PODCAST: Michelle Malkin on Perry and the Gardasil Mandate

In today’s podcast, FreedomWorks Vice President of Health Care Policy Dean Clancy and conservative commentator Michelle Malkin discussed the executive order signed by Presidential candidate and Governor of Texas Rick Perry, mandating immunizations of Gardasil to sixth grade girls to prevent the spread of HPV and related cancers. 

Listen to the podcast!

Malkin believes that immunization mandate by Gov. Perry, which was eventually reversed by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature, reveals what she calls,  “liberty-curtailing impulses” in Perry similar to top-down health care policies found in RomneyCare and ObamaCare.

Clancy offered a few questions to Malkin on the subject:

What kind of apology would it take from Gov. Perry to absolve him?

Could this mandate be seen as a public health issue?

Does the ability to opt-out from the immunization in Gov. Perry’s executive order make it less coercive than cradle-to-grave socialized medicine systems like RomneyCare or ObamaCare?

Did crony capitalism and rent-seeking play a role?

If you had to choose, Romney or Perry?

An extremely interesting conversation. Listen now.

Malkin and Clancy both agree that now, the Republican primary, is the time to be critical of Republican candidates for President.

“That’s what’s wonderful about the whole primary process…thank goodness we have this process,” said Malkin. “This benefits all of them and us to be scrutinizing their record and comparing it to their rhetoric.”

Clancy agreed.

“We’ve got to hold them accountable and [there’s] the temptation to say well we just got to beat Obama,” said Clancy. “We should be unstinting, unblinking in our looking at these folks.”