A month ago, I was “fringe” for spotlighting Rick Perry’s Gardasil problem.
As I said then, it’s not just a “single-issue,” one-off problem. It’s about his instincts, judgment, non-apology apology, and ethics.
For everyone still catching up, here’s my column from a month ago.
Now, Gardasil is the search word of the day. And there’s a new development.
After successfully highlighting Perry’s troubling abuse of executive power during last night’s debate, Michele Bachmann risks blowing it with some factually inaccurate assertions.
She’s RIGHT on the principles, wrong on some of the details.
She needs to stay on message and stick with the facts.
The Texas state legislature repealed the order (over Perry’s hysterical objections) before any girl was forcibly vaccinated.
And while individual stories of Gardasil harm may or may not be true (Bachmann cited a mother who thinks the vaccine caused mental retardation in her child while making the post-debate rounds), it’s not the primary case she should be making.
Again: Bachmann is RIGHT on the principles, but it gets dicey citing cases where individual anecdotes need to be vetted before tossing them out on TV. She came dangerously close to using the same demagogic tactics Perry employed in obstinately defending the order even after it was repealed. Reminder:
Trampling the deliberative process. Since Day One, President Obama has short-circuited transparency, public debate and congressional oversight. How can Perry effectively challenge the White House’s czar fetish, stealth recess appointments, selective waiver-mania and backdoor legislating through administrative orders when Perry himself employed the very same process as governor?
Not only did Perry defend going above the heads of elected state legislators, but his office also falsely claimed the legislature had no right to repeal the executive order. “The order is effective until Perry or a successor changes it, and the Legislature has no authority to repeal it,” Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody told The Washington Post in February 2007.
When both the House and Senate repealed the law six weeks later, Perry did not — as he now claims — listen humbly or “agree with their decision.”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.
The point is that Perry rushed to mandate the Merck-pushed order less than 8 months after it had received FDA approval. Clinical trial and safety data was extremely limited at the time. And scientific assessments are still coming in about the long-term and synergistic effects of this and other vaccines.
The Merck push is still ongoing in other states, as I’ve reported. California is pushing forward with legislation making it possible to dispense the shots through the state to children as young as 12 without the permission of their parents.
If Obama sponsored a Gardasil mandate law, took Merck money and had a staffer-turned-Merck lobbyist, it would be an issue.
Hillary Clinton lobbied for Gardasil while Merck sat on hubby’s Global Initiative board. Conservatives cared back then. Pay-for-play still matters, especially when our children are involved.
There IS a middle ground between “absolutist anti-vaccine hysteria” and mindless, unquestioning support of Nanny State.
…Former Hot Air alum and former Texas state GOP communications director Bryan Preston, now at Pajamas Media, notes that during the tenure of Sarah Palin (who rightly criticized the appearance of crony capitalism in the Perry/Gardasil debacle last night), Alaska took federal funds to expand access to Gardasil:
( Juneau, Alaska) ─ The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services announced today that an increase in federal funding will make it possible for all Alaska girls ages 9 through 18 to receive Gardasil ®, the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, at no cost.
Preston writes:
This isn’t quite the same thing as mandating (and being overturned on, so it didn’t actually happen) a vaccination, but taking federal funds for Gardasil doesn’t quite square with Palin’s hot shots at Perry on Fox last night. I admire Sarah Palin quite a bit (and Bachmann too), but aligning herself with Bachmann’s precious bodily fluids gambit is a huge mistake on her part. Both of them are flaming their own credibility over an issue that, in the grand view of things, ought not to matter much. It hasn’t mattered much to some of the most conservative voters in America, over three gubernatorial elections running now. Both Palin and Bachmann are coming off as ill informed, unreasonable and desperate.
It “isn’t quite the same thing as mandating.”
Gee, no. Ya think?
It’s a freakingly obvious night and day difference — Perry’s MANDATE on families and the MANDATE on insurers going over the heads of the state legislature versus the Palin administration’s decision to accept federal subsidies to increase access to those who choose to take it. (Note: Gardasil is not and never has been mandated in the state of Alaska.)
Preston also objects to indirect costs imposed by the Palin administration’s program on taxpayers outside the state.
