Only a week in but this is already the worst Louisiana Legislature I've ever had to watch. The characters on display during committee hearings on the tax reform bills yesterday fell into three categories: the ignorant, the bought, and a few who are clearly bewildered and intimidated by the ignorant and the bought.
But more on all that later. That's not really why I opened up the blogging program this morning. Instead, I just wanted to note this comment from one legislator on how ignorant the ignorant caucus is.
But given how politicized mask-wearing and even the COVID vaccines have become, lawmakers are unlikely to require students in Louisiana to take the COVID vaccines.
“No, it won’t happen,” said Rep. Tanner Magee of Houma, the second-ranking Republican in the Louisiana House. “The political climate right now with vaccines, just the hysteria around it, won’t allow for any sort of mandate,” he said in an interview.
In distributing the vaccines, he added, “We honestly have some legislators who think that we really are implanting 5G chips into people.”
I'm not usually into getting anyone to rat on their friends but I'm afraid Tanner is going to have to give us some names there. Or, at least, get us an idea of how many "some legislators" is so we know the size of what we're dealing with.
Or maybe he doesn't have to. The Advocate already tried to get a handle on the number of anti-vaxxers in the Capitol last week. But these numbers and the possible reasons for them are open to interpretation.
Among 142 lawmakers polled, 98 said they had availed themselves of the jab, while 30 said they have yet to be vaccinated. A handful said they had recently recovered from COVID-19 and plan to take the vaccine soon.
The two most powerful lawmakers – House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, and Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette – refused to say whether they had been vaccinated. They joined a dozen other GOP lawmakers who wouldn’t answer the question, with some calling the survey an invasion of privacy.
I think when they say "invasion of privacy," they mean they are vaccinated but are afraid that might hurt them with their constituents. At least, that's what I read between these lines in particular.
Some political leaders are content to stay out of those conversations.
"I don't want my constituents to be influenced one way or another by my decision,” said Rep. Jonathan Goudeau, R-Lafayette, who refused to answer whether he had been vaccinated.
“That’s a private health matter that I wouldn’t want to discuss publicly,” said Rep. Philip Tarver, R-Lake Charles.
And the reason I lean that way is that, typically, the legislators aren't so shy about sharing their weird ideas. The ones who aren't getting vaccinated seem like they are happy to tell you why. And... oh man.. let's see some of those.
Some lawmakers referenced misinformation about the vaccine, which has been particularly potent on social media, in their decision not to get vaccinated.
Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Houma, said she was concerned the vaccine could cause spontaneous miscarriages among women — a claim that exploded online in March but was promptly debunked by medical experts as untrue.
Sen. Mike Fesi, R-Houma, claimed that a family friend died from the vaccine, though a spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Health said the state has not confirmed any deaths from any of the vaccines administered in Louisiana.
That's only two of the 30 unvaccinated lawmakers running around up in Baton Rouge right now. This article says five of those have already had COVID and think they have natural immunity. That's not really supported by the research which says the vaccines are the more sure way to go. But you can kind of see why a reasonable person might think that at first. What we really need to know is how many of them are spreading pure conspiracy nuttery (and possibly COVID itself, not to mention) like Amedee there. Maybe Tanner can tell us more.
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