There are days, and this is one of them, where I want to tell the entire Beltway press establishment and associated online outlets to shut the hell up and think about what is actually going on here.
To be clear, this parade of assjackery has almost nothing to do with childhood vaccinations and everything to do with pushing their favorite message: Government shouldn't be involved in healthcare.
While they were all making idiots of themselves this week with their various anti-vax statements and hedges, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act yet again, while Ted Cruz introduced the Senate version of repeal.
Do you think they really give a flying fig about childhood vaccinations? Of course they don't. They just see it as an excuse to promote the small government theme not only to us, but also to the United States Supreme Court, who has a case before them right now to gut the Affordable Care Act on the basis of a word. Let Senate Majority Leader and childhood polio survivor Mitch McConnell illustrate the point:
"As a victim of polio myself, I'm a big fan of vaccinations. If I were a parent who had a child who might be subject to ... any particular disease I would come down on the side of vaccination," McConnell said.
Asked if vaccines should be mandatory, he demurred.
BOOGETY Anti-Big Government messaging right there, holding back a survivor of a childhood disease on the brink of eradication from any kind of reasonable and full-throated endorsement of mandatory vaccines to protect public health.
It doesn't hurt that while they're doing all this they think they can make a play for younger voters given the inexplicable polls showing that 20 percent of millennials think vaccines cause autism. Thanks for that, Jenny McCarthy!
Conservatives are working those refs so hard the score no longer matters. It's no different than the whole Ebola meme was, and once again, we've got the press playing right along with it, while giggling about what wingnuts they all are.
Why hasn't the Beltway press asked any of them why they're so hot to impose a government ban on abortion if they think government shouldn't impose mandatory vaccinations? Are they so invested in the soundbites they've missed the point entirely?
Potential 2016 contenders like Rand Paul should immediately be considered non-starters and anything he says going forward should be given no weight. He has truly disqualified himself with his insane conspiracy theories and ridiculous claims that have no basis in fact.
Meanwhile, it would be nice if our cable news and online outlets had a look at the larger picture, figured out what they're doing, and followed Hillary Clinton's lead:
And millennials? Vaccinate your kids. Period.
