WaPo Recycles Myth of Reagan Inaction on AIDS

Photo of Tim Graham.
By Tim Graham (Bio | Archive)
December 16, 2008 - 08:07 ET
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On the front page of Tuesday’s Washington Post, reporter Anne Hull recalled the devastating trail of the AIDS epidemic as marked by the moving of the D.C.-based Whitman-Walker AIDS clinic. But deep in the piece, in the 35th paragraph, Hull unearthed an old anti-Reagan myth:

Several blocks from the clinic was the White House, where President Ronald Reagan had barely uttered the word "AIDS" in his eight years in office. In 1989, the Centers for Disease Control reported 22,082 deaths from AIDS.

Is it fair for reporters to imply that Reagan and his alleged inaction and silence were responsible? Brent Bozell said no when this myth started up again after Reagan died in 2004:

Start with the Reagan AIDS myth. A Los Angeles Times story suggested "many gay men like playwright Jon Bastian still feel Reagan ‘did nothing, basically’ about the AIDS epidemic that exploded during his eight years as president." Reporters like CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta also lied: "The first time President Reagan would utter the word AIDS in public would be well into his second term, six years after the virus was discovered."

Some AIDS activists in the 1980s never had anything but vicious blame for Reagan. Some still do. The Advocate magazine is touting its forthcoming essay by extremist playwright Larry Kramer titled "Adolf Reagan." It begins: "Our murderer is dead. The man who murdered more gay people than anyone in the entire history of the world, is dead. More people than Hitler even."

The real Reagan record on AIDS is different. AIDS funding skyrocketed in the 1980s, almost doubling each year from 1983 – when the media started blaring headlines – from $44 million to $103 million, $205 million, $508 million, $922 million, and then $1.6 billion in 1988. Reagan’s secretary of Health and Human Services in 1983, Margaret Heckler, declared AIDS her department’s "number one priority." While the House of Representatives was Democrat-dominated throughout the 1980s, which Democrats would quickly explain was the source of that skyrocketing AIDS funding, Reagan clearly signed the spending bills that funded the war on AIDS.

It’s also wrong that Reagan didn’t utter the word "AIDS" until 1987. Any reporter who bothered to check facts would find that Reagan discussed AIDS funding in a 1985 press conference, just for starters. But let’s turn that around on the rest of Washington. Does that mean no reporter asked Reagan about AIDS in the 1984 presidential debates? And that every interview President Reagan granted to a national or local media outlet failed to solicit Reagan’s opinions on AIDS until 1985? Using this phony-baloney spin line – that federal policy hinges exclusively on the presidential bully pulpit – is an exercise in liberal hyperbole over hard data.

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.


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Surprise, surprise.  Those

December 16, 2008 - 08:26 ET by Seashell

Surprise, surprise.  Those evil Republicans are responsible for the AIDS epidemic in the US, especially that dastardly Ronald Reagan!

Reagan is responsible for

December 16, 2008 - 09:47 ET by ThatDude

Reagan is responsible for the deaths of innumerable gays?  That's an odd way to blame another for the actions of one's self.  Even if he wasn't as aggressive as he was in funding research on the disease, it's ridiculous to attempt to blame someone else for your contracting of a disease through your own choices. 

Responsibility is not a common characteristic of the left.

I cannot help but notice

December 16, 2008 - 12:35 ET by R D Helm

I cannot help but notice that, even after eight years of Billy Joe Bob Bubba Clinton as president, and despite the fact that medical science knew far more about this hideous disease in the 1990's than it did in the 1980's, there is still no cure for AIDS.

-Dave

Will work for beer.

When the facts don't fit,

December 16, 2008 - 12:54 ET by mattm

When the facts don't fit, demonize.  Libs have no facts backing up their claims, accusations and views, so all they do is demonize.  This story is just one of thousands that demonstrate this.

Reagan, aids, and the military

December 16, 2008 - 14:31 ET by CobraMan

Not only did Reagan fund research into the cause, and treatment, of Aids, he was also instrmential in the EDUCTION of Aids, at least as far as the Military was concerned. 

Back in 1985, when I joined the military and was stationed in Germany, every single member of the military attended classes which discussed Aids, including the apparent causes, effects, mortality rates, and other pertanit information.  I even remember the instructor (a civilian BTW) using a tennis ball covered with big dots as a visual aid (no pun intended) for what the HIV Virus (as it was called then) looked like!

