Media cuts it out when it comes to Perry vasectomy chatter

By Judy Kurtz - 09/12/11 07:16 PM ET

It’s the touchy subject that hardly anyone wants to touch. Could the tale of Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry’s apparent vasectomy prove there is such a thing as T.M.I. when it comes to politicians?

Wayne Slater, senior political writer for The Dallas Morning News, might have been the first journalist to go there on a national broadcast.

In August, Slater offered the revealing detail in his description of the 61-year-old Texas governor on CNN: “He carries a pistol with him … laser-lighted pistol when he jogs. And at least this is not necessarily Texan, he’s a man of trust in his family. His father-in-law actually did his vasectomy. He’s a man who trusts his family and lives big in Texas.”

Slater told ITK the vasectomy tale is “absolutely true.” Perry, who, according to Democratic strategist Paul Begala, was nicknamed “Crotch” in the ’80s by colleagues in the Texas state Senate due to his tight jeans, has not yet addressed the seemingly sensitive assertion. His campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.

But Dr. Karen Boyle, a clinical instructor of urology at the George Washington University School of Medicine, suggests that if Perry has had the male sterilization procedure done, he’s not alone at all, saying, “I would venture to say, if you would poll the guys sitting in Congress, statistically, a large percentage have probably had vasectomies.”

One lawmaker who has undergone the 10-minute procedure is Texas state Sen. Dan Patrick. The Republican, who doubles as a Houston radio talk show host, wasn’t too shy about his health back in 1991, when a doctor performed his vasectomy live on the air. But these days, the Baltimore native is a bit more bashful about the somewhat taboo topic. When asked about the Perry vasectomy story, Patrick’s spokesman responded, “We’ll have to pass on this one.”

However, Dr. Boyle doesn’t see why there would be a stigma associated with a vasectomy, since “millions of men ever year” have one. In fact, Boyle said, she once performed vasectomies on “almost the whole police force.” The doctor, who herself sees hundreds of patients a year, added, “I think men that choose vasectomy are being good male partners. If anything, it’s positive that they have made this decision.”