That Time The Reagan White House Press Briefing Erupted With Laughter Over AIDS 13 Times
Hysteria over the Ebola virus is reminiscent of what happened to Ryan White, the child who was stricken with AIDS. The lack of correct information which circulated in the media resulted in a bullet being fired through his family’s living room. The Whites were essentially run out of town.
While Republicans are footing the blame of Ebola squarely on President Obama’s shoulders, let’s look how their hero Ronald Reagan handled the growing AIDS epidemic.
Reaganbola via Buzzfeed:
White House Press Briefing — Oct. 15, 1982
Q: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement—the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?
MR. SPEAKES: What’s AIDS?
Q: Over a third of them have died. It’s known as “gay plague.” (Laughter.) No, it is. I mean it’s a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the President is aware of it?
MR. SPEAKES: I don’t have it. Do you? (Laughter.)
Q: No, I don’t.
MR. SPEAKES: You didn’t answer my question.
Q: Well, I just wondered, does the President—
MR. SPEAKES: How do you know? (Laughter.)
Q: In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I don’t know anything about it, Lester.
Q: Does the President, does anybody in the White House know about this epidemic, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s been any—
Q: Nobody knows?
MR. SPEAKES: There has been no personal experience here, Lester.
Q: No, I mean, I thought you were keeping—
MR. SPEAKES: I checked thoroughly with Dr. Ruge this morning and he’s had no—(laughter)—no patients suffering from AIDS or whatever it is.
Q: The President doesn’t have gay plague, is that what you’re saying or what?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I didn’t say that.
Q: Didn’t say that?
MR. SPEAKES: I thought I heard you on the State Department over there. Why didn’t you stay there? (Laughter.)
Q: Because I love you, Larry, that’s why. (Laughter.)
MR. SPEAKES: Oh, I see. Just don’t put it in those terms, Lester. (Laughter.)
Q: Oh, I retract that.
MR. SPEAKES: I hope so.
Q: It’s too late.
White House Press Briefing — June 13, 1983
Q: Larry, does the President think that it might help if he suggested that the gays cut down on their “cruising”? (Laughter.) What? I didn’t hear your answer, Larry.
MR. SPEAKES: I just was acknowledging your interest—
Q: You were acknowledging but—
MR. SPEAKES: —interest in this subject.
Q: —you don’t think that it would help if the gays cut down on their cruising—it would help AIDS?
MR. SPEAKES: We are researching it. If we come up with any research that sheds some light on whether gays should cruise or not cruise, we’ll make it available to you. (Laughter.)
Q: Back to fairy tales.
White House Press Briefing — Dec. 11, 1984
MR. SPEAKES: Lester’s beginning to circle now. He’s moving in front. (Laughter.) Go ahead.
Q: Since the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta—(laughter)—reports—
MR. SPEAKES: This is going to be an AIDS question.
Q: —that an estimated—
MR. SPEAKES: You were close.
Q: Well, look, could I ask the question, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: You were close.
Q: An estimated 300,000 people have been exposed to AIDS, which can be transmitted through saliva. Will the President, as Commander-in-Chief, take steps to protect Armed Forces food and medical services from AIDS patients or those who run the risk of spreading AIDS in the same manner that they forbid typhoid fever people from being involved in the health or food services?
MR. SPEAKES: I don’t know.
Q: Could you—Is the President concerned about this subject, Larry—
MR. SPEAKES: I haven’t heard him express—
Q: —that seems to have evoked so much jocular—
MR. SPEAKES:—concern.
Q: —reaction here? I—you know—
Q: It isn’t only the jocks, Lester.
Q: Has he sworn off water faucets—
Q: No, but, I mean, is he going to do anything, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: Lester, I have not heard him express anything on it. Sorry.
Q: You mean he has no—expressed no opinion about this epidemic?
MR. SPEAKES: No, but I must confess I haven’t asked him about it. (Laughter.)
Q: Would you ask him Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: Have you been checked? (Laughter.)
