Posted on 12/08/2007 12:50:51 PM PST by goldstategop
Just when he thought the media lovefest would never end–what with the deeply troubling open-borders and soft-on-crime charges of his critics failing to stick–GOP front-runner Mike Huckabee gets a Saturday surprise from the Associated Press, which dug up an old questionnaire probing his views on AIDS funding and homosexuality:
Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could “pose a dangerous public health risk.”
As a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in 1992, Huckabee answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. Besides a quarantine, Huckabee suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies.
“If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague,” Huckabee wrote.
“It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. 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.”
He also suggests that crusading celebrities pitch in more money instead of the federal government. He has since changed his mind and now supports increased public AIDS funding:
When asked about AIDS research in 1992, Huckabee complained that AIDS research received an unfair share of federal dollars when compared to cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
“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. “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.”
…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. The nation had an increased awareness of AIDS at the time because pro basketball star Magic Johnson had recently disclosed he carried the virus responsible for it. Johnson retired but returned to the NBA briefly during the 1994-95 season.
Since becoming a presidential candidate this year, Huckabee has supported increased federal funding for AIDS research through the National Institutes of Health. “My administration will be the first to have an overarching strategy for dealing with HIV and AIDS here in the United States, with a partnership between the public and private sectors that will provide necessary financing and a realistic path toward our goals,” Huckabee said in a statement posted on his campaign Web site last month.
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.”
It would be helpful for the AP to release the full survey and the full questions, which it probably won’t do. Jonathan Adler rightly notes:
This was not the early 1980s, when the threat posed by the HIV virus was poorly understood. Rather it was 1992, long after it was understood that AIDS could not be transmitted through casual contact. So either Huckabee was woefully ignorant about the nature of AIDS, or he supported a quarantine despite the lack of a threat of communicability. Neither interpretation speaks well of him.
We know how the story will play among the punditocracy in Washington. How will it play in Iowa?
***
Allahpundit:
Are these notable flip-flops the product of naked pandering to the base, as seemed to be the case in adopting Krikorian’s immigration plan after having described opposition to Bush’s amnesty bill as “nativist” in 2006, or is Huck just a soft mark for ideologues trying to bend him to their side? Whatever the answer is, it’s extremely worrisome.
LOL - certainly the most appropriate place :) of course that wouldn’t help the druggies who spread it by their shared needles.
I don’t know but I’m sure I remember reading about it and it was long before I ever used a computer.
It might still be a good idea.
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Reagan, as Gov. of CA, signed the most liberal abortion law in the country. Reagan, as President, signed an amnesty law for illegal immigrants.
I suppose it's true that he never apologized for either action, but are those principles you think he'd support today?
Some have labeled him the Baptist Mitt Romney. Such a label does Mitt a disservice. While Romney was certainly not as strong on illegal immigration as he could have been while governor of Massachussets, at least he wasn't actively encouring it like Huckabee did. And Huckabee was operating in a far more conservative environment than was Romney.
Huckabee was right. AIDS should’ve been treated like a medical issue, not a political one.
Millions will die because of this. Many have already.
http://www.nationalreview.com/document/reagan200406101030.asp
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/3/12/122118.shtml
I quote: “In 1967, then-California Gov. Reagan signed a liberal abortion law legalizing the procedure in cases where a woman’s mental as well as physical health was at risk.
The number of abortions in California soared after the bill was passed, and Reagan came to regret singing it, the Times reported. By the time he ran for president in 1980, Reagan had declared his support for a constitutional amendment prohibiting all abortions except to save the life of a woman.”
Yeah, I think he was fairly consistent, once he came to understand that bills can contain nasty surprises.
Why in the world couldn't he considering he is ahead of Hillary Clinton in recent polls and considering her negatives are at 50% or so.
He actually probably has a better chance of winning than any Republican but Fred Thompson because he motives religious conservatives to vote.
Romney is not particularly credible on any issue. He is the ultimate flip-flopper and, if not for his money, he’d be a second-tier candidate.
ping
Huckabee just went up a notch in my book. Now he needs to see how illegal marauders are making this nation sick, and isolate the problem in Mexico.
DUH, DUH, we are talking about the huckster here, aren't we? What traditional values? Soft on crime, pro illegal, tax and spend, big government nanny socialist. Those are traditional values?
Huckabee? Ughabee, I say.
Just say no to the Nanny State.
Why do we need another Rockerfeller Republican such as Huckabee (I'm not so sure I like Huckabee)?
And that’s different from the way the current candidates have changed their minds just how?
And what about the amnesty bill?
Both Rush and BOR have been saying from the get go that the MSM is propping up Huckabee, so they can knock him down with a club later that he’s too “Christian”.
As in, unanticipated consequences, as in, not understanding that everyone who wanted an abortion would now claim a “mental health” problem to get one ?
Amnesty - same thing. The bill had enforcement in it - Congress chose to not not fund the measures.
The communicability of AIDS is a bit of a smokescreen. In 1992 there were already tons of data showing the absolutely depraved promiscuity of homosexuals. Many were reporting 30,100, or 500 partners a year. Unbelievably, some even more than that.
So, the communicability through airborne or physical contact might not have been there, but there are few diseases in which one infected person can claim to have personally infected 100 other people.
Exactly. If this was supposed to be a hit, they would have held it until the general election. This is designed to help the Huckster with conservative primary voters.
The MSM want this unelectable socialist goober to win the GOP nomination in the worst way. The same way I really want Dennis Kucinich to win the Dem nomination.
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