Huckabee wanted to quarantine AIDS patients

[Rick336]

From Yahoo News 12-8-07:

Huckabee wanted to isolate AIDS patients

By ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - 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."

The AP submitted the questionnaire to both candidates; only Huckabee responded. Incumbent Sen. Dale Bumpers won his four term; Huckabee was elected lieutenant governor the next year and became governor in 1996.

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."

Huckabee did not return messages left with his campaign.

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."

A Southern Baptist preacher, Huckabee has been a favorite among social conservatives for his vocal opposition to gay marriage. In 2003, Huckabee said that the U.S. Supreme Court was probably right to strike down anti-sodomy laws, but that states still should be able to restrict things such as gay marriage or domestic partner benefits.

"What people do in the privacy of their own lives as adults is their business," Huckabee said. "If they bring it into the public square and ask me as a taxpayer to support it or to endorse it, then it becomes a matter of public discussion and discourse."

[pnggrad79]

I wonder what Huckabee would do if his marriage was suddenly declared invalid? I wonder what he would do if he developed prostate cancer and some idiot decided he needed to be quarantined?

Funny how when the shoe is on the other foot, it hurts a little!

I hope the GOP nominates this idiot and the Dems win because America hopefully is progressive enough that Huckabee hasn't got a chance in hell to win with his dark ages thinking. Where did this guy come from anyway, Topeka Kansas? (a little Fred Phelps humor there)

[Alecto]

Now now, he never said "quarantine", just "isolation". ::rolls eyes::
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/

[pnggrad79]

And the difference between quarantine and isolation is what? Nothing, they are synonyms. I saw this guy on the news last night, and I would move to Canada if he became president. I hope he doesn't get nominated but if he does, I don't think the freedoms in America (which aren't many for gay people) would last much longer. We would move toward a theocracy in a heartbeat...

[TigerXero]

GQ: Is the strategy shifting because social conservatives are losing on those core issues? Ten years ago, it would have been unimaginable to have gay marriage even in liberal Massachusetts. Now it's there.

Huckabee: I don't think the issue's about being against gay marriage. It's about being for traditional marriage and articulating the reason that's important. You have to have a basic family structure. There's never been a civilization that has rewritten what marriage and family means and survived. So there is a sense in which, you know, it's one thing to say if people want to live a different way, that's their business. But when you want to redefine what family means or what marriage means, then that's an issue that should require some serious and significant debate in the public square.



Yes, Huckabee, because allowing gays to marry will cause our nation to fall. (FYI, we are aware the religious right would blame homosexuals for any catastrophe that befell our nation anyway.) Oh, and nice misuse of logic.

[RedneckDyke]

He said this in 92? 82 I could understand, we didn't know as much about HIV then, but 92? AIDS should have never been a political issue, it should have been treated like a public health issue. Lots of peole died because it was politiciized. I think Regan had a lot to answer for. If there's a purgatory, he's probably serving time for that. But then, maybe Alzheimers is urgatiry enough. Noone deserves that.

[Emproph]

December 09, 2007


Courtesy Pam's House Blend:

HUCKABEE: I had simply made the point, and I still believe this today, that in the late '80s and early '90s, when we didn't know as much as we do now about AIDS, we were acting more out of political correctness than we were about the normal public health protocols that we would have acted - as we have recently, for example, with avian flu, which - I spent hours and hours, and months, in fact, as a governor dealing with a pandemic plan that we were looking at which called for isolating carriers if they contracted that disease.

WALLACE: But, Governor, forgive me. I don't think that's right. All the way back in 1985, this wasn't political correctness. The Centers for Disease Control back in '85, seven years before you made your statement, said that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact.

HUCKABEE: There was also the case of Kimberly Bergalis, who testified before Congress in 1991. She had contracted AIDS from her dentist.

Kimberly Bergalis. A few snippets from Wikipedia:

Kimberly Bergalis (January 9, 1968-December 8, 1991) was an American woman who was allegedly infected with HIV by Dr. David Acer, a dentist with AIDS.

Bergalis, of Fort Pierce, Florida, claimed to be a virgin and to have never taken IV drugs or received a blood transfusion.

Bergalis insisted that the only instance in which she could have been exposed to HIV was through her HIV-positive dentist

Bergalis actively participated in several actions by conservative congressmen to pass legislation restricting the activities of persons infected with HIV.

In June 1994, CBS's 60 Minutes aired a program reporting that Bergalis was treated for genital warts, a sexually transmitted disease, and had admitted on videotape to having sex with two different men during her life.

And that was the best example he could come up with.

[ladyinred]

Aids is just not a problem for homosexuals anyway, It's like cancer it doesn't discriminate, unborn children can get HIV through their mothers, Heterosexuals can also get it through unprotected sex... I have a big problem with people who stigmatize gay people and call it the gay plague, what about the millions of orphans in Africa that have resulted from aids?Are they being punnished for their parents indiscretions by God?

[ladyinred]

Huckabee is par for the right. He looks so congenial but from what I've read about him he's not so much what his image portrays.