HPV will be another GOP implosion...

Ya know, Texas Governor Rick Perry isn't all that a nice guy. He's quite the asshole, actually. So, when I read that Perry issued an executive order to require that pre-teen girls in TX get vaccinated against HPV, I was surprised that he'd take on the Kooky Kristian Krazies. This is TX we're talking about, and that state's Republican Party is one of the most openly Dominionist in the country. The Texas GOP platform "affirms that the United States of America is a Christian Nation," among other things.

So, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Perry to butt heads with these nutballs. They put him into office, after all. Still, he's term-limited as governor, and doesn't have a lot of opportunities ahead in his political future. Perry doing something just because it's the right thing to do isn't his style, even if he doesn't have to worry about political consequences.

But wait a minute, I've forgotten the main tenet of any analysis of a Republican politician: Follow The Money. It's not just a cliche from WoodStein, it's essential to understand how the typical GOP pol thinks/operates. Perry is term-limited, and is easing into retirement. Retirement can be expensive, so what better way to feather one's nest than to do something that will be rewarded by corporate players.

HPV vaccinations fit this bill to a T. The vaccine that is at the heart of Perry's order is Gardasil:

Perry has ordered the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules requiring Merck & Co.'s new Gardasil vaccine for girls entering the sixth grade as of September 2008. The vaccine protects girls against strains of the human papillomavirus that cause most cases of cervical cancer.

Ah, now the fog clears as soon as I read the name "Merck & Co." Vaccinations aren't Viagra--you have to take more steps to get people to get their pre-teen daughters to the doctor than you do to get a bunch of middle-aged guys who want to get erections. When you're Merck, you want to maximize sales of your drug, so who better to sell it to than the State of Texas?

So, that means this battle is really a GOP in-fight, Big Pharma vs. Big Jeebus. And what a battleground! The Religious Right isn't a fringe element in Texas, they're the political institutions. But they don't have the same money to give to politicians that corporations do. Pols aren't like me, they always follow the money first, even if that means throwing Big Jeebus under a bus. Perry's already fired the opening salvo in this response to critics of his order:

"Providing the HPV vaccine doesn't promote sexual promiscuity any more than providing the Hepatitis B vaccine promotes drug use," Perry said in a statement. "If the medical community developed a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it claiming it would encourage smoking?"

Remember, Perry's giving the GOP base a huge back-handed slap with this remark. That leaves the door open for an ambitious wignut pol to step up and defend Big Jeebus.

Pass the popcorn...

You can ping this entry by using http://www.nola-blogs.com/cgi-bin/mt/ruebourbon.cgi/619 .