I suppose that’s Obama’s fault, too. Imagine if the Obama administration made Ebola jokes. The outrage would be deafening.
After the first case of AIDS was discovered in 1981,scientists, researchers and health care professionals expressed the need for funding. The Reagan White House remained silent on the subject.
Ryan White died on April 8th, 1990 at the age of 18. He spent his short life educating the masses on AIDS. Reagan issued a statement about AIDS. Democrats did not blame the former president of spreading the virus in order to bring America to its knees because Kenya, or something.
Image: Buzzfeed
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By: Anomaly100
Carla Akins October 18th, 2014 at 17:36
Come on, you must have noticed that Obama’s black.
Abby Normal October 18th, 2014 at 18:08
He’s also a Kenyan. And a Muslim. And he hates America. I have it on good authority he also hates puppies and kittens.
granpa.usthai October 18th, 2014 at 21:54
– you left out Communist Nazi.
Tater Totz October 21st, 2014 at 18:01
And Socialist.
granpa.usthai October 18th, 2014 at 21:52
oh come on, you know POTUS Obama is the best dang commercial for Hawaiian Tropic
– E V E R!
grannieannie2 October 19th, 2014 at 09:35
No! I’m shocked, shocked I tell you! Why did he do that? Be black I mean. I’m sure he did it on purpose to harm the Talibangelists in this country.
Carla Akins October 19th, 2014 at 10:00
Laughing
Carla Akins October 18th, 2014 at 17:36
Come on, you must have noticed that Obama’s black.
Abby Normal October 18th, 2014 at 18:08
He’s also a Kenyan. And a Muslim. And he hates America. I have it on good authority he also hates puppies and kittens.
granpa.usthai October 18th, 2014 at 21:54
– you left out Communist Nazi.
Tater Totz October 21st, 2014 at 18:01
And Socialist.
granpa.usthai October 18th, 2014 at 21:52
oh come on, you know POTUS Obama is the best dang commercial for Hawaiian Tropic
– E V E R!
grannieannie2 October 19th, 2014 at 09:35
No! I’m shocked, shocked I tell you! Why did he do that? Be black I mean. I’m sure he did it on purpose to harm the Talibangelists in this country.
Carla Akins October 19th, 2014 at 10:00
Laughing
forpeace October 18th, 2014 at 17:37
Dear Anomaly100,
Excellent and fantastic article, BRAVO and job well done!
Some fact checks for the loud GOTP with “Ebola Obsession Syndrome” who were in deep comma during Reagan administration.
You let them have it.
Thank you!
Anomaly 100 October 18th, 2014 at 19:15
forpeace October 19th, 2014 at 18:46
Are we allowed to do that without being labeled as terrorists? ;-)
Anomaly 100 October 19th, 2014 at 18:50
We’re white so it’s OK.
Easy_to_Refute_Wingnuts October 21st, 2014 at 10:15
And don’t forget, Reagan himself had a semi-colon!
forpeace October 18th, 2014 at 17:37
Dear Anomaly 100,
Excellent and fantastic article, BRAVO and job well done!
Some fact checks for the loud GOTP with “Ebola Obsession Syndrome” who were in deep comma during Reagan administration.
You let them have it.
Thank you!
Anomaly 100 October 18th, 2014 at 19:15
forpeace October 19th, 2014 at 18:46
Are we allowed to do that without being labeled as terrorists? ;-)
Anomaly 100 October 19th, 2014 at 18:50
We’re white so it’s OK.
Easy_to_Refute_Wingnuts October 21st, 2014 at 10:15
And don’t forget, Reagan himself had a semi-colon!
mea_mark October 18th, 2014 at 17:56
This is different though. Ebola thrives outside the host best in warm humid climates like the southern red states, this is a disease that has been sent by GOD to hurt republicans not those others that the republicans deem as unworthy of life. This should be taken most seriously because of white privilege and entitlement that comes with being republican. ~ Kinda sarcastic.
mea_mark October 18th, 2014 at 17:56
This is different though. Ebola thrives outside the host best in warm humid climates like the southern red states, this is a disease that has been sent by GOD to hurt republicans not those others that the republicans deem as unworthy of life. This should be taken most seriously because of white privilege and entitlement that comes with being republican. ~ Kinda sarcastic.
