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Republicans all gang up on Rick Perry after GOP debate
By Ben ReiningaSeptember 13th, 2011, 3:55 pmComments (28)
It's good to know that Republicans aren't just litigious, petty naysayers when it comes to Barack Obama. They're litigious, petty naysayers to everyone! Rick Perry, who came out of left field and rocketed to the forefront of the race for the presidential nomination, is getting seriously picked on in what seems like a rare concerted effort by Republicans.
After last night's GOP debate, the second major one, a barrage of inter-party squabbling has surfaced. Michele Bachmann's camp took on Perry for his 2007 decision to fund HPV vaccinations for girls in Texas (which, by the way, might be one of the only things he's done that I wholeheartedly support. HPV causes cancer!) At the debate, Bachmann called him out for accepting a campaign donation from Merck, the pharmaceutical giant that would benefit from the deal.
Perry said: "The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raise about $30 million, and if you're saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I'm offended."
Bachmann replied: "Well, I'm offended for all the little girls and the parents that didn't have a choice."
This morning, her camp released a statement, calling into question his conservative beliefs (conservativitiy?). And Sarah Palin, in a rare act of friendliness, jumped in to support Bachmann, calling what he did "crony capitalism."
Governor Perry also got shit for allowing the children of illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition at Texas universities, and under his increasingly dubious "I create more jobs than anyone else" claim. Perry's "Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme" stuff is also still drawing criticism.
The debate's takeaways seem to be primarily that A. Romney's still got a fighting chance, B. Michele Bachmann, if not really in it, is still shaping the way the discourse flows, and C... well, the rest of those guys still seem to be wasting their time and their donors' money.
Commentarium (28 Comments)
HPV can lead to cancer but it doesn't *cause* cancer. Not every woman who has or has had the HPV will get cancer.
Umm... you might want to check a dictionary to see how "cause" is used in English.
Or do you opine that drinking and driving does not "cause" automobile accidents, because most people who drink and drive get home safely?
HPV causes cancer does not = HPV always causes cancer
But empirical evidence = HPV OFTEN causes cancer
okay, we get it
"Smoking tobacco causes lung cancer": true or false?
Nope. Most smokers never develop lung cancer. :)
Oh goody, fighting amongst the ranks, let the games begin! Oh look, it's started in the comments too. If there is even the slightest possibility HPV causes cancer, why not do everything you can to prevent it?
Because time and resources are limited, and a dollar spent on this particular possibility is a dollar that can't be spent elsewhere? Also because putting a foreign substance into one's body inherently carries a degree of risk (and cost), even if that substance is called a vaccine, and that risk has to be weighed against the risk of not getting it?
Mind you, it seems pretty clear that in this case the cost-benefit lines up pretty damn well, and it probably ought to be as mandatory as the other childhood vaccines. But there are slight possibilities that tons of things in your daily life cause various cancers; do you expend infinite resources avoiding them, or do you take calculated (albeit roughly) risks so that you can get on with life? Hepatitis B can cause liver cancer; are you vaccinated against it?
I think Hepatitis B is a required vaccination, or at least I was required to be vaccinated for it, probably depends on the state. But, that's besides the point. Unlike other areas of the market, drugs are much more tested before being released to the public. So, while there might be a freak accident which we entirely overlooked in the lab, it is very, very unlikely. And, if you still were paranoid or wanted to do it as a statement about how much you hate government control, like Bachmann apparently does, Perry put in an Opt out measure.
So, Bachmann really didn't have a point other than to drum up controversy over nothing to create support around her (for her tea party ideology) and to lower support for Perry, rather than debating policy.
I believe it is required now, but it wasn't when I was of age to get it as a matter of course. And obviously (I hope) I think railing against vaccines generally falls somewhere on the stupid-to-cynically opportunistic spectrum. But I also have serious intellectual objections to the zero-tolerance-of-risk mentality that agadore apparently espouses. It's simply not possible, and nobody tries to do it in real life, and advocating it just leads to insoluble dilemmas, or intellectual dishonesty.
They are nuts, but I'd still like to try a Palin-Bachmann sandwich.
I dunno, all that makeup, it would be like an oil slick
Well, this article actually managed to make me scrounge up a little affection for Rick Perry.
That's like feeling bad for the T-1000 when it gets frozen. Don't bother - he'll be back.
Perry will be the candidate in 2012 with Rubio as VP.
You heard it here first.
@Weary- One on her stomach, the other with my face between her legs.
no, just no - don't want that mental image
Politicians eating their own? Balderdash, I tell you!
I think it should be important to know that the measure Perry enacted allowed for parents to opt out if they wanted to.
Really, Nerve moderators? The female politician sandwich comment and the reply weren't offensive enough for you?
This is a website about sex. I'm just curious who can touch those morons and not feel dirty.
@really?- Seriously? Have you ever been on this site before?
you tell him
I'm supposing this means that Perry won't have a cabinet post in the Bachman administration.
So Bachmann thinks the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation? Must be because she's had about a dozen shots of the stuff.
Afraid we're missing a primary point: the beef with Perry's HPV vaccination position was an issue of Perry wanting it legislated as a MANDATORY requirement for school age children in TX. In addition, his 'mandatory' position was at the height of the vaccine research Thimerosal / Mercury / Autism controversy. Perry is a dangerously out-of-touch individual.
he included a clause that allowed for parents to opt out, so yeah, not an issue