Michele Bachmann’s former campaign manager, Ed Rollins, suggested that Bachmann should admit that she made a mistake in linking Gardasil to mental retardation, and move on. That was good advice, but Bachmann has rejected it and is now fundraising on junk science. She is also mischaracterizing her initial criticism of Perry on this. She did not lead in the debate with “crony capitalism” or “abuse of power,” but with alarm at the government needle causing 12-year-old girls to come down with mental illness as a side effect of getting immunized from the cancer-causing HPV virus. She claimed a mother came up to her after the debate and claimed her daughter developed mental problems after getting the vaccine. Absent any scientific evidence that Gardasil can causes such problems — and there is none — and absent any evidence that the Bachmann’s story actually happened — and there is none — it’s not out of bounds to wonder if she made the whole thing up. It’s all just a little too convenient.
We have enough junk scientists in politics, with Al Gore leading that clown parade. Bachmann has joined them. It’s time to move on from considering Bachmann as a serious candidate for the presidency. She isn’t. She’s done.
You may be right on this one..but I really like her stand against obamacare and all the spending.. She is strong in these categories.
She may be right on ObamaCare and spending, but she’s polling right around Newt’s numbers.
In other words, about the only chance she has is if something–God forbid something serious or fatal–takes both Perry and Romney out of the race. The odds of that happening are probably worse than you getting struck by lightning–twice.
“Byron couldn`t have said it better!” …. Margo Channing in “All About Eve”
You are Bryan, but Toast is what Michelle Bachmann is …. Bless her, bow out, NOW!
Forgot …. Since we are all into the “Love” for prezboy …. Michelle Bachmann is sincere and a nice person, but I have to tell her, “Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight”!
Bachmann is an embarrassment. And frankly scary. She can do nothing but damage to the Tea PArty and the Republicans at this point. She must go now.
Agreed. The media love using her as a proxy for the entire Republican Party. They’ll be the most bereft when she’s gone.
Perry was a supporter of the T Party from the gitgo and will probably emerge as their Champion, particularly when the word gets out on how he has stood p to the “Higher Education” ranks in Texas. Michelle should save herself a lot of money and grief by bailing out early and rallying behind the stronger contender. I believe that Palin will do the same thing. Nobody wants to listen to the message she has been sending out since her resignation from the Governorship of Alaska: Sarah does not want ANY government office – been there; done that; got burned by the old pros on both sides. Can make better money and live a happier life lecturing, writing books and peddling advice. Not announcing a decision is a “No” decision. The only one she has to make is which candidate she’s going to throw her weight behind.
This is a fine example of WHY we primary our candidates. =0[.]o=
Snarky Perry defenders might want to keep something in mind: there were quite a few states “all of a sudden” pushing for mandatory Gardasil vaccines a few years ago, and I remember that it smelled very fishy, almost as if there were a lot of governors getting paid (so I wasn’t surprised that Perry was, also). Mothers in those states weren’t happy at all, and many states pulled the mandatory requirement ONLY after a huge outcry by parents. There are quite a few side effects, and those who say there aren’t, are either very poorly informed, or hoping we are. I don’t know if brain damage is one of the side effects, but there is a very long list and there are somewhere around 80-90 deaths associated with the Gardasil vaccines.
There were various opt-out clauses in most of the states, but that doesn’t reflect much respect for the idea of limited government and parents’ right to raise our children as we see fit -without having to jump through various governmental hoops. (I keep thinking of that scene in “The Incredibles” where the boss is annoyed that Bob’s clients are navigating the system.) The more this goes on, the less impressed I am with Rick Perry-and Bryan Preston, for that matter. This issue isn’t just about Rick Perry’s “mistake” (like, did he accidentally sign it??) so you might want to start looking at the lens through which we non-Texan voters are viewing this debacle of Perry’s. If you think this is a great vaccine then by all means go ahead and force your daughters to be the guinea pigs. But many of us realize that the risks outweigh the benefits even if the gub’mint thinks we aren’t bright enough to make that decision.
(I’m a Herman Cain supporter so my defense of Rep Bachmann does more harm than good for my favorite candidate.)
If “All of the sudden” is the issue, I propose a thought experiment for your consideration. Suppose that there was a real outbreak of something deadly, that a vaccine was available but not widely used, and that time was of the essence. What do you propose to do? Sign the Exec Order to save as many people as possible or wait until the legislature does its thing approving the new inoculations? This Madame, is what you as Governor get paid the Big Bucks for. Perry and other governors were apparently convinced that public safety was at risk and that a timely response was necessary. They made the decisions and let the process work itself out over time – which is how the system is supposed to work. Given the number of inoculations that all kids are required to take before entering public schools in Texas (the vehicle for ensuring kids are protected from disease) and the large numbers of illegals flowing into the state, I think the action was both prudent and intelligent. And yes, my daughters would have taken the shot.