Stan Ubeki October 18th, 2014 at 18:12
According to my RWNJ Bro-in-law, this never happened, he called it Liberal “revisiting” (he meant revisionist) history. He is a South Park character. I wish I could share him with the world.
Kimberly Collins October 19th, 2014 at 19:38
I think I’ve met him!
Stan Ubeki October 18th, 2014 at 18:12
According to my RWNJ Bro-in-law, this never happened, he called it Liberal “revisiting” (he meant revisionist) history. He is a South Park character. I wish I could share him with the world.
Kimberly Collins October 19th, 2014 at 19:38
I think I’ve met him!
Electriq October 18th, 2014 at 18:40
Those transcripts will always stand as a testament to the mocking indifference of the reagan white house at a time when concern and leadership were needed. Not that I’m surprised, considering the types of people who surrounded that puppet president.
grannieannie2 October 19th, 2014 at 09:32
Now we have to look to the Koch Brothers to find the puppets.
Electriq October 18th, 2014 at 18:40
Those transcripts will always stand as a testament to the mocking indifference of the reagan white house at a time when concern and leadership were needed. Not that I’m surprised, considering the types of people who surrounded that puppet president.
grannieannie2 October 19th, 2014 at 09:32
Now we have to look to the Koch Brothers to find the puppets.
mmaynard119 October 18th, 2014 at 20:28
If you want a place to start about when this country began becoming so hateful and intolerant, you can start with the RW Saint Ronnie, the hateful bigoted SOB. The first assault on the voting right laws started in his administration as well as the gutting with civil rights by the Ed Meese led DOJ.
granpa.usthai October 18th, 2014 at 21:44
Their drug dealings have yet to be matched even to the present day.
mmaynard119 October 18th, 2014 at 20:28
If you want a place to start about when this country began becoming so hateful and intolerant, you can start with the RW Saint Ronnie, the hateful bigoted SOB. The first assault on the voting right laws started in his administration as well as the gutting with civil rights by the Ed Meese led DOJ.
granpa.usthai October 18th, 2014 at 21:44
Their drug dealings have yet to be matched even to the present day.
searambler October 18th, 2014 at 22:10
Over 20,000 Americans died of AIDS in the 80’s before Reagan the Asshole did anything about it. The GOP response to Obama’s handling of the ebola scare is bullshit.
LittleLeadmen October 19th, 2014 at 13:36
This myth that the Reagan administration did “nothing” or that he should have done “more” simply doesn’t hold up to the facts.
In 1983, at the President’s request, his HHS Secretary declared AIDS a “Top Priority”.
For a President that supposedly didn’t care, the gay community got exponential spending growth towards ending towards a disease that almost exclusively affect them (particularly in the 1980s) and the earliest years of the outbreak.
Federal Funding for AIDS research was as follows:
1982 $8M
1983 $44M
1984 $103M
1985 $205M
1986 $508M
1987 $922M
1988 $1.6 Billion
1989 $2.33 billion (budget passed in 1988)
Here’s the Congressional Report on it:
http://www.fas.org/spp/civil/crs/96-293.pdf
President Reagan signed $5.73 billion in U.S.-government anti-AIDS spending. That’s $10.6 billion in inflation adjusted dollars. Name any other disease in human history that got SO much attention, and research funding IMMEDIATELY. Also take into account that those yearly budgets listed here were all passed the prior year, so the momentum of funding certainly matched the growing outbreak.
This is for a disease, which at that time, only had minimal population infected. At it’s height of the 80’s, there was only .004% of the US population infected with the disease. IN the early years of the outbreak, there were minuscule numbers of infected. (only 270 cases in 1981)
As much as the gay community wants to paint Reagan as a villain for not mentioning the disease publicly until 1985 (at the September 17, 1985 White House News Conference) it should be noted that neither political party made it an issue. Walter Mondale never it mentioned a single time in the 1984 campaign for president. Not Once.
