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During Monday night’s CNN/Tea Party GOP debate, Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann took aim at Gov. Rick Perry’s 2007 executive order requiring middle school girls to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus (HPV), the most frequent sexually transmitted disease and a leading cause of cervical cancer. Bachmann called out Perry’s financial ties to Merck & Co., the manufacturer of the vaccine, Gardasil — a group, she said, that stood to gain from the order. Bachmann insinuated the governor’s decision may have been swayed by the company’s donations to his campaign. “We cannot forget that in the midst of this...

It’s a freakingly obvious night and day difference — Perry’s MANDATE on families and the MANDATE on insurers going over the heads of the state legislature versus the Palin administration’s decision to accept federal subsidies to increase access to those who choose to take it. (Note: Gardasil is not and never has been mandated in the state of Alaska.) Preston also objects to indirect costs imposed by the Palin administration’s program on taxpayers outside the state. Newsflash: The Perry executive order would have ordered Texas health officials to use federal Medicaid funding to cover the vaccine for young women —...

Yes I too am excited about Rick Perry's "welfare is a Ponzi scheme" speech. Even more so over the fact that, far from frightening off the voters, his honesty appears to be making them more enthusiastic. The problem for Rick is that his stout words are in severe danger of being eclipsed by an even finer speech by Sarah Palin at Indianola, Iowa. (Thanks to Richard North for drawing it to my attention). It was so inspirational, so true that it prompted even her traditional enemy the New York Times to ask: Is there a hint of a political breakthrough...

“Palin even went as far as to lend her voice to the charge leveled by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) during the debate against Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R): That he allowed a law to go though requiring HPV vaccinations for adolescent girls because of a $5,000 campaign donation and his relationship with his former chief of staff, who went on to lobby for a pharmaceutical company.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. I take it from -- a little bit from your discussion -- I don't mean to read into it. You can speak for yourself, obviously -- but that you -- that you are -- that you're pleased with at least with the field tonight or with the way that they answered. Is that correct? PALIN: Yes, I was pleased. I was very happy with it. Let me go back to that issue with Governor Perry. I was governor of Alaska at the time that that issue came down, and I told our health and human services...

Palin even went as far as to lend her voice to the charge leveled by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) during the debate against Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R): That he allowed a law to go though requiring HPV vaccinations for adolescent girls because of a $5,000 campaign donation and his relationship with his former chief of staff, who went on to lobby for a pharmaceutical company. "I knew there was something to it," Palin said of learning while she was Alaska's governor that her Texas counterpart had given the go-ahead to the vaccine. "Now we're finding that now, yea, something...

The right and wrong way to talk about Gardasil; Update: A really, really stupid attack on Palin Tweet By Michelle Malkin  •  September 13, 2011 11:42 AM A month ago, I was “fringe” for spotlighting Rick Perry’s Gardasil problem. As I said then, it’s not just a “single-issue,” one-off problem. It’s about his instincts, judgment, non-apology apology, and ethics.For everyone still catching up, here’s my column from a month ago.Now, Gardasil is the search word of the day. And there’s a new development.After successfully highlighting Perry’s troubling abuse of executive power during last night’s debate, Michele Bachmann risks blowing it with some...

...It’s a freakingly obvious night and day difference — Perry’s MANDATE on families and the MANDATE on insurers going over the heads of the state legislature versus the Palin administration’s decision to accept federal subsidies to increase access to those who choose to take it. (Note: Gardasil is not and never has been mandated in the state of Alaska.) [...] Note: Alaska does not appear on this list. It was never a lobbying target for Merck. Nor did Palin have an ex-chief of staff lobbying for Merck or a staffer’s mother-in-law serving as a state director of an advocacy group...

When Rick Perry joked last night that the $5,000 he had received from Merck wasn’t enough to buy him off, the line failed to charm the audience as he’d expected. Turns out, the line also significantly low-balled how much he’d received from Merck. “Merck PAC—the company’s D.C.-based political action committee—has given Perry $28,500 since 2001, according to Texas Ethics Commission filings. The bulk of that money came prior to 2007,” the Los Angeles Times reports today. Even so, that doesn’t make Merck one of Perry’s top donors: the LA Times notes that he’s received over the years donations totaling more...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry bristled at accusations during Monday’s GOP debate that he had done the bidding of a corporate donor by ordering schoolgirls to use a new vaccine. “The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them,” Perry said. “I raised about $30 million. (snip) But campaign disclosure records portray a much deeper financial connection with Merck than Perry’s remarks would suggest. Perry’s gubernatorial campaign, for example, received nearly $30,000 from the drugmaker since 2000, most of it prior to his decision in 2007 to order young girls to obtain Merck’s vaccine...

