Two days ago, after seeing that the White House (and President Obama specifically) had come out with an official (if utterly obvious) statement stating that vaccinating children is absolutely recommended in response to the insanity of the past few years, I snarkily tweeted the following:
In response to this post on both Twitter and Facebook, 3 friends of mine (one a Republican, one an otherwise sensible Democrat and one with whom I've never discussed politics one way or the other) posted the following comments:
—From the Republican: "do you honestly think that someone's choice to vote for the GOP candidate in a system that only has two options would relenquish all sense and endanger their child just to do the opposite of a recommendation from the white house?"
—From the (antivaxxer) Democrat: "I resent/dread the implication that I may be in the company of many many Republicans."
—From the Unknown Ideology: "If the anti-vaxxer movement were limited to the GOP that would hardly explain California would it?"
My response was as follows:
You're all missing the obvious snark here. Yes, until now the antivaxxers movement has been oddly bipartisan, with both "pure body" liberals and "don't trust big gubbmint" tea party types. However, as has been proven countless times over the past 6 years, the SECOND that Obama himself supports ANYTHING publicly, the Republican Party opposes it vehemently and in near-lockstep. Immigration reform? Carbon tax? Universal gun registry? Infrastructure development? These were all supported by major GOP figures RIGHT UP until Obama did...at which point they all did a complete turnaround.
For Chrissakes, the ACA was a primarily Republican idea...created by the Heritage Foundation, pushed for by Newt Gingrich, implemented by Mitt friggin' Romney...who then had to flip-flop on his own plan in order to run for President against the very guy who implemented it nationally.
I truly believe that if Obama were to announce that he's turned anti-choice tomorrow, the entire GOP would suddenly turn pro-choice just on principle.
So yeah, instead of, say, 3% of liberals and 2% of conservatives being anti-vax, I wouldn't be surprised to see it turn to 3% of liberals and 10% of conservatives within a month.
Cut to this morning:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Monday that public officials need to strike a "balance" on vaccinations that allows parents "some measure of choice" in immunizing their children.
Christie was asked about a measles outbreak afflicting the western U.S. during a visit to a facility for MedImmune, an American company that manufactures a flu vaccine. The visit was part of the governor's three-day trip to London.
Asked about the outbreak's link to parents who object to the measles vaccine, Christie said that he and his wife chose to vaccinate his four children, according to the New York Times.
“It’s more important what you think as a parent than what you think as a public official," Christie said, as quoted by the Times. "I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well. So that’s the balance that the government has to decide.
Yes, that's right, the same Chris Christie who less than 2 months ago tried to
imprison a perfectly healthy nurse because she had worked with Ebola (you know, the disease which, while deadly, is actually fairly difficult to spread) victims. Apparently she wasn't allowed to have a "measure of choice".
Cut to this afternoon:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Monday said that most vaccinations ought to be voluntary, a stance that goes beyond his old rival New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) view on parental choice in immunizations.
Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham asked Paul whether vaccines should be mandatory after Christie's office tried to walk back the governor's remarks on allowing parents to have "some measure of choice" in vaccinating their children. Paul went a step further than his potential 2016 presidential opponent in his response.
"I'm not anti-vaccine at all, but particularly, most of them ought to be voluntary," Paul said. "What happens if you have somebody not want to take the smallpox vaccine and it ruins it for everybody else? I think there are times in which there can be some rules, but for the most part it ought to be voluntary."
THERE! THAT'LL teach those sneaky liberals to try and muscle in on our ignorant, anti-science, anti-reality turf!!
Also, as an aside, Rand Paul is not a "board certified" doctor. He's a "self-certified" opthalmologist, whatever the hell that means.
UPDATE x2: Thanks to GinnyinCO for correcting me on this; Paul does hold a medical degree, but he was never certified by any state/federal licensing board for opthalmology other than the one he ginned up himself.
UPDATE: Thanks to ghotiphaze in the comments for reminding me of some of the more, um, mundane things Obama has come out in favor of which the GOP has opposed as a result:
things the Obamas got behind the Right railed agains:
properly inflated tires
eating vegetables
starting a garden
cut back on sugary soft drinks
wearing a cream colored suit