Newsflash: The Perry executive order would have ordered Texas health officials to use federal Medicaid funding to cover the vaccine for young women — a cost that would have been borne by millions of taxpayers outside Texas.
As for the gobsmackingly ridiculous claim that this revelation about Palin makes her guilty of the crony capitalism Perry is marinated in, another flashback:
Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., responding to pressure from parents, pro-family organizations, and medical groups, announced on February 20 that it was immediately suspending its lobbying campaign to persuade state legislatures to mandate that adolescent girls receive the company’s vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cervical cancer as a requirement for school attendance.
A February 2 executive order by Texas Governor Rick Perry that made Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls as young as 11 get vaccinated with a three-dose regimen of Merck’s Gardasil before entering sixth grade had provoked a storm of outrage from pro-family groups.
A January 31 AP report that tied Merck & Co. to Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country, added fuel to the fire by revealing a blatant conflict of interest. The report observed that a top official from Merck’s vaccine division sits on Women in Government’s business council, and members of Women in Government have introduced many of the bills around the country that would mandate compulsory Gardasil vaccinations. Merck had also admitted donating an undisclosed amount of money to lobbyists promoting such legislation.
A follow-up report by AP’s Liz Austin Peterson on February 21 noted that Governor Perry’s chief of staff, Deirdre Delisi, met with Perry’s budget director and three members of his office for an “HPV Vaccine for Children Briefing” on October 16, the same day that Merck’s political action committee donated $5,000 to Perry’s campaign.
A spokesman for the governor, Robert Black, described the timing of the meeting and the Merck donation as a coincidence, but Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum, remains skeptical. “We have too many coincidences,” said Adams. “I think that the voters of Texas would find that very hard to swallow.”
Now, read this from the National Institute for Money in State Politics:
Among gubernatorial candidates who received contributions from Merck, Perry was second only to former California Gov. Gray Davis, who received $28,000.
Since the 2000 election cycle, the drug company has contributed $2.46 million to state-level candidates and party committees, doling their money out almost equally to both parties.
…Note: Alaska does not appear on this list. It was never a lobbying target for Merck. Nor did Palin have an ex-chief of staff lobbying for Merck or a staffer’s mother-in-law serving as a state director of an advocacy group bankrolled by Merck to push legislatures across the country to put forward bills mandating the Gardasil vaccine for preteen girls.
Moreover, Palin is on record in 2008 e-mails expressing her general opposition to certain vaccine mandates.
It’s a pathetic and ill-informed act of desperation to try and turn the crony capitalism charge on Palin, which is a telling measure of how effective her voice is on this topic — and why so many would rather silence her.
***
The glibness with which Perry defenders dismiss the obstacles to opting out is disturbing.
To put things into perspective, for those of you who don’t have children, Texas and all other states currently have laws in place to “force” parents to vaccinate their children against a host of communicable diseases, to wit:
HPV is no different. I discussed this on another thread. It’s inevitable that HPV vaccination will one day be as universally mandatory as polio and hepatitis vaccination. It’s only a matter of how many needless cases of cancer will have been generated through the spread of the virus by unvaccinated people before that day comes.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
Your article was a bit hysterical, don’t you think?
“Among gubernatorial candidates who received contributions from Merck, Perry was second only to former California Gov. Grey Davis, who received $28,000.”
You write that as if it was Grey Davis who received $28,000. It was Perry who received $28,000, between 1994 and 2010. But you never bothered to mention that the $28,000 figure was spread out over a span of 16 years and that $5,000 of that money was in 2010, out of a total $30 million campaign fund, long after the Gardasil issue was dead in Texas. Do you really think that only having $29,995,000.00 in his campaign fund in 2010 would have made any difference?
You also quote Michelle Malkin (who refers to Perry’s hysterical objections) but Malkin never bothered to inform her readers that while the Texas legislature had taken the issue up and had written bills to veto the EO, Perry, himself issued a follow up EO ending his first EO prior to the legislation being passed. Legislation did in fact pass, but only as a safeguard against further requirement for Gardasil. It was not necessary. Perhaps we would all be better off if our legislature would listen to the people, and could start by repealing Obamacare.
