Monday, August 15, 2011

How Weird is Our Presidential Race: Gov. Perry now rejects the one thing I really admired him for

If you needed more proof that the crazies have taken over the asylum, then check this out.  As Governor of Texas, Rick Perry made only 1 decision that really upset the religious right - he mandated HPV vaccinations for girls.  This is the vaccine that prevents about 70% of all cervical cancers.  The "argument" against it the vaccination is that if girls get the vaccine they will be more likely to engage in sex.

Gov. Perry responded in such a way that makes sense (quoting from the Texas Tribune"Providing the HPV vaccine doesn't promote sexual promiscuity any more than the hepatitis B vaccine promotes drug use," Perry said. "If the medical community developed a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it, claiming it would encourage smoking?"
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See, that makes sense.  And so, of course, the crazy ass right opposes it.  Mainly I suppose because it is science and they hate science.  I don't know what else it could be, certainly not religious belief, because the Governor provided a opt-out provision - so you could put your own daughter at risk of dying due to sex if you insisted on it.
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But for the Republican Values Voters who put the Crazy in the public square - preventing women from getting cancer is encouraging them to have sex outside of marriage.  And Governor Perry - who stood up for his decision in elections in 2007, 2008 and 2009 has now said it was a mistake.
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I have to quote Governor Perry himself from a 2009 news conference (see LINK) "In the next year, more than a thousand women will likely be diagnosed with this insidious yet mostly preventable disease," Perry said at a May 9, 2007, news conference, surrounded by women who had been affected by HPV, including one who he said had been infected by a rapist. "I challenge legislators to look these women in the eyes and tell them, 'We could have prevented this disease for your daughters and granddaughters, but we just didn't have the gumption to address all the misguided and misleading political rhetoric.'"(emphasis mine)