Paul's Anti-Vax Palooza

Well if Chris Christie's comments on "parental choice" for vaccinations were controversial, Sen. Rand Paul's comments on the same subject are downright ludicrous.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) doubled down on his position that most vaccines should be voluntary, suggesting Monday that mandated immunization is an example of government overreach.

"The state doesn't own your children," Paul said in an interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell." "Parents own the children, and it is an issue of freedom and public health."

The Kentucky senator and potential 2016 hopeful received attention earlier in the day for his comment that people should be able to pick which immunizations to give their children.

In Rand Paul's America, a "public health" issue is allowing unvaccinated kids to get preventable diseases and spread them to kids too young for vaccinations or whose immune systems are too compromised for them.  That should be the choice of the parents?  What about the duty of the state to protect other kids?  What idiocy is he spewing here?

Paul also acknowledged hearing about cases in which healthy kids were left with "profound mental disorders" after being vaccinated.

Vaccine critics frequently claim that there is a link between immunization and autism, though medical studies have discredited the idea.

"I'm not arguing vaccines are a bad idea," Paul said, noting that his children were vaccinated on the recommended staggered schedule. "I think they are a good thing, but I think the parent should have some input."

So that's responsible.  "I'm not saying vaccines will turn your kids into autistic ones, but I heard that's happened."  And yet this guy wants to run as the government's chief executive.

Rand Paul is just ridiculous, and he continues to embarrass me as one of his constituents on a near daily basis.