Nor did you refere to the National Conference of State Legislatures that as recently as this month updated their research of the Gardasil issue in every state.
And where is your counter point informing your readers that a) Bachmann did not vet the story told to her by some woman who claimed her daughter was mentally retarded due to Gardasil (Bachmann admitted on the Hannity radio show yesterday she had not checked out the story) or that b) in Bachmann’s own state the vaccination for Hepititus B (also a sexually transmitted disease) is mandatory, not voluntary. And no where in your article do you mention that there was an opt-out in Perry’s EO, and that had to be done by parents filling out a form from the Department of Health and Human Services simply saying they were opting out, and which would have been made available at their children’s school, while in Alaska, although there was no mandate, parents still had to opt-out but had to get the opt-out form signed by their personal physicians.
Palin, on her appearance on the Greta Van Sustern show, was not bashing the use of Gardasil, she was bashing “crony capitalism” because she questioned Perry’s actions since a FORMER Perry aide had gone to work for a lobbying firm that represented Merch. This is hardly a road that Palin wants to travel. Her own record of association with a lobbyist is much more involved since Palin chose a lobbyist, who worked for one of the biggest lobbying firms in America and represented the oil industry in Alaska, as her running mate in the gubernatorial race in Alaska, and who she later turned her governor’s chair over to.
Sean Parnell was not just a lobbyist, who continued to work for a major lobbying firm until the day before he was sworn in as Lt. Governor, he was also the legal representative for Exxon in the Exxon-Valdez oil spill case.
So let me see if I have this right: you object to Perry issuing an EO that required the Gardasil vaccination which made the insurance companies in Texas have to cover the $360 three-series shots but you have no objection to Palin using taxpayer money from taxpayers in every state in the union to “make it possible for ALL Alaska girls ages 9 through 18 to receive Gardasi, the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, at no cost.”*
And what has the states in the rest of the nation done on the issue of Gardasil? Are you even aware that D.C. mandates the vaccination or that the State of California is considering legislation that would make it mandatory?
Palin was wrong. She jumped into the fray by suggesting that Perry was influenced by a former staff member who had gone to work for a lobbying firm, although there is NO proof that person had any influence on Perry or that Perry had ever even discussed the issue with his former aide. It is guilt by association, and you are just as guilty of it as is Bachmann and Palin. Considering how the left, and the media, have unfairly hammered Palin, I would have thought that she would have verified the facts before she made a comment or issued an opinion.
You don’t like Perry and that’s fine, that’s your choice. But you are excusing Bachmann for not vetting a story told to her by some [anonymous] woman when there is no data showing that Gardasil causes brain damage nor any record of anyone sueing Merck because of damage to a child such as brain damage, and you do not hold Palin to her own standards of not being involved with lobbyists when she has clearly left a former lobbyist as the Governor of Alaska.
Providing a jaded, one sided point of view by not providing all of the facts of the issue is not only cheating your readers, it is wrong, and a tactic that is usually found in the left.
Now, I fully expect to be hammered by certain people who frequent this site, but let me make my position VERY clear; all candidates need to be vetted but in that vetting process, we need to have ALL the facts, not just a bunch of hysterical rhetoric from those who favor one candidate over another.
*taken from a press release on the Alaska State website.
This is the Most Wanted section which is where snippets of interesting articles
are placed. Click the read more link and you will find the whole article. I didn’t write a word of it.
My apologies to you, Curt. But seeing how this is the article written by Michelle Malkin, en toto, makes it even worse. It is not the first time that Malkin has gone over the edge when it comes to Perry. The last dust-up pertained to Perry’s [ever so slight] association with the Aga Khan and other radical bloggers going after Perry because he once appeared on stage with Grover Norquist, basically making the claim that Perry was pro-Sha’ria. It got so bad, and the spin so deep, that a fellow of the Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney’s group, came out in defense of Perry. Also, Commentary, a very, VERY pro-Jewish, pro-Israel came out in defense of Perry.
I don’t like smear merchants. And that is what Malkin, et al, is now participating in. She gives her readers just enough information to mislead them. That is, in my mind, not what we conservatives do.
