Save the Children (from the Republican Presidential Candidates)

[McCamy Taylor]

Last night, Michelle Bachmann painted herself as the passionate defender of “little girls”.

I am a mom, and I will not allow little girls to have forced injections by Executive Order. Little girls who have a dangerous reaction don’t get a mulligan do over.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/us/politics/cnn-tea-party-republican-debate-in-tampa-fla.html

So, where was Bachmann when Congress voted to expand SCHIP so that more “little girls” could get health care, enabling them to grow up to be healthy mothers? She was in the ‘no’ camp. Her argument?

“This bill will not be signed into law because, sadly, it plays politics with children’s health care.”

No, Rep. Bachmann, you were the one who played politics with children’s healthcare, first by voting against SCHIP (although you swore that you really did believe in, it cross your heart and hope to you know what). And then you played politics again, by talking about “dangerous reactions” to a vaccine that could eradicate cervical cancer---but only if it is used in advance of first intercourse.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/polinaut/archive/2007/10/groups_target_b.shtml

Rick Perry claimed during the debate that he just wanted to prevent cervical cancer. Donations he had received from Merck did not factor into his decision to issue an executive order requiring that all Texas girls receive Gardasil.

Perry: This was Merck. And it was a $5,000 contribution. I am offended if you think I can be bought for $5,000.

Which begs the question, Gov. Perry, how much can you be bought for?

Perry’s desire to eliminate cervical cancer is admirable. If only he were as dedicated to wiping out other childhood diseases. Texas is well below the national average when it comes to the percentage of eligible children who are enrolled in SCHIP and Medicaid at 61%. 61%! That means that for every six low to lower middle income children who get to see a doctor in Texas, four don’t. And keep in mind that Texas is not West Virginia. As Perry bragged last night, Texas is a rich state. I wish someone would ask Perry why his state refuses to spend the federal money that has been allocated for children’s health care.

http://ccf.georgetown.edu/index/cms-filesystem-action?file=strategy+center%2Feligibleuninsured%2Feligibleuninsuredccf.pdf

Rick Santorum was quick to stand up for “little girls” last night, too. A month ago, in the Ames Iowa debate, he sang a different tune. When asked about why he wants to outlaw all abortions, even in the case of rape and incest, he said

That child is an innocent victim. To be victimized twice would be a horrible thing. It is an innocent human life. It is genetically human from the moment of conception. And it is a human life.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/08/ames-debate-romney-bachmann-paul-huntsman-santorum-gingrich-pawlenty-cain.html

No, he is not talking about 10 year old Suzy who was raped by her dad and who is now pregnant. He is concerned only with the fetus growing within Suzy’s small, immature body--the fetus that could well kill her or scar her for life. Rick Santorum sees nothing wrong with victimizing Suzy twice---first the incestuous rape and then the forced pregnancy.

Children took another hit when the Republican candidates frothed at the mouth over state programs that help pay college tuitions for immigrant children whose parents brought them here illegally. Again, the message was clear. Republicans want to punish parents by punishing their children. If the GOP gets back into power, they plan to repeal the 14th Amendment, the one that made slaves born in this country citizens. If they get their way, children born here to immigrant parents will become virtual slaves, doomed by their lack of education to work in menial jobs for the rest of their lives in the only country they have ever known.

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/08/10/calls-to-repeal-14th-amendment-causing-rift-in-gop/

These candidates are not oddballs within their party. According to the GOP, if children’s parents are poor, hungry, undereducated and lack health care, then the kids should suffer the same---presumably because their misfortune is part of God’s plan. That’s the way the religious right views the world. If you are poor, it is because God hates you. If you are poor, the GOP hates you. If you are a poor child, heaven help you, because the Republican Party won’t.