If you are a responsible health conscious young woman then you may have already completed the vaccination course for HPV. My mother, an anesthesiologist, sent my sister to get the shot as soon as it became available, as didmy girlfriend. In fact, I found myself lauding Rick Perry for once some time ago when he attempted to mandate the vaccination in my home state of Texas, although like many progressive ideas in the Lone Star state it was quickly defeated via bureaucracy.
As Greg Laden’s posted video at X-blog explains, Michele Bachmann recently inserted her foot right into her mouth by pushing a claim that the vaccine caused mental retardation in one individual. Penn & Teller’s Bullshit already covered the fallacy of this argument in detail in the 10th episode of their 8th season. Even if her claim was substantiated WHICH IT IS NOT, it would be both tragic and statistically irrelevant. The one case of a negative reaction would be outweighed by the thousands of women who are now protected from cervical cancer.
However two professors at the Universities of Minnesota and Pennsylvania, bioethicists Steven Miles and Art Caplan respectively, are confident that the presidential candidate is (like normal) lying out of her ears. How confident you ask? Enough to put their money where their mouths are to the tune of 10,000 smack-a-roons for evidence backing up Bachmann’s wild claim and so far there have been no takers.
What really grinds my gears is how Michele Bachmann has tried to slither out of her latest debacle. She claimed that she was not making the comment as a doctor (I thought she was a doctor), nor as a scientist, and that she was merely passing on the information. And that sums up Michele Bachmann, she can pass on utter bullshit without even caring enough to do any critical thinking or analysis of her own, which is such a glaring failure of leadership it makes my head spin half a world away.
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JohnM
September 18, 2011 at 22:50 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
FYI – Bachmann is a lawyer. She received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law.
Assassin Actual
September 18, 2011 at 23:02 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
She claimed she was a doctor during her early stint as an activist
Trebuchet
September 19, 2011 at 05:32 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I actually have no problem believing Bachmann is NOT lying. I’ve a very strong suspicion that someone did indeed approach her and tell her that. Someone working for a rival campaign, knowing that Bachmann was stupid enough to believe and repeat the story, making her look even more foolish (if that’s possible) than she already did.
shripathikamath
September 20, 2011 at 02:57 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Actually I do, I believe she’s lying about someone walking up to her and claiming that HPV caused mental retardation in her daughter.
The rival campaigns are not going to risk letting a wingnut be martyred because of an unnecessary frame-up. She does not even need rope to hang herself.
Unless it was Newt’s campaign. But then it presupposes that he has a campaign staff.
outeast
September 20, 2011 at 01:52 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“My mother, an anesthesiologist, sent my sister to get the shot as soon as it became available, as did my girlfriend.”
So your sister got it twice? Is there any extra benefit to that?
(Sorry the “grammar snark” tag doesn’t seem to be working…)
Assassin Actual
September 20, 2011 at 14:28 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I believe it is a course of several shots to obtain the full benefits, like my anthrax vaccine
outeast
September 20, 2011 at 01:57 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh, an it might seem a minor point but actually Miles and Caplan have laid money on Bachman being wrong, not on her lying. (If they did the latter, she’d probably sue them… in the UK.)
What I’m Reading Sunday, September 18, 2011 | Rationally Thinking Out Loud
September 19, 2011 at 05:54 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[...] 10,000 Bucks to Prove Michele Bachmann is not Lying… and no takers | Assassin Actual Share and Enjoy:Written by: Jerrald Hayes on September 18, 2011. [...]