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
Larry, perhaps you could give the history of the Salk vaccine. I understand that when it was first introduced, there were some problems and some side affects. Now, polio is almost unheard of in our nation. Was there absolutely no risk with vaccinations against diphtheria and smallpox?
Cervical cancer has decimated many families. Is the prospect of the elimination of a cause of cervical cancer worth the risk? I know many families that would say “yes” without hesitation.
Hi Retire, There is NOT “absolutely no risk” with any drug or any vaccine. Every single drug and vaccine has both risks and a risk to benefit ratio. School buses have a risk to benefit ratio. School lunches have a risk to benefit ratio. The HPV vaccine risk is very low and it’s mostly limited to allergic reactions. In theory any injection could be complicated by a bacterial infection from poor sterile technique. But even these risks are very rare and they apply equally to vaccines which have been mandated for years as a condition of public school attendance and for employment in many jobs (particularly health-related jobs).
Perry is ahead of the curve on this one. I give him credit for attempting to do what he did. I agree that the suggestion that he did this as a quid pro quo for political contributions is nothing more than a cheap shot.
I also give Perry credit for having the political guts not to run away from his support of in state tuition for all Texas high school graduates, “documented” or not. This may cost him in the GOP primaries, but it will help him in the general election.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA
we have to admit that PERRY has more gutts than ROMNEY in there,
and that is required to become the next PRESIDENT, look what a no gutts one did to AMERICA
these last years, and to think that it would benefit the young girls of all AMERICA,
yes it take gutts to implement a beneficial product to help the future of AMERICA,of course some other candidates don’t think that far in their agenda for AMERICAN YOUTHS
@retire05:
Oh, good. I am so glad to see you are back with us.
You dashed out in a huff at the end of August right in the middle of our discussion and I wasn’t sure if you would return.
I had just asked you why you were being dishonest. Remember?
Well, I guess if my fellow “small government” proponents lump STDs with diseases spread by air or casual contact. . . then they must agree that girls of reproductive age be required to have birth control pellets inserted into their behinds regardless of parental consent.
Right?
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
Larry do you consider a half of a million dollars to the Republican Party of Texas by Merck a “cheap shot?” That’s what Perry DIDN’T disclose. Reference can be provided if needed.
Regarding illegals, I’m on the fence on that issue. From a human standpoint, it’s hard for me to be in favor of denying anyone help who truly needs it. I also have a problem when the “legal” way to do things is ignored. That said, it’s still hard for me on a personal level to be anti-illegal immigration in some situations, not all.
My problem with Perry is this. Why is ok to help the illegals and make them “contributing members to society” when there are just as many or more Americans who simply can’t afford tuition? By his argument, it’s ok if the Americans “live off the dole” from lack of funds to be educated, but not ok for the illegals. That doesn’t make any sense, except “political sense” for votes. Furthermore, since when do illegals get entitlement to “living off the government dole?” Is that only in Texas?
For the record, I think Michelle Bachman was way over the top (I cringed), to report what a mother ‘told’ her about her daughter becoming mentally retarded after Gardisal. I’m no fan of Gardisal, for other reasons, but that was rediculous, especially for a well educated women and mother of a doctor. On the other hand, I was glad to see her call Perry out on the issue, especially of the mandate even more than the cronyism. Now if only someone would call out the left on their equally dangerous “mandate” to force California school kids into pseduo “transgender” history. I would argue more young men will get AIDS from the “no big deal same sex” propaganda of the left than women who will die of cervical cancer sans Gardisal.
I’m certainly not anti-vaccine, just cautious, especially anything “government mandated.”
Lastly, one of the biggest problems with Gardisal is false security. Indeed cervical cancer is a BIG DEAL IF NOT CAUGHT EARLY. What is now happening, is that many who have been vaccinated no longer get pap smears. If there was ever a great screening test for any cancer, it’s the pap smear. Cervical cancer is very indolent and caught early, it’s totally curable. Truly there is no reason why any women in America, or any with any access to pap smears, should die of cervical cancer. Does that mean that a vaccine is worthless? Maybe not, but certainly so if the immunity wears off (best guess is 4 years if that). Gardisal also does not vaccinate against all possible causes of cervical cancer. I predict there will be an increase from cervical cancer deaths in the next 10-15 years owing to the sense of false security. Instead of catching it while it is localized, it will be caught in many cases after it’s too late.
