Ditto to that, plus some comments on the shots Sarah's been taking at ALL of the Big Time Debate attendees....
Judging by the squealing from the Perry folks on FR this morning, I'd say she's over the target and putting some real effective stuff on the shack.
Starting to think there’s something about those Texans and the way they can get a close following of dedicated fans. I don’t yet have a full opinion on Perry(some things I really like, some things I REALLY Dislike); but some of his supporters are getting awfully close to Paulbot status, and it’s starting to become a real turnoff. At least the Perry people, though, don’t hate America (or if they do, they do it less openly than the Paulbots and the head Ronulan himself do).
Crony capitalism? The facts are on Perry's side. Here's the context of his order:
In 2005, the Texas legislature set a priority to eliminate cervical cancer mortality by 2015 (HB 2475). The legislation directed the state health agency to produce a report and deliver it to Perry by the end of 2006. It directed the state health agency to produce a report and deliver it to the governor by the end of 2006.
It did so and that report concluded the vaccine Gardasil made the goal attainable. That report says: Armed with this new HPV vaccine, we can achieve the moment when we know our goal — eliminating cervical cancer death and suffering — is in reach.
It details problems of getting the vaccine the widest coverage and to the demographic of women most in need of it: the poor. By making the order opt-out, rather than opt-in, he ensured insurance, Medicaid and other programs would cover it.
Perry goofed by taking the initiative himself, he's admitted this repeatedly. The $5K donation is statistical noise in a multimillion dollar campaign. This all needs to be seen in the historical context of the legislature's goals.
In 2007, there was only one approved source for such a vaccine, Merck. Now there's another, GlaxoSmithKline.