The debate about Rick Perry and the HPV vaccine is a battle for the very soul of the Republican Party. Right now, Rick Perry is parading around the country talking about how “conservative” he is, but would a real conservative attempt to forcibly vaccinate 12 year old girls for a sexually transmitted disease? If Rick Perry really wants government to be as “inconsequential” in our lives as possible, then why did he issue an executive order that mandated that 12 year old girls in the state of Texas be injected with a highly controversial vaccine? Rick Perry did not even consult the Texas legislature and he spat right in the face of parental rights when he did this. Conservatives in the United States love to talk about how much they love individual liberty and about how much they love parental rights, but they keep supporting candidates that are trampling on our liberties and our freedoms. Forcing young girls to be injected with a highly controversial government-mandated STD vaccine is something that we would expect Barack Obama to do. Rick Perry keeps saying that he wishes he would “have done it differently”, but you will notice that he is not saying that he was wrong for trying to do it at all. The really sad thing is that you have all kinds of “conservative Republicans”, “evangelical Christians” and “Tea Party activists” running around defending Rick Perry on the HPV vaccine issue. All of those people should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
Why in the world should we be injecting pre-teen girls with highly controversial vaccines that are supposed to “protect” them against the consequences of “unsafe sex” in the first place?
If Bill Clinton had tried to pull such a stunt, social conservatives would have had a field day.
But because the conservative media has told them that they are supposed to worship Rick Perry they are giving him a free pass.
It says a lot about the Republican Party today that “Slick Rick” is currently leading in the polls.
Look, you can support Rick Perry if you want, but if you do, don’t even try to pretend that you are a “conservative” anymore. As I have written about previously, Rick Perry has a long track record of doing things that Tea Party activists should abhor. Rick Perry has dramatically increased government spending in Texas, the size of the debt in Texas and the size of government in Texas. Rick Perry is incredibly soft on illegal immigration and he was leading the charge to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor which would have been part of the planned NAFTA superhighway system.
If you cast a single vote for Rick Perry, you might as well tattoo “RINO” on your forehead.
Rick Perry continues to lie about his financial connections to Merck, and the conservative media is letting him get away with it. Fortunately, some in the liberal media are looking into this issue, but because he is an “establishment” candidate they will also probably let the matter drop soon.
Merck is the manufacturer of the HPV vaccine Gardasil. In 2005, Merck hired Rick Perry’s former chief of staff Mike Toomey as a lobbyist. Toomey went to work on his former boss, and on February 2, 2007 Perry issued his infamous executive order.
Perry knew that there was no way that this mandate was going to get through the Texas legislature, so he tried to sneak it through the back door. It was slimy and it was underhanded. If it had been successful, Merck would have made millions.
Fortunately, there was a massive public uproar and the executive order was overturned by the Texas legislature.
It is being reported that Merck paid Toomey as much as $535,000 to promote Gardasil between 2005 and 2010.
So what is Toomey doing now?
Well, now he is the head of a pro-Perry “super PAC”. The PAC is called “Make Us Great Again“, and it can raise unlimited amounts of money for the Rick Perry campaign.
So how much money did Merck give to Rick Perry?
The following is what Rick Perry said about that during the recent Republican debate according to the Washington Post….
“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.”
Well, that is not exactly true.
It turns out that Merck gave Rick Perry a lot more money than that.
The following is from a new article by Brent Budowsky on The Hill….
Rick Perry asked during the debate whether he can be bought for only $5,000 when it appears Perry had received almost $30,000 from the company for his gubernatorial campaigns. Trust me, no politician forgets who donated $30,000.
It now appears that the company and its subsidiaries had donated almost $400,000 to the Republican Governors Association since 2006, when Perry first became active in the association, according to The Washington Post. It is inconceivable that Perry was not involved in soliciting some of that money, a subject journalists are investigating as you read these words.
If it seems to you that something does not smell right here, you would be on target.
It turns out that Merck has been funneling huge amounts of money into the Republican Governors Association, and huge amounts of money have been been funneled out of that organization to Rick Perry.
You don’t believe it? Just check out the following from a recent article in the Washington Post….
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 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.
Yes, obviously Rick Perry would not have gotten the entire $380,000 from Merck. But the truth is that Rick Perry has gotten a whole lot more from Merck than the “$5000” that he is claiming.
This is “crony capitalism” at its finest. Merck knows that it will make much larger profits if state governments force children to take the vaccines that they produce. Merck is not shoveling all of this money into the pockets of politicians like Perry because they feel like being generous. The reality is that they want something in return.
Sadly, in this situation all of the corruption is actually hurting people. Posted below is a CBS news report about some of the very serious problems that have been associated with Gardasil….
Rick Perry wanted to make it the law in Texas that all young girls would be required to take a very highly controversial STD vaccine that many claim is extremely dangerous.
Before you ever cast a single vote for Rick Perry, watch the videos posted below. There is a reason why there is such an uproar over the HPV vaccine. Rick Perry says that he is “pro-life”, but once you know the truth you will laugh at that claim. Just watch these videos. Imagine how you would feel if the life of your daughter was permanently destroyed….
*Urgent Warning About Gardasil
*Gardasil Victim Speaks Out After Two Years
*Gardasil – The Damage Is Done: From A Best Friend’s View
Look, parents should at least have a choice. If some parents want to allow their kids to be shot full of experimental vaccines that the FDA claims are safe, that is their choice.
But other parents should be able to choose to protect their children from substances that they consider to be highly dangerous.
Very disturbing reports about Gardasil continue to come in from all over the nation. The following is from a recent article by Anthony Gucciardi….
Between May 2009 and September 2010 alone, Gardasil was linked to 3,589 harmful reactions and 16 deaths. Of the 3,589 adverse reactions, many were debilitating. Permanent disability was the result of 213 cases; 25 resulted in the diagnosis of Guillain-Barre Syndrome; and there were 789 other “serious” reports according to FDA documents.
In the end, what this comes down to is a matter of parental rights.
Conservatives are supposed to be strongly defending parental rights against government interference.
What Rick Perry did was inexcusable. Even now he is not apologizing for trying to do it. He is only apologizing for the way that it was done.
If the majority of Tea Party activists continue to support Rick Perry, it will show that the Tea Party movement is already dead.
Rick Perry is about as “establishment” as they get. He has been really bad for Texas, and he would be a nightmare for America.
Instead of supporting him, every single conservative Republican should be screaming for him to drop out of the race.
If the Republican Party nominates Rick Perry, it will be declaring to the world that it is a party of hypocrites and that it has rejected all of the core principles that it claims to stand for.
Rick Perry is not a real conservative.
If you support Rick Perry you are not a real conservative.
Any questions?