Huckabee Wanted AIDS Patients Quarantined In 1992, Opposed New Govt. Money For Research
Here's a fun quote that Mike Huckabee will now have to answer for on the campaign trail — the sort of thing that would undermine his image as a man of compassion. The Associates Press reports that back in 1992, Huckabee wanted to have AIDS patients quarantined.
"It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS," Huckabee wrote in an AP questionnaire, as a candidate that year for the U.S. Senate. "It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents."
Huckabee also opposed additional federal spending for AIDS research, and ridiculed the celebrity activists who pushed for it. "In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified," he wrote. "An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor [,] Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research."
Comments (18)
Michael Jardeen wrote on December 8, 2007 2:48 PM:I will say it now -- Huckabee is going to be the nominee. The Fundy right is in desperate straits, and they will choose the ticket. Once into the general election they will lose. It will take 3-4 cycles before their hold is loosened. See Washington State and the whacked nut-jobs that got nominated for Governor. It wasn't till last cycle here that anything changed. They still managed to lose. As long as the social conservatives dominate the party they will lose.
Unless the Dems screw it up, which they are so good at doing.
dcshungu wrote on December 8, 2007 2:57 PM:Unless the Dems screw it up, which they are so good at doing.
Watch them to the ABC thing and lose...
dcshungu wrote on December 8, 2007 2:58 PM:Unless the Dems screw it up, which they are so good at doing.
Watch them do the ABC thing and lose...
Ryan Edwards wrote on December 8, 2007 3:07 PM:I agree with you. Huckabee will be the nominee. But he has a nice streak, and he comes across as quite moderate on many things, though quite religious. And most people in the country would RATHER not see Roe overturned and they'd RATHER have civil unions but they don't REALLY care that much. It doesn't affect them personally because abortion would still be legal and most people aren't gay. Even of the barely half who believe in evolution, many don't really care, and Huckabee's answers about how he's running for school board will satisfy them.
I think Huckabee will find a way to contextualize (or "contextualize") his comments. And people will still like him, which is probably at least as responsible as his religion for giving him his edge.
Which is big problem. Because I'm about as left as they come and even I can't help liking the guy. And Americans do not ultimately choose their presidents on policy. They don't have time to figure out the facts. They choose them based on who they LIKE MORE.
Which means if Huckabee and Clinton are the nominees, he will absolutely wipe the floor with her.
Ryan Edwards wrote on December 8, 2007 3:11 PM:Oops. I made mistakes.
I meant Abortion would still be legal in MOST states. And Huckabee says he's NOT running for a school board.
Grr.
Jeremy wrote on December 8, 2007 3:16 PM:Huckabee seems like a person with decent ethical instincts that have been perverted by religious delusion. In ordinary interpersonal relationships I would bet that he is fair and compassionate but he fails to transfer that decency into his thinking about broader issues because he is under the influence of dogma.
Anonymous wrote on December 8, 2007 3:26 PM:Ryan Edwards wrote on December 8, 2007 3:11 PM:Oops. I made mistakes.
LOL. The whole post was one big mistake, but none was more blatant than this one:
Which means if Huckabee and Clinton are the nominees, he will absolutely wipe the floor with her.
After the swiftboating of John Kerry in 2004, the Dems learned their lesson and would boot up their own Oppo-research/Pub-Edu machine that would rival the legendary Lee Atwater GOP Smear Machine. When our Oppo-research machine is through with Huck, he'll wish he'd never heard of a violent rapist named Wayne Dumond. Huck would be lucky to win a single purple or blue state, i.e., any non-Dixie states.
With that in mind and just for the fun of it, could you describe for us a plausible electoral-vote scenario under which Huck "absolutely wipes the floor" with HRC?
lyle wrote on December 8, 2007 3:26 PM:read his statement and translate all the code references for 'gay' in it.
i bet if you asked him then in an unguarded moment if all people with AIDS deserved it and had it because of moral failings, he would have said 'yes' without any qualification.
just like the more wingnutted wackos in this country would still contend to this day.
Madorsky wrote on December 8, 2007 3:43 PM:For some reason, this story made me think of the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeu5ekG1ctk
lyle wrote on December 8, 2007 3:26 PM:read his statement and translate all the code references for 'gay' in it.
i bet if you asked him then in an unguarded moment if all people with AIDS deserved it and had it because of moral failings, he would have said 'yes' without any qualification.
just like the more wingnutted wackos in this country would still contend to this day.
