Randi Rhodes: Messin' With Texas

Last night’s Republican debate was sponsored by the Tea Party Express... so the candidates all had to be on their worst behavior. It was a Tea Party-sponsored debate in Florida. The Tea Party is a weird dangling extension of the Republican Party, just like Florida is a weird, dangling extension of the United States. In both cases, that’s where the really strange stuff goes on.

It wasn’t clear from this debate what the Republican candidates wanted to do most—dismantle the federal government, or dismantle Rick Perry. This Republican debate boiled down to Rick Perry versus everyone else… which pretty much describes what the situation would be if Rick Perry became president. Perry’s big problem is his record in Texas, specifically the fact that there is a very extensive record of what he did in Texas. Rick Perry has the most embarrassing record since Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?”

It seems that Rick Perry is not immune from criticism over his vaccination mandate. Perry tried to mandate vaccinations of sixth-grade girls for a sexually-transmitted disease that can lead to cervical cancer. Preventing cancer is a noble goal—and that tells you that preventing cancer wasn’t really Rick Perry’s goal. The pharmaceutical giant Merck stood to make millions off of the mandatory vaccinations. Merck is a major contributor to Rick Perry. But then you knew that just from the fact that Merck is a huge corporation. Here is how Perry defended himself: “The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raise about $30 million, and if you’re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended.” So Rick Perry is saying “I can be bought, but I can’t be bought cheap.”

Ron Paul was asked a hypothetical question about someone who goes into a coma and has no health insurance. Wolf Blitzer asked “Are you saying society should just let him die?” Several people in the audience shouted “Yeah!” Wow. I just hope they don’t represent society. The sad thing is that when it comes to the death of others, conservatives just turn their heads. The sadder thing is that they turn their heads toward the death of others and cheer it on! For people who keep saying “choose life,” conservatives seem to pretty much have a standing order for death.

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