Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) declared “I don’t think our elected leaders, I don’t think political leaders, should be undermining people’s confidence in their doctors and what’s settled science” while criticizing the media for not reporting on vaccine comments made by then-Senators Obama and Clinton on Wednesday’s “Kelly File” on the Fox News Channel.
Jindal said that he did not agree with comments by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that vaccines could cause “mental disorders,” and that “I don’t think our elected leaders, I don’t think political leaders, should be undermining people’s confidence in their doctors and what’s settled science. I’m glad that all three of my children are vaccinated, I’m glad that they go to schools where they mandate that all the other children are vaccinated. I think that’s just good, not only for our children, it’s also good for public health. We don’t need political leaders, Democrats, or Republicans, by the way, trying to confuse this issue.”
Jindal then turned his criticism towards the media, stating “President Obama and Hillary Clinton, they’ve said nuanced and different things about vaccines, they’ve flip-flopped, they’ve changed their minds, you’ve got Democrats and Republicans who’ve said various things about vaccines. To me, this is just common sense. It’s no surprise to me, that the liberal media would be hypocritical, and attack Republicans, not Democrats who’ve said similar things, including our current president and Secretary Clinton, who wants to be president, it’s not surprising to me the left, it denies science, denies truth, they’ve done it when it comes to the environment, when it comes to energy…they deny math when it comes to the debt and taxes…this shouldn’t be controversial. This is pretty straightforward. Vaccines have been proven to be safe. They can not only protect our children from deadly diseases, they help to protect the public at large. This should just be — this shouldn’t be a political football, and we need politicians to stop confusing the issue, stop trying to undermine people’s confidence. If you have any doubts, listen to your pediatrician, not to a politician.”
He added “I would encourage every parent to get every child vaccinated. It’s not only good for your own children, it’s also good for public health.”
Jindal also discussed his potential run for president in 2016, he declared “if I do decide to run, it won’t be based on polls, or fundraising, or political consultants, I think America wants leaders who are going to tell them the truth, who are going to be honest, and have the courage to do that, we don’t have that in Washington today. A couple of weeks ago, I gave a speech in London about the threat of radical Muslim terrorists, by the way, words this president doesn’t like to use, talked about the need for assimilation and integration for those who want to immigrate into our country. I was called a racist, I was called anti-Muslim by the liberal media, that’s not true, but we need leaders who have the courage to tell the voters the truth. Whether it’s the threat of radical Islam, whether it’s Obamacare taking over our healthcare, whether it’s $18 trillion of debt, we need leaders willing to tell the truth. By the way, this week it wasn’t just Democrats, I went after Republicans who don’t want to repeal all of the Obamacare taxes.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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