Save Us From the Cult Of Wingnuttery

Shorter Verbatim FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, justifying the political denial of over-the-counter status for Plan B: “…we could not anticipate, or prevent extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an ‘urban legend’ status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B.” Whether she is a gay porn star as well as a lunatic is unconfirmed at press time. [Via The Sideshow.]

I believe that to move to a higher level of wingnuttery among people the Bush administration has unconscionably appointed to reflect the health interests of American women, we would have to return to our uber-crackpot ob-gyn friend David Hager:

And because of his warm relationship with the Bush Administration, Hager has had the opportunity to see his ideas influence federal policy. In December 2003 the FDA advisory committee of which he is a member was asked to consider whether emergency contraception, known as Plan B, should be made available over the counter. Over Hager’s dissent, the committee voted overwhelmingly to approve the change. But the FDA rejected its recommendation, a highly unusual and controversial decision in which Hager, The Nation has learned, played a key role. Hager’s reappointment to the committee, which does not require Congressional approval, is expected this June, but Bush’s nomination of Dr. Lester Crawford as FDA director has been bogged down in controversy over the issue of emergency contraception. Crawford was acting director throughout the Plan B debacle, and Senate Democrats, led by Hillary Clinton and Patty Murray, are holding up his nomination until the agency revisits its decision about going over the counter with the pill.

[…]

Sex was always a source of conflict in the marriage. Though it wasn’t emotionally satisfying for her, Davis says she soon learned that sex could “buy” peace with Hager after a long day of arguing, or insure his forgiveness after she spent too much money. “Sex was coinage; it was a commodity,” she said. Sometimes Hager would blithely shift from vaginal to anal sex. Davis protested. “He would say, ‘Oh, I didn’t mean to have anal sex with you; I can’t feel the difference,'” Davis recalls incredulously. “And I would say, ‘Well then, you’re in the wrong business.'”

To summarize, voting for Republicans in elections for federal office is an extremely bad idea.