The comparison to EBOLA is vastly undeserved. First of all, EBOLA is a deadly virus that is extremely contagious, and can be passed on with the most minimal of contact. And it’s got a large R factor, infecting 2 people for every 1 that shows up with symptoms. It’s EXPONENTIAL and needs to be handled RIGHT NOW. At the rate it s going, the WHO expects 10,000 NEW CASES PER WEEK by December.
By comparison, AIDS was transmitted via sexual behavior. It was eminently controllable, and the gay community overwhelmingly was resistant to BASIC COMMON SENSE measure to control the outbreak until the 1990’s, at which point it became a HUGE disease through their own irresponsibility.
The criticism of Obama is just, as is the CDC, because EBOLA HAS BEEN A KNOWN POTENTIAL problem for a long time now. This administration rejected basic precautionary measures back in 2009. Additionally, the CDC has been occupied with everything one can imagine, EXCEPT for preparing for an explosive viral outbreak like this.
Here’s a great example. I have a close friend in the medical world in Los Angeles, They recently set up one of two Ebola response areas, in prep for any Ebola victims that show up in LA. They have 4, count them, FOUR level 4 protective suits. That’s barely good for a day of treatment.
I asked, “What happens if more than 2 Ebola patients show up? Or if LA has 20 patients, or even 100 by Late Winter”. His answer, “We’re totally F@$^^”.
The Obama administration has ignored BASIC risk mitigation on this and deserves honest criticism for it.
searambler October 19th, 2014 at 21:20
When doctors at the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health asked for more funding for their work on AIDS, they were routinely denied it. Between June 1981 and May 1982 the CDC spent less than $1 million on AIDS and $9 million on Legionnaire’s Disease. At that point more than 1,000 of the 2,000 reported AIDS cases resulted in death; there were fewer than 50 deaths from Legionnaire’s Disease. Reagan never once spoke the word AIDS in public until September 1985. Almost five years after AIDS was first identified. After thousands and thousands of deaths. Compare that to Obama and this ebola non-epidemic today. How many Americans have died so far? How many have contracted ebola here in the USA?
If the right was truly concerned about ebola today, they would confirm Obama’s nomination for Surgeon General, which they’ve been blocking for over a year now. And they wouldn’t have consistently pushed to reduce funding for the NIH and the CDC for the last dozen years.
“”NIH has been working on Ebola vaccines since 2001. It’s not like we suddenly woke up and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we should have something ready here,'” (NIH Director) Collins told The Huffington Post last week. “Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready.”
Anomaly 100 October 19th, 2014 at 21:42
You rock.
LittleLeadmen October 20th, 2014 at 10:44
“At that point more than 1,000 of the 2,000 reported AIDS cases resulted in death;”
You should check your numbers. The CDC states that there were only 270 cases in 1981, with 121 deaths. And that by the end of 1982, there were only 452 reported cases.
There had not been 1000 deaths until the end of 1983, at which point the Federal Govt had already spent $52 million in AIDS research spending, signed by President Reagan. That was up from $8m in 1982. A five fold increase in just 12 months, as a response to the growing infection rate in the gay community.
Timmybear October 20th, 2014 at 14:56
When I was 15 or so, I remember reading about it in medical journals, and (a) those were not gay medical journals and (b) I had no idea of having ANY sexual orientation when I was 15. That would be 1982. So to claim it was regional and community-specific is not true.
searambler October 20th, 2014 at 20:28
Obama has already committed a billion dollars this year to fight ebola. We have two cases in the USA. Two.
Saint Ronnie, the ‘Great Communicator’, didn’t say a damn thing publicly about AIDS for four freakin’ years. The President, who people actually do listen to, said nothing about it. Defend him all you want. Doesn’t change what he did or did NOT do. He failed here, as he did in so many other areas. He was a bad president.
