The best part of this Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel piece on a Gov. Scott Walker press conference is the obvious, outright despair of reporters trying to get the bold Republican leader to depart from the land of the ultra-generic nothingburger. Walker is himself not anti-vaccination, for example, something that needs to be pointed out because it apparently threatens to divide his freedomz-loving party, but the balancing act required to be pro-vaccination without peeving a base that is sharply divided on whether your kids ought to be able to die of smallpox if you damn well want them to is impressive:
So vaccines should be mandatory?
Not quite.
"I think it's an issue that should be left up to the states, just like we're doing here (in Wisconsin)," he responded.
Does that mean the governor would be OK with a state making vaccinations entirely optional? He didn't exactly say.
"It's up to the states, and all the states right now have a rule," he said. "The only difference is, state by state, some have no leeway, some have some flexibility. But everybody has a law on the books."
He's as bold as a plaid short, that one. Give him any issue, and he'll be able to tell you that the issue currently exists and that different states have different thoughts on the matter.
Whatever. Someone should tell him the measles have unionized, he'd be darting state residents from a helicopter.