Not only did Reagan institute an Aids education program, he instituted an Aids AVOIDANCE and MITIGATION program which described how the virus was spread, what the symptoms were, how a newly approved blood test would detect the Aids virus (damn that Reagan for providing a means of testing!) and ways to minimize the spread of Aids amongst the member of the military.

So, liberals, tell me again how Reagan ignored the Aids problem? I know, for a fact, that you're not telling the truth simply because you want to DEMONIZE a Republican President! 

Obama: My job is above my pay grade

Tim. Newsweek's special issue, AIDS at 25, did it as well.

December 16, 2008 - 14:33 ET by Gary Hall

In the spring of 2006 Newsweek published a special issue of their weekly magazine titled, "Aids at 25," in which 40 pages are devoted to the HIV/Aids history and the effort to win the battle.

By 2006, without any help from the MSM, the world is well aware that President Bush had proposed, planned, submitted, sailed through Congress, and implemented the largest single effort ever waged to combat the world's HIV/Aids pandemic. Newsweek is determined to censor that news - and push it's agenda from beginning to end.

Earlier - by 2002 -  the world, notably the activist left clearly understood that the last occupant of the White House had not only simply turned his back on the millions who were dying from numerous genocides and civil wars in Africa, but had decided it was not his turn to lead in the global battle against HIV/Aids.

This piece (and there were many more like it) from the Washington editor of "The Nation," David Corn, sets the record straight: Too little, too late - How many times is Bill Clinton going to apologize to Africa?  In true Clintonesque understanding, David Corn asks why, and answers, "

The prevailing view was, these people should die quietly.

and..

A cynical guess at Clinton's motivations: AIDS in Africa, it doesn’t poll well.

In this full-blown history of Aids, Newsweek opened with, “He [Reagan] didn't publicly utter the term "AIDS" until 1987. They just never miss the opportunity, do they? 

Newsweek did, of course, afford former President Bill Clinton not only a full-page B & W portrait of himself, but Clinton’s own personal account; a 1,317 word ego laced self-legacy titled, “My Quest to Improve Care.” To his credit, Clinton does mention the “Bush Administration,” but not until the next to last paragraph, right along with the Gates Foundation, but only after mentioning himself – the “I” word – 26 times.

Actual coverage, in Newsweek's special issue,  of President Bush and his leadership in the world's largest and most successful war on HIV/Aids is a no-show.

Here's how Newsweek makes up for it's failure in covering the issues at hand; finally, at the very end of the special report, on page 64, Newsweek only found room for a single caption, which did clearly stated:

"Only 3% of Americans know that the Bush administration has more than doubled U.S. Spending to combat HIV/Aids in Developing countries.”

Only 3% - by golly, I wonder why? Might you have included the story?

What Newsweek should have done, was take former President Bill Clinton to task - and put special emphasis on what leadership was all about - President Bush's leadership.

The interesting and sad truth here is, as we tune in almost every day and witness the MSM not only re-writing Clinton's history on the issue, but openly pushing the view, that his legacy there was the stuff history is made for, that the media knows damn good and well that Clinton missed the chance to lead on the then spiraling out of control HIV/Aids pandemic in Africa and Asia, and because of that, millions more people would contract the disease and ultimately die from it.

 World renowned humanitarian activist, and Live 8 founder, Bob Geldof, who continues to sing praises of President Bush's effort to this day, had this to say back in May of 2003, as the Bush effort was just getting started:

"You'll think I'm off my trolley when I say this, but the Bush administration is the most radical - in a positive sense - in its approach to Africa since Kennedy," Geldof told the Guardian.

The neo-conservatives and religious rightwingers who surrounded President George Bush were proving unexpectedly receptive to appeals for help, he said. "You can get the weirdest politicians on your side."

Former president Bill Clinton had not helped Africa much, despite his high-profile visits and apparent empathy with the downtrodden, the organiser of Live Aid, claimed. "Clinton was a good guy, but he did fuck all."

My I be the first to suggest that for the next 20 years, or so, that the MSM begins it articles on HIV/Aids with:

Several blocks from the clinic was the White House, where President Bill Clinton hid from reality while keeping a close eye on the polls. He witnessed the the saga of millions of human beings suffering and dying from HIV/Aids during his eight years in office - and the millions more who would fall prey to it's death reach - and did next to nothing. After all, he had intern problems to deal with.