You might want to read the other article(s) in PJ Tattler on the issue a few tens of hours ago that gives the background of both the Gardasil and the background of Perry’s interest in the issue. Madame, you are wrong. Cheers -
Oh gimme a break. Your strawman doesn’t stand up. Gardasil is a vaccine that protects against the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus, genital warts, and cervical cancer. It was approved by the FDA only seven months before Perry usurped rights of parents with his executive order. It’s long-term effects are unknown. That’s a vastly different set of risks than your misleading strawman argument proposes.
There was no sudden immediate threat that justified Perry’s trampling of the deliberative process. “The PerryCare executive fiat was not simply a one-off mistake explained away by lack of “research.” It exposed a fundamental lapse in both political and policy judgments, an appalling lack of ethics and a disturbing willingness to smear principled defenders of limited government who object to the Nanny State using their children as guinea pigs.” (Michelle Malkin)
The primary season is a vetting process. We need a candidate who is capable of unseating Obama, but that’s not enough. whomever we choose must be a strong leader with true conservative principles, a leader who will focus on restoring Constitutional fidelity to the federal government. That’s not Perry. His arrogant government-knows-best mandate displays an instinct and judgment that undermines his fitness to defend a self-governing people from the government they’ve created, a government that is growing ever more intrusive and oppressive. Perry’s enthusiastic embrace of governmental overreach, followed by his vicious attacks of principled opponents is a modus operandi he shares with Obama.
I support Bachmann even though I know she’s a long shot. But I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon of big-government, crony capitalist insiders like Perry and Romney. We’ve had enough McCains, thank you.
Governors started pushing Gardasil a few years ago because it became available a few years ago. There’s nothing sinister about that timing.
It’s recommended by the CDC and
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
That’s nice, but wasn’t thalidomide also considered safe by several of those same (political) organizations?
That’s nice, but wasn’t Thalidomide also considered safe by some of these same (political) organizations?
With this sort of issue, a vaccine for something that only affects women, there are so many pitfalls for a candidate it’s almost impossible to make a decision, or even punt and not decide at all, and not mortally offend someone somewhere. If you mandate the vaccine, people claim the side affects are bad enough they don’t want their children taking it. If you don’t mandate the vaccine, then someone’s daughter will get sick, and it’ll be because you didn’t care about the health of young women. Make no decision and it looks like you don’t care about the issue, because you’re callous or something.
I’m not sure, but I think I’m moving towards the point where all of these vaccines (polio, diptheria, flu, and everything else we still vaccinate for) ought to be required. Typically (not always, but more often than not) we vaccinate for something because it’s communicably, through normal contact or something like drinking water. If you’re vaccinated, and everyone else is too, the disease doesn’t spread, but if you aren’t, you’re more or less a danger to those around you. Yes, it’s invasive, and I’m not sure whether it’s Constititutional, but it damn sure makes sense. Smallpox used to kill a lot of people; now it only lives in a couple of vaults inside research facilities. It didn’t get there because people scrubbed their hands regularly; it got there because vaccinations prevented its spread until there was no place for it to go any more.
As for the oral history/urban legend version of things, where vaccines cause something (autism, mental retardation, homosexuality, whatever) I think the whole issue ought to be given the amount of attention it deserves: none at all. The vaccines may have side affects (typically they make a very small number of people sick) but they also save lives, and keep people from getting sick. When we have a better solution, I’ll be in favor of getting rid of this one; until then, this is what we have.
It is my understanding that the vaccines are for both females and males.
The vaccine is effective for preventing genital warts in males and females. It is also helps with preventing certain cancer in women.
As much as I like and agree with much of Bachmann’s platform, YES: it is time for her to go.
She lacks the probity and good judgement that Palin manifests.
Jeanette wrote: “If you think this is a great vaccine then by all means go ahead and force your daughters to be the guinea pigs. But many of us realize that the risks outweigh the benefits even if the gub’mint thinks we aren’t bright enough to make that decision. (I’m a Herman Cain supporter so my defense of Rep Bachmann does more harm than good for my favorite candidate.)”
A good parent ought to be able to decide on this matter, just like contraception for his or her teenager. Go ahead and assume to risk of your choices. There is no Public Health need to elevate the state to that of guardian that preempts a parent’s.
Bachmann went too far with the “mental retardation” quote. If accuracy matters, she said “retarded” rather than mental “illness”. Ed Morrissey tried the argument that the vaccine might cause a brain injury but not retardation. Given that the vaccine can cause blood clots (among nervous system disorders, paralysis and constant pain), it is possible that it caused someone somewhere brain damage that slowed (retarded) the person’s mental capacity.
But how likely was it that the concerned mother called her daughter a retard? Just as pathetic is Rick Perry’s responsive promo featuring a young lady “actually dying right now” on the back of his motorcycle.
Given the ’08 GOP media experience abusing Sarah Palin’s family, I’d have thought that even Bachmann would better choose her adjective regarding those with mental impairment.
That said, Perry IS guilty of crony capitalism. His administration is rife with it.
