Sunday, December 9, 2007

Hey, Liz, You Didn't Sell Those White Diamonds Fast Enough!!

Huckabee. Hucka. Huck. Rhymes with…

Definitely the man of the hour (well, at least the political 15 minutes), Mike Huckabee has, in a matter of several sentences from his past, lost the support of a small block of voters – Log Cabin Republicans. Whether or not he’s lost more (or gained more) votes with others remains to be seen.

He had this to say about AIDS Research in an AP poll in 1991:

"In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified," Huckabee wrote. [in 1991] 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."

Interesting. Does this mean that when I was volunteering at the time at San Francisco’s AIDS Emergency Fund, people who were in the process of dying came from all over the country to become clients simply because Elizabeth Taylor didn’t sell her jewelry fast enough?

I guess.

He also advocated isolating AIDS patients. His biggest partners-in-crime at the time, must have been Jesse Helms and Jerry Falwell.

When Huckabee wrote his answers in 1992, it was common knowledge that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact. In late 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 195,718 AIDS patients in the country and that 126,159 people had died from the syndrome.

At a news conference in Asheville, N.C., on Saturday, Huckabee said he wanted at the time to follow traditional medical practices used for dealing with tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. "Medical protocol typically says that if you have a disease for which there is no cure, and you are uncertain about the transmission of it, then the first thing you do is that you quarantine or isolate carriers," Huckabee said.

Also in the wide-ranging AP questionnaire in 1992, Huckabee said, "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk." Read more
here:

“If I were making those same comments today, I might make them a little differently."

Ya wanna bet?

Please remember, people, that Huckabee is a Southern Baptist minister. Yes, the very same ministers who advocated slavery (vehemently) then joined the KKK. O.K., my prejudice is showing, but you have to admit that a religious sect that takes over 150 years to apologize for their inhumane stance (the SBC announced its regrets for slavery in 1996) is a bit suspect when it comes to any kind of civil rights.

So now that AIDS is the biggest problem in Africa: hey, Angelina, sell those trinkets, Brad sell that Rolex. Time's awastin'. You don't think that Afrian governments are going to do anything, do ya? Hell, they're just following their leader, the good 'ole Christian Right of America!