the nurse exactly how much of that mushroom you ate.
No, “it” is bad when Freepers stop thinking and start acting like DUers. Please, read Malkin’s well argued piece.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.