A month ago, I was “fringe” for spotlighting Rick Perry’s Gardasil problem. As I said then, it’s not just a “single-issue,” one-off problem. It’s about his instincts, judgment, non-apology apology, and ethics. For everyone still catching up, here’s my column from a month ago. Now, Gardasil is the search word of the day. And there’s a new development. After successfully highlighting Perry’s troubling abuse of executive power during last night’s debate, Michele Bachmann risks blowing it with some factually inaccurate assertions. She’s RIGHT on the principles, wrong on some of the details. She needs to stay on message and stick...

<p>Sarah Palin says she is not afraid to call out fellow Republicans when she thinks they have been "part of the problem." On Monday night, Palin accuses Republican candidate for President Rick Perry of engaging in "crony capitalism." Perry, as governor of Texas, mandated that young girls get a vaccination for the HPV virus in an executive order. Perry is criticized for this in part because of his connections to the drug manufacturer Merck.</p>

....SarahPalin popped up again in a post-debate interview Monday night with surprising praise for 2012 presidential contender Michele Bachmann, presumed by many to be her arch-rival for the Tea Party throne. Taking a hard jab at her old pal RickPerry, Palin applauded Bachmann for going after the Texas governor's 2007 executive order mandating HPV vaccines for pre-teen girls.... In a post-debate interview with Fox's Greta VanSusteren, Palin affirmed Bachmann's criticisms and went after Perry for what she called "crony capitalism:" That’s part of the problem that we have in this country is that people are afraid, even in our own...

Sarah Palin really liked this debate giving kudos to both Newt, for bringing up the massive waste in government, and Bachmann for bringing up the Merck/Gardasil issue with Perry. Of course she made sure to point out that we need more than just words, that we need proven records to back up their statements. She even points that when she was Governor of Alaska and she saw the Gardasil moves that Perry was making in Texas, that she told her Health and Human services department that Alaska wasn’t going to mandate vaccinations for their teenage daughters. And she even mentions...

I saw the GOP debate and the Greta interview with Palin and Bachman. I am absolutely against Perry's mandate of the Gardasil vaccine. On policy grounds. Period. But, to see the two ladies pile on with corruption charges against Perry was truly disgusting. If they have any proof that Perry mandated the vaccine to profit Merck, I am the first one who wants it. And, if proof emerges that he did so, I will be the first one to revoke my support for him. It happens in the industry all the time. Acquaintances get you an audience. So, in this...

BASTROP, Texas — Gov. Rick Perry did not show up as expected Saturday at a news conference convened by his office to brief reporters on the Texas wildfires. Perry aides, citing “logistical issues,” said the governor initially had been scheduled to appear at a location with restricted access. The location was changed to an accessible spot, which was a burned-out home and chocolate shop along the main highway, and local officials briefed the media on the fire situation without him. "He's in Austin," said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for the governor, in response to a flurry of questions about Perry's...

Now that the GOP race is being framed as Mitt Romney vs. Rick Perry, the media has been comparing both candidates’ records, past accomplishments, and current popularity within the Republican party. To that extent, Bill Kristol predicted today that if the Republican race is a relatively “normal” one, Perry will be the GOP nominee. Chris Wallace highlighted Romney’s upcoming jobs speech, and asked Kristol what the former Massachusetts governor needs to do to reclaim his frontrunner status from Perry. Kristol offered some advice to the candidate, but then explained why Perry has a better chance of winning the race than...

Bear with me, this isn’t a “sound bite” subject. The Human Papilloma Virus is an infection, and should not be a moral issue. In contrast, the vaccine against four strains of the virus, Gardasil, has become a political issue, even though the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now recommends it for all boys and girls. Governor Rick Perry has been criticized for his February, 2007 Executive Order that made the vaccine mandatory for girls before entering the 6th grade. Very little is said about the part of the EO that affirmed the right of and facilitated parents who wish...

Who has a better chance of winning the Republican nomination?