Which is worse, saying “retarded” or crony capitalism? Couple financial corruption with characteristic abusive over-extension of constitutionally limited powers given Governor Perry’s administrative record, these two candidates have effectively eliminated each other. Unless, of course, Republicans want to elect another president who disregards the Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
crony capitalism, yes, and that is plenty bad indeed, but he’s worse, a whole lot worse by far, hanging close with the conservative Ground Zero mosque and radical Islam supporter Grover Norquist, and going along with the Aga Khan curriculum in Texas schools. Check it out.
Wow, Bachmann’s still in the race, hunh? Who knew.
On the day of this debate, Limbaugh came out with a warning that the candidates had to be careful not to get sidetracked by the Leftist moderators. As far as I could see, Newt was the only one who listened. And Bachmann will now be a casualty of the Left forcing us into this idiot debate over Gardasil when it should have been the economy, deficit, multiple wars, and this awful presidency.
One of these days, these high level Republicans are going to listen to Limbaugh who has been pretty much right for over twenty years.
Not exactly sure what her big crime is here. So the “evolution is a big conspiracy” show of hands at the debates is cool. Pretending planned parenthood’s contraceptive programs aren’t the biggest abortion prevention scheme on the planet is cool. Pretending than climate change is a global conspiracy with all the credibility of a 9/11 truther is cool. But somehow the old vaccines-are-dangerous lie is just going to far?
Who gets to decide which anti-science, “it’s all a big conspiracy” meme is out of bounds? It’s a bit unfair not to tell everyone up front. This is like throwing someone out of Oktoberfest for drinking a lager.
“There is no Public Health need to elevate the state to that of guardian that preempts a parent’s.”
They developed a vaccine for cancer and parents are too stupid, lazy or otherwise inept to be trusted to give it to their children. So there’s that.
What’s going on in your head? Do you think maybe voluntary vaccination rates are a big mystery in 2011? Statistics, they’re kind of fundamental to the sciences you know.
You know what else is fundamental to the sciences? Understanding the science itself.
This is a vaccine to prevent HPV, not cancer- there is a difference between the two.
Unlike other illnesses for which there are vaccines, it’s possible to greatly reduce the risk of this particular illness without getting the vaccination. I suspect that is what some of these parents CAN be “trusted” to do.
They developed a vaccine for cancer and parents are too stupid, lazy or otherwise inept to be trusted to give it to their children.
We’re already too far down the road of the government stepping in whenever parents don’t follow whatever the current fad is. Yeah, parents will get it wrong. Outside of a very, very narrow range, that’s their right. You aren’t free unless you are free to be wrong.
That vaccine has also been proposed for males to stop them from been carriers of a disease that is only deadly(?)when a female body part (the cervix) gets “infected”. A disese with such toxic cellular effect likely is as toxic on male cells, but because male body parts involved are easily clensed and easy to inspect, males are not at risk for deathly consequences.
A more sensible way to guarantee protection would be to just to have those at risk of death be vaccinated. That avoids visitors and immigrants to the US (legal and illegal) not having to show they have had that vaccine. Considering how poorly US screens people entering the US, vccanitating girls is the most protective measure. Islamists and unvaccinated not been allowed entry is HARD to enforce. (Someday a Star Treck device mike check the presence of the right antibodies -it wold dectect the unvaccinated. But a dector to screen out Islamists determined by violent and illegal and decietful means to have the whole word worship God the way Mohamad declared was he was instructed by God ? That’s Mind Reading. )
If you really do not wish for your daughters to be vaccinated then advocate that ALL males are vaccinated so your daughters will be protected. (??? it is an immunization that will only work if all people in the world are consenting adult hetrosexuals ????) As a global immunization project, it will likely be a nightmare to immplement as as it has a direct connection to sexual conduct. One reason Polio is still around killing and crippling is because some people think that polio vaccination is a plot to make people sterile.
My wife is the President of a private girls school in Tennessee. The parents in her school overwhelmingly WANT the right to decide what vaccines their child will or will not take. I don’t know everything about Gaurdisil but I know that I don’t want any governmental official deciding what my child will take. Remember, these pols are the same rocket scientists that have put flouride in your water, Agent Orange in the defoliants in Vietnam (my brother in law died of cancer from Agent Orange exposure along with tens of thousands of servicemen from that time according to his Doctor).
If my state is in such bad moral shape that a sitting Governor would approve an Executive Order to protect young teen girls against a cervical cancer condition brought on by teen sex, that state has much bigger problems than a disease.
I would recommend he come out and go to parents and Churches to further educate the young girls and boys that pre marital sex can be a danger to their physical health and spiritual well being.
But, of course, we can’t do that. In a society that allows abortion to be as common as taking an advil, giving young girls an injection that treats a condition brought on by pre marital sex should be celebrated? I don’t think so.
Is Michelle Bachmann the perfect candidate? No.
But does she represent a revulsion by much of the Conservative electorate ? You’re damn right. Saying that she did it in a way that may not be perfect does not alter the fact that there are legions of us who agree with the premise that the government needs to get out of family health care decisions.
If Perry or Bachmann are the Conservative candidate, I will vote for either of them but that doesn’t mean they are the boss of me or mine!
she is crazy