And none of that addresses the story HERE about his staff laughing and joking about the ‘gay plague’ more than a year after it was discovered to be killing gay Americans, and people who got blood transfusions. Defend THAT.
R.J. Carter October 20th, 2014 at 17:55
NIH / CDC cuts only applied to discretionary spending. If this impacted research into finding a vaccine, it speaks more to the NIH / CDC considering Ebola to be a discretionary disease.
searambler October 20th, 2014 at 20:21
“The CDC saw its discretionary funding cut by $585 million from 2010 to 2014, while the NIH’s budget was slashed by $446 million over the last four years. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, spelled out the impact of the cuts in dire terms during a recent hearing on Capitol Hill.
“I have to tell you honestly it’s been a significant impact on us,” Fauci said. “It has both in an acute and a chronic, insidious way eroded our ability to respond in the way that I and my colleagues would like to see us be able to respond to these emerging threats. And in my institute particularly, that’s responsible for responding on the dime to an emerging infectious disease threat, this is particularly damaging. The CDC also cited the budget cuts in a report earlier this year, saying that annual funding for its public health preparedness and response efforts were $1 billion lower in the 2013 fiscal year than in 2002.” (CNN)
Monte Lutz October 21st, 2014 at 15:14
You forgot to mention the gargantuan INCREASES in budgets the years prior and that the “slashed” budgets were simply a return to sustainable levels.
searambler October 21st, 2014 at 17:07
Really? Hmmm. OK, I found this:
“NIH’s purchasing power is down 23 percent from what it was a decade ago, and its budget has remained almost static. In fiscal year 2004, the agency’s budget was $28.03 billion. In FY 2013, it was $29.31 billion — barely a change, even before adjusting for inflation. The situation is even more pronounced at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a subdivision of NIH, where the budget has fallen from $4.30 billion in FY 2004 to $4.25 billion in FY 2013.”
Whaddya got? I showed you mine, let’s see yours…
Dana October 19th, 2014 at 22:20
You, sir, are a liar. It is NOT “almost exclusively” gay men getting this.
Unless you think all of Africa is gay, including the kids.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS#Epidemiology
LittleLeadmen October 20th, 2014 at 10:33
Reading Comprehension. I suggest you re-read what I wrote. I was very clear.
I said that it was almost exclusively Gay men that had AIDS in the earliest days of the outbreak in the 1980s. I did not make that connection, nor even imply it, with regard to Ebola.
R.J. Carter October 20th, 2014 at 17:54
Hence why it was initially called GRIDS.
fishskicanoe October 20th, 2014 at 17:47
You lie.
http://emergency.cdc.gov/planning/
Pangolin October 22nd, 2014 at 22:25
You’re a liar. The Reagan administration deliberately hampered the CDC on AIDS response and research. It’s well known and dozens of doctors and health officials have testified that is exactly what happened.
LittleLeadmen October 22nd, 2014 at 23:11
By all means, please show me where these statistical numbers ar e incorrect or where the Lexus Nexus shows contrary.
Here is the official report documenting the expenditures for Congress: http://fas.org/spp/civil/crs/96-293.pdf
searambler October 18th, 2014 at 22:10
Over 20,000 Americans died of AIDS in the 80’s before Reagan the Asshole did anything about it. The GOP response to Obama’s handling of the ebola scare is bullshit.
LittleLeadmen October 19th, 2014 at 13:36
This myth that the Reagan administration did “nothing” or that he should have done “more” simply doesn’t hold up to the facts.
In 1983, at the President’s request, his HHS Secretary declared AIDS a “Top Priority”.
For a President that supposedly didn’t care, the gay community got exponential spending growth towards ending towards a disease that almost exclusively affect them (particularly in the 1980s) and the earliest years of the outbreak.
