There's a proposed 3.3 percent increase for Veterans Affairs, with billions earmarked for better care for our nation's veterans – a no-brainer if I've ever seen one.

But what's getting more airtime? Measles. And not in the way you would think.

No, instead of talking about the outbreaks in California and Arizona, and how many children are in hospitals with a completely preventable disease, all the press seems to cover are the growing anti-vax crowd and their apologists.

So now I find myself writing about something that should have stayed in yesterday's news.

Now even the presidential hopefuls are jumping on board. New Jersey Gov. (and part-time bridge troll) Chris Christie weighed in:

"Mary Pat and I have had our children vaccinated and we think that it's an important part of being sure we protect their health and the public health," Christie told reporters during a jaunt through Britain and as reported by the Washington Post. "I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well, so that's the balance that the government has to decide."

And while his mouthpiece soon backpedaled, blaming discrepancies on state laws, it becomes clearer than ever that this simple public health issue has emerged as some kind of political football.

Never mind that the experts at the Centers for Disease Control have become increasingly alarmed at the spread of a disease that had been – for all intents and purposes – wiped out.

But Christie also has a history of not listening to medical – or even legal – experts. Remember this is the same guy who quarantined an aid worker who'd treated Ebola victims – after testing negative for the virus. Maybe it's only the diseases that come from those dirty foreigners he's worried about.

But Christie certainly doesn't stand alone. Rand Paul – admittedly from further out on the fringe – told a radio show yesterday.

"I'm not anti-vaccine at all," Paul told host Laura Ingraham, "but particularly, most of them ought to be voluntary. What happens if you have somebody not wanting to take the smallpox vaccine and it ruins it for everybody else? I think there are times in which there can be some rules, but for the first part it ought to be voluntary."

Since when did science and common sense become the enemy?

With apologies to Nationwide, maybe their buzzkill Super Bowl ad should have included another preventable death.