[ppaul]

a searing indictment of how the Reagan administration's long silence stoked the plague of AIDS in the 1980's.

Gee, silly me.
Here I thought it was caused by a bunch of perverts who wanted to have sex with as many anonymous same-sex partners as possible.

[gunner03]

God, I hate the Times and the rest of the lib media. How long can this country survive. When will we take it back?

[Thebaddog]

Franky misses the point completely about why the "whiners", which is us, reacted to the movie. It's amusing that he compares a true American hero in his last days to some fruity NY musical about AIDS as if it were a scourge that couldn't be stopped by self control.

Winning the cold war and reversing decades of economic decline under democratic mismanagement are made equivalent to a bunch of NY pretty boys and their inability to control their sexual appetites for their own well being.

[RightWingAtheist]

So the people who forced "The Reagans" off the air are "whiners and "hypocrites", hmm? And what does that make Frank Rich, who blasted the passion before seeing it, resulting in Mel Gibson shopping for a new distributor, and has engaged in continual ad homneim attacks against the director?

[JoeSchem]

Whatever his script's fictions, it accurately conveys the rancid hypocrisy

There is no hypocrisy greater than that of falsely accusing an honorable man of hypocrisy.

[ghost of nixon]

Rich is still steaming about "The Reagans" mini-series being canned. So steamed that he writes this pissy column. Pretty funny. How does any politician or govermental agency help stop Aids when the carriers & transmitters refused to modify their behavior that brought and spread the plague? There are plenty of truly unfortunate victims of disease in this world that we can have sympathy for - including people with aids - but how does one specific disease require the full & total attention of the federal government when it can be easily avoided by almost everyone in North America?

[KantianBurke]

To compare a great work such as "Streetcar Named Desire" with the laughably inane and immature "Angels in America" is outrageous. Having read both, the former is clearly a play of enourmous depth and talent. The latter is a bunch of bs which is only given such toutings due to its subject matter. In a hundred years Streetcar will still be recognized. Tony Kushner's "piece" will be long forgotten.

[netmilsmom]

What % of the US actually have HBO anyway?

[stanz]

What do you expect from this p.o.s. Frank Rich?
It's just eating at him that the mini series was cancelled. He, together with Michael Moore and Al Franken will be on a lifelong crusade to crucify Bush, Reagan and anyone else who's not an America-hating leftist.

[Restorer]

This is a hilarious article. In 1980, AIDS could easily have been contained, using standard anti-epidemic methods worked out over a hundred years ago. The major reason they were not implemented was gay activist opposition.

See, the first thing you do to stop an epidemic is to close the places where it is being spread. That would mean all the bathhouses would have been shuttered. Then you implement mandatory contact-tracing.

Both of these were fought with great zest by homosexuals for whom, apparently, the ability to continue their random promiscuous sex was infinitely more important than slowing an epidemic that was killing them.

[Jorge]

This epic is, among other things, a searing indictment of how the Reagan administration's long silence stoked the plague of AIDS in the 1980's.

Funny how everybody except those who's conduct spreads AIDS, are to blame for it.

Typical liberal irresponsibility.

[Greybird]

Yet another alert for THE POSTING RULES!

Rule 1, official:
"Please: NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts."

Rule 2, unofficial:
Denigrating, insulting, or misrepresenting homosexuals, however, is always acceptable.

{/sarcasm OFF}

[DoctorMichael]

Local officials in San Francisco TRIED to stop the spread, but the homosexual 'community' tied their 'right' to further infect more individuals to their civil 'rights' and fought the closing of the bath houses. During the influenza epidemic of 1918-9 they shut down movie theaters et al. in the public interest to stop the spread of THIS disease.

Can anyone even imagine what would have happened if Reagan became involved early in the epidemic and 'DID' something about it? Hoo-boy!

Plus, no one REALLY knew what we were dealing with early on anyways.

[Arpege92]

These idiots can't get over the fact that it was everyday Americans who managed to ax the Reagan movie. They're not used to this and their bruised ego's can't seem to subside.

[ppaul]

ping.

[.cnI redruM]

Frank Rich is withered in his own hatred. I'll cross "Angels in America" off my to watch list. I'm back down to Football, Rugby, and Carnivale. No wonder I spend so much time here...

[MegaSilver]

And what did the Democrats do to help the AIDS epidemic in the 80's?

[veronica]

One of the more annoying aspects of this article, is the idea that AIDS victims who are gay, are somehow special, or heroic. They are not. They have a terrible disease, and that is awful. I do not wish them anything but recovery. BUT, for gays, AIDS is preventable. Though the early victims could not know that, they were engaging in high-risk behavior by any standards, if only in terms of getting other STD's. I knew gays in the early 80's who were incredibly promiscuous. They are all dead now. If I told you some of things they did, you wouldn't believe it.

That the gay producers of the Reagan movie attemped to make it a pro-gay polemic, is obscene. Do a drag show if you want to, but not on CBS, and not with the life of Ronald Reagan. The gay agenda is being promoted endlessly now, but this was way over the line.

Reagan did what he could about an emerging disease, about which very little was known in the beginning. It's galling to me, that so much money goes toward a disease which is BEHAVIOR-BASED. You don't have to get AIDS!! Elizabeth Glaser (infected by blood transfusion) was a true victim. These are people I really feel sorry for. And poor people in countries who aren't educated about AIDS need to be.

And I think Frank Rich is dreaming if he thinks Angels in America is going to be some transforming event.

As for me, I am looking forward to the upcoming PBS running of the American musical masterpiece OKLAHOMA, with Hugh Jackman. Much more my speed. A glorious work of art which changed the theater forever.

[Coleus]

STREISAND AIDS TRAGEDY

SHE COLLAPSES AS SON BATTLES DEADLY DISEASE

DEVASTATED: Barbra has vowed to do anything and everything to help her only son.

Barbra Streisand is reeling from a devastating AIDS crisis -- her only son is infected with the HIV virus and faces an early death, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.

JASON GOULD, Barbra's son.

Jason Gould, the diva's 36-year-old son by actor Elliott Gould, has been diagnosed with the virus -- and Barbra has vowed to do anything and everything to help him.

The issue that goes on sale Friday reveals how Barbra got the shattering news, why Jason was hospitalized in early February … and much more.

[ServesURight]

Reagan could have spent a trillion dollars on AIDs and the Left would have still bitched.

It just goes to show you - never appease liberals because they'll hate you anyway.

[BlkConserv]

People like Frank Rich and the Slimes will never get it. Reagan was very compassionate to the AIDS crisis and to its victims. He even made a personal telephone call to Rock Hudson, which was one of the reasons (and not "conservative whiners" why CBS dumped the miniseries onto Showtime.

The bottome line is that AIDS is mostly a preventable disease. It is mainly contacted by needle-sharing drug abusers and yes, homosexual men engaging in deviant behavior. Even during heterosexual intercourse AIDS is extremely hard to contract because the disease mostly thrives in fecal waste and open bloody sores in the anal rectums of gay men. Unlike the very thin layer that protects the anal cavity (and is easily ruptured) the walls of the vagina are much thicker and naturally sustain continuous penetration.