If the multiverse theory turns out to be true, then there is probably an alternate earth where Sen. Rand Paul did not flub the questions put to him about vaccines.
And, if you will allow us to put on our multiverse goggles, we will peer into the ether and report back from the alternate timeline where the presidential hopeful got it right.
WHAT'S YOUR VIEW? WRITE US A LETTER.
Reporter: Should the government force parents to vaccinate their children?
Paul: No, the government does not have the authority to force anyone to inject something into their bodies. However, vaccines are wonderful miracles of science that have prevented misery and death for millions of people and we should all be grateful that they are available to us.
Reporter: So, you don’t give any credence to the idea that vaccines can cause physical and mental disorders?
Paul: Well, I’m an ophthalmologist by trade and am probably not the guy you want to ask about this, but there is no credible study that has linked any kind of mental or physical complication to vaccination. It’s hard to prove a negative, but this is as clear cut as it gets. Everyone should get vaccinated.
Unfortunately, back here on what we like to call Earth Prime, Sen. Paul and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie went in the opposite direction of reason when they were asked about vaccines.
Christie started off well, saying that he and his wife had vaccinated their children and that was “the best expression I can give you of my opinion.”
However, he then added that parents should have some measure of choice about vaccination, which is certainly not an unreasonable stance, but his camp apparently realized that the midst of a measles outbreak was not the best time for a presidential hopeful to make an argument about individual liberty versus the good of the communities.
And that must be why his office quickly released this statement: “With a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated.”
While Christie quickly backed off, Paul doubled down after his initial comments about vaccines were called into question.
“I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines,” Paul said.
Unless Paul can produce credible scientific studies to back up that claim —and we don’t think he can — then he (temporarily it turns out) hitched his medical wagon to a group of people that get their guidance from scientific luminaries like Jenny McCarthy.
Thankfully — for those of us concerned that this could be the darkest timeline — on Tuesday Paul backtracked and took a reporter to watch as he got a booster vaccination for Hepatitis A.
“There’s 400 headlines now that say, ‘Paul says vaccines cause mental disorders,’ ” he said. “That’s not what I said. I said, 'I’ve heard of people who’ve had vaccines and they see a temporal association and they believe that.'”
This kerfluffle could lead to a bad diagnosis for a presidential hopeful, but we hope Paul’s condition isn’t terminal.
And, if this stings a little, it’s partially because while we expected absurd statements and flubs from some of this year’s crop of presidential hopefuls — previous years have given us plenty of inanity from Michelle Bachman, Al Sharpton and others — we had (and still have) high hopes for several small government, conservative Republican presidential hopefuls.
Rand Paul is consistently libertarian — as opposed to those Republicans who are libertarian when the polls suit them — and he is one of those we looked forward to closely watching this election cycle. But, if this is the level of discourse we are likely to get as the presidential election moves forward, then we are in real trouble.