@Aye:
I came back because there were some I missed here. Bees is one of them.
I am not willing to get into another pi$$ing contest with you, Aye. If that is what you want to do, you are playing a singular game.
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
Thank you, Larry. I have some allergies to certain drugs, learned the hard way. Certain antibiotics. But I also know people who cannot tolerate simple aspirin, probably the most perscribed drug in the world.
Perry’s concern was born out of the fact that both his parents are cancer survivors. And Texas has a leading cancer research center, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center, tied into the University of Texas and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
@retire05:
So, what you’re saying is that you are under the impression that you can come here and lie… and then not take ownership of your words when called out? Is that right?
Shameful and classless. Especially for a lady of your generation. You’re old enough to know better.
@Patricia:
Yes, I would be interested in your link to Merck giving 1/2 million to the TxGOP. How does that compare to the total that Merck has donated to other state GOPs? And what about Pfiser, who is Merck’s competitor?
The problem with the discussion about the children of illegals is that many of these kids were born here, on American soil. Now, you may have a question about their citizenship, but as it is dealt with now, those kids are considered American citizens. Is there a benefit to seeing those kids (who the feds are never going to deport) finish high school and go on to a university? Or do we, by a SCOTUS ruling, allow them to complete high school and then tell them that is the end of the line? Do we reduce them to being capable of only maintaining menial jobs, or is it better to have them go into the sciences, law, or teaching, all requiring a university education. If anyone is an example of what can be achieved by first generations, I suggest you research Congressman Francisco Canseco.
Currently the educational costs at state universities in Texas is around $30K/yr. Perry has been actively fighting those high costs, making higher education more affordable for all Texas parents. There is a very good article, out today, about his battle with those in academia who want to maintain the status quo.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/perry-and-profs_593055.html
As to illegals living off the dole; every state in the union gives benefits to the mothers of dependent children no matter the legality of the mother. California, and other states, do not even ask the legality of people when applying for welfare. TANF and other programs are designed for the children, and their caregivers. Do I like it? No. But that is the reality of the situation.
Yes, Bachmann was out of line. Especially when her own state mandates the vaccine for Hepititus B (generally tramsmitted sexually) and the research has shown that when she was in the state house, she did nothing to reverse that mandate. And no, Gardasil doesn’t prevent ALL cervical cancers, but it does prevent a form of cervical cancer along with genital warts which has become epidemic.
I think Larry will attest that even though a girl has been vaccinated with Gardasil, family physicians still recommend annual pap smears. That is just good medicine.
@Aye:
Take your game playing to another school yard. I am not interested in dealing with anyone like you. If you want to call me a liar, have at it. It makes no difference in my life at all. Perhaps it will make you feel better about yourself. I am sure you need to do that.
I am the first to admit Perry is far from perfect. Sadly, he is likely our best chance at beating obama and the closest we will get to a real Conservative. For all his faults, I think Perry is still better than Romney.
@JustAl:
CBS News published an AP poll back in 2007 that said:
Many public schools (including all of the middle and high schools in my city) offer free birth control of all sorts with or without parental permission.
As Larry pointed out in another thread none of these things protects a either partner from contracting the HPV.
Sheesh, reading that some are vaccinated then skip out on their PAP is disgusting!
This is NOT the ONLY cause of cervical cancer!
@retire05:
Should’ve thought about that one prior to maligning me by being blatantly dishonest and then doubling down on that shameful behavior.
As to me going elsewhere? Nah. Not a snowball’s chance in hell.
I’m gonna be right here watching and enjoying your Pavlovian response each and every time Perry’s or Palin’s name is mentioned.
I’m also gonna be right here waiting to pin your sorry azz to the wall of the FA saloon for all to see each and every time you decide to be dishonest.
And of course, like your Pavlovian Perry response, you won’t be able to help yourself in that regard because once a liar always a liar.
Hi Patricia:
As I said on another thread, the government already “mandates” vaccination of school children against a host of maladies, including whooping cough, measles, mumps, chicken pox, polio, and hepatitis B.