That strikes me as just about right as the same thought had occurred to me. For all his reassuring southern baptist demeanor, I am beginning to get the sense deep down, Huck is actually rightwing wacko case... I am sure that Dem Oppo-research teams are on political anthropology expeditions, "digging a little dirt" in AR to try to find out where all the gems and corpses are buried...
What if NONE of the current Republican candidates for President were able to wrap up the nomination in the primaries?
Just thinking.
John wrote on December 8, 2007 6:07 PM:If no GOP nominee wins during the primaries, Bush picks. He's the decider...
Liam wrote on December 8, 2007 7:20 PM:Huckabee did more than call for those sick people to be warehoused; he went on to call for the Government not to put forth any more funding in an effort to cure those sick people.
Huckabee has been running TV spots in Iowa proclaiming himself as a Christian candidate for president. What kind of genuine follower of Christ would call for the sick to be rounded up, and no real effort be put forth to find treatments and a cure for them.
Christian my Arse!.
Huckabee is just another run of the mill Christo Fascist Republican.
Missed It By THAT Much wrote on December 8, 2007 7:45 PM:1992. Hmmm ... I seem to remember someone named Clinton doing something (or someone) in 1992 that he now regrets and disavows. Of course, if there's no statute of limitations on how long someone can have a mistake held against them, it may be time to actively campaign for the ouster of Robert 'KKK' Byrd.
Anonymous wrote on December 8, 2007 8:38 PM:"What kind of genuine follower of Christ would call for the sick to be rounded up, and no real effort be put forth to find treatments and a cure for them."
Christianity is an ethically challenged religion.
dcshungu wrote on December 8, 2007 9:45 PM:Huckabee has been running TV spots in Iowa proclaiming himself as a Christian candidate for president. What kind of genuine follower of Christ would call for the sick to be rounded up, and no real effort be put forth to find treatments and a cure for them.
Oh, but, that is entirely consistent with a particularly despicable form of "Christianity" that some (like Huck, Falwell, Robertson?) seem to practice in America. AIDS, they would tell you, was sent by God to punish the homosexuals (so they should not be treated or cared for with public funds), just like 9/11 was punishment from God for the Sodom and Gomorrah that America had become. If you carry their "logic" far enough, it leads to the absurd notion that the victims of 9/11 were sinners and Osama bin Laden was, in fact, just doing God's work by delivering the deserved divine punishment...at least on that last point, they and Osama are in full agreement.
The new Huck that is emerging is too scary to be trusted to have his finger on the country's nuclear arsenal button! God might tell him to rain Armageddon on the islamo-fascists and he'd have to comply!
dcshungu wrote on December 8, 2007 9:45 PM:Huckabee has been running TV spots in Iowa proclaiming himself as a Christian candidate for president. What kind of genuine follower of Christ would call for the sick to be rounded up, and no real effort be put forth to find treatments and a cure for them.
Oh, but, that is entirely consistent with a particularly despicable form of "Christianity" that some (like Huck, Falwell, Robertson?) seem to practice in America. AIDS, they would tell you, was sent by God to punish the homosexuals (so they should not be treated or cared for with public funds), just like 9/11 was punishment from God for the Sodom and Gomorrah that America had become. If you carry their "logic" far enough, it leads to the absurd notion that the victims of 9/11 were sinners and Osama bin Laden was, in fact, just doing God's work by delivering the deserved divine punishment...at least on that last point, they and Osama are in full agreement.
The new Huck that is emerging is too scary to be trusted to have his finger on the country's nuclear arsenal button! God might tell him to rain Armageddon on the islamo-fascists and he'd have to comply!
AngryOne wrote on December 9, 2007 12:38 AM:Like all of the 2008 Republican White House hopefuls, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is quick to claim the mantle of Ronald Reagan. But when it came to the AIDS crisis, President Ronald Reagan was positively enlightened compared to Senate candidate Huckabee years later. As it turns out, everything Mike Huckabee argued in response to the AIDS epidemic in 1992 - quarantining victims, blaming gay Americans, decrying federal funding to fight the disease - Ronald Reagan himself debunked in 1987.
For the details, see:
- "Huckabee's 1992 AIDS Bigotry Refuted by Ronald Reagan in 1987."
