Almost two years ago in NRODT, I wrote about Rick Perry’s re-election campaign–specifically, about his GOP primary battle with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. The article briefly went into the HPV controversy. For what it’s worth, Perry’s explanation back then was similar to the one he offered at the debate on Monday night. Here’s the relevant paragraph:

Despite barely crossing the finish line in 2006, Perry proceeded to alienate his base of social conservatives by signing an executive order to require that schoolgirls receive HPV vaccines, which protect against a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer. It came out that his former chief of staff had become a lobbyist for a drug company that stood to profit handsomely from the rule. Perry had to backpedal, and the legislature blocked his directive. “We probably should have done it as an opt-in rather than an opt-out,” he says now, meaning that the initiative should have had a more voluntary flavor. “For me, though, this issue is about life. That’s one of my core values.” Hutchison calls his approach “breathtakingly arrogant.”