BACHMANN WOULD GET CLOBBERED BY OBAMA

Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann has made a number of boneheaded statements since she became the darling of the Tea Party. During Monday’s Tea Party debate Bachmann tried to regain some of the ground she lost to Rick Perry by attacking the governor’s executive order mandating that all 11 and 12-year-old Texas schoolgirls be given the HPV vaccine Gardasil. Perry’s mandate was quickly rescinded by the Texas legislature.

Bachmann stated that the HPV vaccine Gardasil was very dangerous and that a mother recently told her that her daughter became mentally retarded because of the HPV vaccination.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the CDC quickly weighed in by assuring the many parents frightened by Bachmann’s boneheaded statement that Gardasil was perfectly safe.

Over 35 million doses of Gardasil have been given with an outstanding safety record. Only a few minor side effects have been reported and there have been absolutely no reports that the vaccine causes mental retardation.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted virus that has been proven to cause cervical cancer. Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC’s medical consultant, says that Gardasil is an anti-cancer vaccine. The reason it is given to 11 and 12-year-old girls is because at that age the human body produces the best immune response that will protect kids later when they become sexually active.

Medical authorities also strongly recommend that young boys be vaccinated with Gardasil because, in addition to cervical cancer, HPV causes other cancers like cancer of the throat and mouth.

Bachmann’s HPV vaccine statement was so far off the wall that even Rush Limbaugh, one of her most ardent admirers, rebuked the congresswoman for making such erroneous and parent-frightening remarks.

During Monday night’s debate, Michelle Bachmann’s attack against Perry on the vaccine’s issue was met with loud and prolonged applause. That just goes to show that there are many boneheads in the Tea Party.

There is no doubt in my mind that if Bachmann ends up as the Republican presidential candidate, she would get clobbered by Obama even if the nation’s economy and high rate of unemployment have not recovered by election time next year.