Look, let’s start off by me noting I didn’t care for the way that Congresswoman Bachmann went after Governor Perry over Gardasil last night, frankly: I recognize that there’s a core issue there about choices for your kids, but the central issue is more complicated than either side wants to admit, and it’s heavily partisan-tinged at this point. But put that aside. This isn’t beanbag. Forget it, Moe: it’s politics. And, as Erick Erickson originally pointed out, it’s effective politics, too.

This (via @bdomenech*), on the other hand, is not politics, effective or otherwise. If the Congresswoman really believes this, it’s crazy-time.

And this time, Bachmann added a bracing story that she said a woman told her in Florida overnight.

“I will tell you that I had a mother last night come up to me here in Tampa, Fla., after the debate. She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter,” Bachmann said.

She continued: “The mother was crying what she came up to me last night. I didn’t know who she was before the debate. This is the very real concern and people have to draw their own conclusions.”

Video here. OK, Congresswoman Bachmann. Here’s my conclusion: the anti-vaccy people are nuts. The side-effects of Gardasil are well known, and do not support a result of ‘mental retardation;’ and if this is merely a garbled version of the old anti-vaccy ‘vaccinations causes autism’ nonsense… well, that one has been taking some hammer hits, too. Enough of them, in fact, that this entire issue is now firmly in the field of ‘kooky conspiracy theory:’ and, honestly? As I’ve said before: if people aren’t vaccinating their kids because of said conspiracy theory, then I want them to stay far away from mine.

So the question becomes: are you one of those people, Congresswoman Bachmann?

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*Whose daily Transom you really should sign up for, by the way.