When I close my eyes and think, “President of the United States of America,” whose name immediately comes to my mind? Not Michele Bachmann. After Tuesday’s CNN/Tea Party Express debate in Tampa, Bachmann is, with no questions about it, the most unsuitable person to be seating in the Oval Office of the White House.
During the debate, Texas Governor and Republican candidate Rick Perry admitted he made a mistake in issuing an executive order forcing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations on young girls, but he said he only wanted to prevent a deadly cancer. Somehow, it became the sharpest topic of the debate.
As always, Bachmann had something very smart to say and she wouldn’t let Perry leave the debate as a good guy. “Little girls don’t get a mulligan. They don’t get a do-over,” she said. Wait, what? Did I just hear that?
Unfortunately, she wasn’t content with those few words; she wanted to demonstrate more of her knowledge and common sense to America. After saying that a former chief of staff for Perry became one of Merck’s (the HPV vaccine only producer) top lobbyists in Texas, Bachmann suggested that Perry forced the vaccinations in order to get a check for his campaign. Perry snapped back saying that Merck’s donation was only $5,000, and said that he’d be offended if Bachmann was trying to say that he can be bought for that money.
“I’m offended by all the little girls who didn’t have a choice,” Bachmann said. So, wait, let’s recapitulate. First Bachmann says that little girls wouldn’t get a second chance in order to not take the vaccine and that they didn’t have a choice whether to take it or not. I wonder if she knows what HPV is. My bet, she doesn’t.
According to Planned Parenthood, high-risk types of genital HPV can cause cancer of the cervix, vagina, vulva, anus, penis, and throat. HPV most often causes cervical cancer. With the HPV vaccine, women can be protected against two of the HPV types that cause 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer. But Bachmann doesn’t seem to know that, since apparently she prefers letting people get ill or die, instead of treating or preventing their illness.
Tuesday’s debate was one of the many stages where Bachmann had the opportunity to express what she was not born to do, which is to be a president. Her outrageous views on banning same-sex marriage and advocating “conversion therapy” as a means to cure homosexuality, her promises to keep gas prices under $2 a gallon, her idea on abolishing minimum wage to wipe out unemployment and her will to make public schools teach creationism, are just a few very bad opinions and policies of someone who is running for such a critical position. It’s almost like she does those odd, eyebrows-raiser, public statements only to garner media attention. And she does it well.
Bachmann claims that in 2006 she was called by God to run for congress and that she and her husband fasted for three days. Maybe in 2011 she will receive another revelation, but this time to leave politics for good. Let’s pray for that.
