Unfortunately, when it comes to Covid matters, your recall of what any leader has or hasn't said has not proven to be particularly reliable. Your claim here is reminiscent of when we confirmed in the deleted Covid thread that despite your claim that you heard 3 Democratic leaders allegedly saying that getting Covid if not vaccinated means sure death, that was not what they actually said.
It doesn't matter at all whether anti-vaxxers (or mockers or dismissers or whatever we call them) spew their dangerous nonsense while also railing against mandates or separately... it's still just as influential and damaging when they promote distrust of vaccines. And there's no debate that the % of vaccine rejectors among US adults has been far more heavily skewed to GOP voters ever since Covid vaccines were first offered. This certainly is not because conservative politicians (nor other GOP thought leaders) sending anti-vaccine messaging has been the rarity you suggest.
I have no clue which GOP'ers you consider "rational conservatives" vs. which ones are "the craziest" outliers, but here's a very small selection of the vaccine fear-mongering and other anti-vax nonsense put forth by your leadership, which seems to have escaped your recall:
Madison Cawthorn, (R) NC, 8/29/21 -- After encouraging a group in NC to resist vaccination by getting religious exemption forms filled out by a conservative pastor -- "
There are a lot of vaccine injuries that are starting to happen. I’m starting to look at the VAERS database specifically with this vaccine, the damage it’s causing the people, with infertility, with miscarriages, with deaths, uh, the list is a mile long ... heart attacks … defend your children … it’s not worth it to put an experimental jab into your sons’ arms."
Sen. Ron Johnson, (R) WI, has invited anti-vax whackos to speak, and has repeatedly suggested conspiratorial motives and spread doubts and misinformation about Covid vaccines (often posed as leading questions)... one of many examples -- in a May 2021 interview with conservative radio host Vicki McKenna, Johnson suggested there have been thousands of deaths connected to Covid-19 vaccinations and also suggested that getting the vaccine after having Covid might kill you -- "
I'm talking to doctors who have, since day one, been concerned about vaccinating people who've already had Covid, because you die, not of Covid, you die of the immune system overreaction to Covid."
Marjorie Taylor Greene, (R) GA, is responsible for way too many to list, but here's one example -- July 2021, "
With 6,000 vax related deaths and many concerning side effects reported, the vax should be a choice not a mandate for everyone". And it should be obvious to all that the explicit anti-vaccine fear-mongering included in that statement doesn't magically get unheard just because she spewed it while speaking out against mandates.
Lauren Boebert, (R) CO, too much anti-vax idiocy to list
Sen. Rand Paul (R), KY - again, too much to bother pulling excerpts
And it's not just what they say, but also all the anti-vax nutcases they validate and promote by inviting them to speak, for example:
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny and her craziness about Covid vaccines making you magnetic, invited by GOP Rep to speak to Ohio House -
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/ne...y-magnetic-anti-vaccine-testimony/7966660002/
Furthermore, "rational conservative politicians" aren't the only GOP-leaning decision influencers responsible for the significantly slower and lower acceptance of the vaccines by those identifying as Republicans ever since the vaccines became available.
What about the relentless vaccine skepticism promoted by Tucker Carlson (not just about mandates) for many months now, and how so many GOPers have embraced and promoted the anti-vax fear-mongering of Dr. Robert Malone and his ilk? GOP thought leaders like Sarah Palin boasting that she wouldn't get the vaccine unless it's "over my dead body", and that she didn't need to get vaccinated since she already had natural immunity from contracting Covid (before contracting Covid again just this week.)
Anyway, yeh, the issue hasn't
just been mandates for "all but the craziest", unless you consider most GOP vaccine skeptics to be among that group you dismiss as outliers. One would hope that politicians and other thought leaders whose objection is (allegedly) just the mandate part of things could communicate that without also fueling and elevating vaccine skepticism and resistance at the same time.
Good night. Hope your accident recovery is progressing well.