Hepatitis B can only be spread through activities such as anal intercourse and the sharing of hypodermic needles. Once infected, a mother can transmit the infection to her children, during birth.
Maybe someone can explain to me how HPV vaccination is in any way different from hepatitis B vaccination, from the standpoint of either abrogation of “freedom” or encouragement of “immoral” activity.
All vaccines are imperfect and provide only partial protection. If women are eschewing pap smears because of a false sense of security, then the answer to this is education — not withdrawal of the vaccine or of the requirement to be vaccinated.
Finally, it’s not nanny statism. Nanny statism is protecting people from harming themselves. Vaccination requirements are about protecting people from harm by others (people who are not vaccinated and therefore more likely to transmit communicable diseases).
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
There may be ”right and wrong ways to talk about Gardasil,” but these guys, bioethicists, are onto something:
The result?
Now, the onus is on ”that woman” who made the claim.
Will she ever come forward?
why did BACKMAN CHOOSE THAT TIME TO TALK ABOUT THAT WOMAN, AND NOT BEING EVEN SURE OF WHAT SHE WAS SAYING,
was it like it sound to be? discrediting PERRY,
IT DOESN’T LOOK GOOD FOR THEM TO GOTCHA EACH OTHER FOR WINNING,
THEY SHOULD SHOW THAT THEY OFFER POSITIVE FUTURE ON THEIR AGENDA,
TO COUNTER THE NEGATIVE AND RACE CARD GAMES AND DIVISION OF THE SAME
AMERICANS, LIVING IN THE ONLY AMERICA OF THE WORLD WITH THE CONSTITUTION HAVING BEEN SET UP FOR THE ADVANTAGE OF THE PEOPLE OF ONLY AMERICA FIRST AND TO HELP PROPAGATE THE SAME FREEDOM TO OTHERS COUNTRIES WHERE NO FREEDOM IS, BUT ONLY
LIVES OF MISERY AND HATE FOR OTHER WHICH ARE FREE,IN AMERICA,
THE CANDIDATES HAVE TO USE THEIR CREATIVITY, THIS IMPORTANT MOST OF ALL THE PREVIOUS
ELECTIONS SINCE AMERICA WAS FOUND BY A MULTITUDE OF MEN AND WOMAN COMING TO THE PROMISED LAND, THE LAND OF FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY, THE LAND AWAY FROM COMMUNIST, THE LAND WHICH NO SOCIALIST WILL GAIN CONTROL AND TO HELP THE POORS YOU DON’T NEED THE SOCIALIST ALIGN WITH MARXIST,, NO !!! ALL YOU NEED IS TO BE ABLE TO BELONG TO THE LIFE CHAIN FROM UP WHICH ARE THE CREATORS OF COMPANY ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE LABORERS HAPPY TO WORK,AND THE UNIONS ARE NOT EVEN THERE IN THOSE TIMES OF AMERICA BECOMING THE ENVY OF THE WHOLE WORLD, AND THE AMERICANS WALKING TALL AND PROUD TO BE JUST AN AMERICAN.
LET THE CANDIDATES NOT BE TAKEN BY THE FALSE QUESTIONS OF MEDIA OUT TO DISCREDIT AND FORMENT TROUBLE AMONG THE SAME PATRIOTS, WITH THEIR INCITING QUESTIONS,
WHAT DO YOU OFFER FOR THE FUTURE IDEAL OF HAPPY AMERICANS , YOU HAVE NO
OTHER WAY, BECAUSE AMERICA IS UNHAPPY NOW,AND DEPRESS AND NOT ABLE TO FIND JOBS WITHOUT THE UNIONS, GET THEM FREE FROM HELL THEY ONLY SEE NOW.
@Nan G:
No, Nan, the onus in on Michelle Bachmann to walk back her comments. She is the one running for POTUS and if we can’t trust her to vet a story like she relayed, then perhaps she is not the one conservatives should be looking at. She is the one that went on national tv with the story. She should now explain on national tv that she did not vet the story.
I am tired of politicians that throw smears just for poll numbers.
@retire05:
You’re right.
And, today, as I pointed out, Michelle Bachmann did publicly walk back her comments.
