GOPyouth: "What is your proof that Perry took a bribe? I've got all day, so I'll be expecting your answer."
UnwashedPeasant: The quid pro quo is what converts the donation into a bribe. ($28,500 direct donations and $355,000+ in indirect donations from Merck, followed by Perry pushing a Merck agenda that extremely contradicts his alleged conservative values).
Essentially, the response of Perry defenders is that "everyone does it" and that any politician that accepts donations is equally guilty. This is not a good argument for winning over skeptics.
By the way, I will vote for Perry if he is the candidate, and I am willing to be convinced that the Gardasil thing was an honest mistake, and I am willing to be convinced that Perry is not a fake conservative. But he has to be vetted with intellectual honesty.
There has to be evidence that but for the political donation, Perry wouldn't have made the EO. That hasn't been proven. When the CDC at the time was recommending this vaccine, it makes it harder to believe that Perry was 1. against issuing the EO for the vaccine beforehand and 2. changed his mind and issued the EO because received a donation(s).
A then B, therefore A caused B doesn't hold up in court when trying to prove a quid pro quo. This is why I asked for evidence in my post earlier today.
Yes, I realize this is the court of public opinion, but if Bachmann is going to make a serious accusation, she better be backed up with facts that prove it.
As for him pushing the Merck agenda, what other company should he have pushed if he wanted to issue an EO on the HPV vaccine? (Yes, some will say that he shouldn't have issued any EO, but that's separate from the issue of why it was done) I'm pretty sure that at the time Merck was the only company approved to manufacture it. So, yes, in a sense his actions would solely benefit Merck, as no other pharm company existed to benefit.
Regarding vetting Perry, I have no problems with that. He should be vetted. I don't expect people outside of Texas to know all the ins and outs of Texas politics. He's a tough boy and can handle it. Whether the people believe him or not is a totally different story. Time will tell. However, as my recent posts will show, I will defend him against some of these attacks that I think are blatantly false or misguided, such that this legion of little girls was strapped down and injected with the "retarded" needle. That never happened, but it's being pushed on here, but more so on the big stage by Bachmann.
Maybe I'm biased b/c I'm from Texas, but I do support him. There are a few things that I disagree with him on, but understand why he did them. In-state tuition as opposed to out-of-state-tution is one of them. If they are in the process of becoming legal, that's a different story, but I don't support letting illegals, who have no desire to become citizens, have a break in tuition. Is that a deal breaker for me on the national level? No. But it is an issue.
And since it has been accused by other people (not you) on here to different people, I'll go ahead and say that I'm not on any politician's payroll, I'm not a volunteer for anybody's campaign, I don't work for any PAC or anything related, I'm not related to Perry or any politician, and I don't have plans to do so.
I'm happy that we have a big group of mostly conservatives in this primary. I appreciate Bachmann, Cain, Santorum, and Gingrich running. I think they are convicted in their beliefs. I honestly can't say the same for Romney. I think he is a brilliant businessman, but I don't believe he's convicted. Huntsman is a joke, and it showed when Perry didn't even take the opportunity to respond to him. I believe Perry is convicted in his beliefs, even though I don't agree with all of them. Hell, throw Palin in the mix, even though she hasn't announced. I think she's a rock solid conservative, and I would welcome her as well.
I'm sure a lot of people on here would agree with me that Perry, Cain, Bachmann, Gingrich, Santorum, Palin, and even Romney would be leaps and bounds better than our current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania. I will happily vote for them (not so much Romney) if they become our candidate. Unfortunately, being from Texas, that decision will be probably be made before we ever get to vote in the primary. The bright spot is that I got to participate in Operation Chaos in 2008 and voted for Hillary.