Flap’s Links and Comments for September 13th on 08:33

These are my links for September 13th from 08:33 to 16:34:

• Rick Perry and HPV vaccine-maker have deep financial ties – Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose bid for the White House depends heavily on support from religious conservatives, finds himself confronting an issue that is a flash point for that part of his base: his attempt to order schoolgirls to take a vaccine made by one of his major campaign donors.

  The uproar over the Gardasil vaccine knocked Perry off-stride during a Republican debate Monday night co-sponsored by a tea party group.

  The vaccine, manufactured by Merck, is aimed at protecting girls from human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexual infection that can lead to cervical cancer. Federal health officials say they are confident that the vaccine is safe, noting that more than 35 million doses have been administered in the United States with no pattern of serious side effects.

  Perry bristled Monday night at accusations from his chief rival for tea party voters, Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), that he had pushed the vaccine in 2007 at the bidding of Merck, a Perry donor that also employed a former aide to the governor as a lobbyist.

  “It was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them,” Perry said. “I raise about $30 million. And if you’re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended.”

  But campaign disclosure records portray a much deeper financial connection with Merck than Perry’s remarks suggest.

  His gubernatorial campaigns, for example, have received nearly $30,000 from the drugmaker since 2000, most of that before he issued his vaccine mandate, which was overturned by the Texas legislature.

  Merck and its subsidiaries have also given more than $380,000 to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) since 2006, the year that Perry began to play a prominent role in the Washington-based group, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

  Perry served as chairman of the RGA in 2008 and again this year, until he decided to run for president. The group also ranks among the governor’s biggest donors, giving his campaign at least $4 million over the past five years, according to Texans for Public Justice, a watchdog group.

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  Read it all

• The Gardasil Flap – I can’t make up my mind over this whole controversy. I think I’m torn because both sides are making good and bad arguments. I think the charge of crony capitalism against Perry is valid generally and looks on target in this case in particular. The issue isn’t just that he got $5,000 from Merck. It’s that his former chief of staff was a lobbyist for Merck. I think Perry’s partial apology is heartfelt. He did it the wrong way and has said so. On the other hand, I think his argument that he did this because he will always “support life” is dangerous hogwash. He mandated government inoculations against STDs because he’s a pro-lifer? It takes some pretty circuitous reasoning to get there, and in the process you’ve conceded the case for pretty much every other kind of health-care intervention by the state up to and including Obamacare.

  Meanwhile, I think Michele Bachmann’s attacks on Perry are irresponsible and borderline demagogic. References to the “government needle” being “pushed into innocent girls,” sound paranoid and exploitative to me. And fueling anti-vaccine fears to score political points against Perry is beneath her. I think Fox or some other news outlet should investigate Bachmann’s claim last night on Greta Van Susteren’s show. Bachmann said that a member of the audience came up to her and told her with tears in her eyes that Gardasil caused “mental retardation” in her daughter. I’m not doubting that someone told Bachmann that, but it’s a pretty serious — and unusual — claim. Regardless, the suggestion that Rick Perry is in any way responsible for it is ludicrous.

  Santorum’s objections seem the most philosophically sound to me. I agree with him that there should have been more of an opt-in rather than an opt-out provision. And I agree with both Bachmann and Santorum that this shouldn’t have been done as a mandate from the governor’s office. But I can’t muster much outrage over the underlying policy of offering the vaccination as a general proposition.

• President 2012 Poll Watch: Rick Perry Being Hurt by Social Security Flap? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Poll Watch: Rick Perry Being Hurt by Social Security Flap? #tcot #catcot
• United States Poverty Rate Soars – Nearly 1 in 6 Americans | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – United States Poverty Rate Soars – Nearly 1 in 6 Americans #tcot #catcot
• Day By Day September 13, 2011 – Dis-infectant | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Chris Muir's excellent observations on the day.:
• Study: Sugar-Free Polyol Gum, Lozenges and Hard Candy Help Prevent Dental Caries | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Study: Sugar-Free Polyol Gum, Lozenges and Hard Candy Help Prevent Dental Caries
• Dilbert September 13, 2011 – Proportional » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert September 13, 2011 – Proportional
• Flap’s Links and Comments for September 12th through September 13th | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for September 12th through September 13th #tcot #catcot