Now, all that’s left to do is see if there is a real 12-year-old behind the story a woman told Bachmann.
And to tease her out two bioethicists have offered her a reward for any proof to back up her story.
Michelle Bachmann has lost a lot of supporters over this.
Maybe she can learn from her experience and improve her debate tactics for next time she runs for public office.
But I think she’s done in this round.
@Nan G:
And Nan, in Michelle Malkin’s hysteria over the Gardasil story, will she also report this story:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/in_focus&id=8354519
Somehow I doubt it, just like Michelle Malkin never reported that a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney’s organization and who wrote the book on Sha’ria law in the U.S., Daniel Pipes and the pro-Israel, Jewish centric Commentary Magazine rebuked the claims made by an over the top blogger about Perry’s connections with the Aga Khan and Grover Norquist.
Smears are easy to throw out. They never seem to really get walked back, do they?
@retire05:
Sigh.
That story has been on Malkin’s site since 10:30am this morning.
Malkin’s story was even posted here at FA.
You’re certainly right about that.
@Aye:
Thanks for the link to MM’s article. But I don’t like articles that say “hey, this was good, but don’t look there, look over here.” MM says she wants as our political leaders those who do not feel but those that think. I would suggest MM should look into voting for Robby the Robot, and not a human being.
We are all creatures that often combine our feelings with thought. We donate to St. Jude’s Childrens’s Hospital because we feel the need to help those children and we think (logic) tells us it is the right thing to do. By MM’s standards, which is absolutism (you absolutely agree with her or you are a “fill in the perjorative”) and even George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were they alive today would not suit MM. Anyone who tells you that they can separate their head from their heart is either lying or a cold, callused person. Emotion is part of our DNA. It is what we are that separates us from the animals of the world.
And you should know about smears, Aye, when you accuse others of being thought a “jerk”.
Once again, you don’t want to debate the topic, you simply want to get into a pi$$ing contest.
From Rick Perry’s actual Executive Order:
“Parent’s Rights. The Department of State Health Services will, in order to protect the right of parents to be the final authority on their children’s health care, modify the current process in order to allow parents to submit a request for a conscientious objection affidavit form via the Internet while maintaining privacy safeguards under current law.”
There was no religious litmus test, and parents could “conscientiously” object if they believed they had moonbeams shooting out of their ears. This rule also did not apply to home schooled children, children who attended Christian [private] schools or parochial schools.
@retire05:
And your lying continues, eh?
You should go back and read what I wrote. (Especially comment #135.) And what I didn’t.
Tell ya what…rather than just re-reading my words…why don’t you quote for me, and everyone, where I “accuse[d] others of being thought a ‘jerk'” on that thread, or any other for that matter.
Go ahead. Quote it. I dare ya.
And, when you’re unable to do that, make sure you have your shoes handy because you’re going to have some walking back to do.
Aye, your comment on that thread at post #132:
“See if people still think you are a jerk.”
You indicated that people (those who post on this board) think me to be a jerk. Walk back you own words.
@A:
Really? I did?
Comment #132, eh?
Are you sure about that?
Perhaps you should go and re-read that post. Use your good eye this time.
Oh…almost forgot…make sure your shoes are handy.
Aye, I apologize. Larry Shelton wrote that. My good eye? Have some age discrimination attitiudes, do you?
We are through here. If you want to keep bashing me, have at it. In the scheme of the world, it makes no difference.
@retire05:
You’re right. Larry Shelton wrote that. I’ve been telling you since way back on August 29th to go back and read what I wrote.
Yet, you dug in your heels and doubled down…even carrying your dishonesty forward into a new thread.
Still wonder why I deemed your behavior here boorish?
Still wonder why there are people here who think you are a jerk? [And, yes, there are people here who think you’re a jerk.]
If you’re still sitting there in a slack-jawed stupor confused about those things then you should go back and re-read your posts. And not just the exchanges that you and I have had either.
Read and absorb how you come across to others. Then you’ll understand.
Obviously you were having issues seeing the author’s name on that comment so I proffered some helpful advice.
And, no, I don’t have any age discrimination attitudes. Nor do eyesight issues limit themselves to the young.
Well, that’s good. Apology accepted.