Federal Funding for AIDS research was as follows:
1982 $8M
1983 $44M
1984 $103M
1985 $205M
1986 $508M
1987 $922M
1988 $1.6 Billion
1989 $2.33 billion (budget passed in 1988)
Here’s the Congressional Report on it:
http://www.fas.org/spp/civil/crs/96-293.pdf
President Reagan signed $5.73 billion in U.S.-government anti-AIDS spending. That’s $10.6 billion in inflation adjusted dollars. Name any other disease in human history that got SO much attention, and research funding IMMEDIATELY. Also take into account that those yearly budgets listed here were all passed the prior year, so the momentum of funding certainly matched the growing outbreak.
This is for a disease, which at that time, only had minimal population infected. At it’s height of the 80’s, there was only .004% of the US population infected with the disease. IN the early years of the outbreak, there were minuscule numbers of infected. (only 270 cases in 1981)
As much as the gay community wants to paint Reagan as a villain for not mentioning the disease publicly until 1985 (at the September 17, 1985 White House News Conference) it should be noted that neither political party made it an issue. Walter Mondale never it mentioned a single time in the 1984 campaign for president. Not Once.
The comparison to EBOLA is vastly undeserved. First of all, EBOLA is a deadly virus that is extremely contagious, and can be passed on with the most minimal of contact. And it’s got a large R factor, infecting 2 people for every 1 that shows up with symptoms. It’s EXPONENTIAL and needs to be handled RIGHT NOW. At the rate it s going, the WHO expects 10,000 NEW CASES PER WEEK by December.
By comparison, AIDS was transmitted via sexual behavior. It was eminently controllable, and the gay community overwhelmingly was resistant to BASIC COMMON SENSE measure to control the outbreak until the 1990’s, at which point it became a HUGE disease through their own irresponsibility.
The criticism of Obama is just, as is the CDC, because EBOLA HAS BEEN A KNOWN POTENTIAL problem for a long time now. This administration rejected basic precautionary measures back in 2009. Additionally, the CDC has been occupied with everything one can imagine, EXCEPT for preparing for an explosive viral outbreak like this.
Here’s a great example. I have a close friend in the medical world in Los Angeles, They recently set up one of two Ebola response areas, in prep for any Ebola victims that show up in LA. They have 4, count them, FOUR level 4 protective suits. That’s barely good for a day of treatment.
I asked, “What happens if more than 2 Ebola patients show up? Or if LA has 20 patients, or even 100 by Late Winter”. His answer, “We’re totally F@$^^”.
The Obama administration has ignored BASIC risk mitigation on this and deserves honest criticism for it.
searambler October 19th, 2014 at 21:20
When doctors at the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health asked for more funding for their work on AIDS, they were routinely denied it. Between June 1981 and May 1982 the CDC spent less than $1 million on AIDS and $9 million on Legionnaire’s Disease. At that point more than 1,000 of the 2,000 reported AIDS cases resulted in death; there were fewer than 50 deaths from Legionnaire’s Disease. Reagan never once spoke the word AIDS in public until September 1985. Almost five years after AIDS was first identified. After thousands and thousands of deaths. Compare that to Obama and this ebola non-epidemic today. How many Americans have died so far? How many have contracted ebola here in the USA?
If the right was truly concerned about ebola today, they would confirm Obama’s nomination for Surgeon General, which they’ve been blocking for over a year now. And they wouldn’t have consistently pushed to reduce funding for the NIH and the CDC for the last dozen years.
“”NIH has been working on Ebola vaccines since 2001. It’s not like we suddenly woke up and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we should have something ready here,'” (NIH Director) Collins told The Huffington Post last week. “Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready.”
Anomaly 100 October 19th, 2014 at 21:42
You rock.
LittleLeadmen October 20th, 2014 at 10:44
“At that point more than 1,000 of the 2,000 reported AIDS cases resulted in death;”
You should check your numbers. The CDC states that there were only 270 cases in 1981, with 121 deaths. And that by the end of 1982, there were only 452 reported cases.
There had not been 1000 deaths until the end of 1983, at which point the Federal Govt had already spent $52 million in AIDS research spending, signed by President Reagan. That was up from $8m in 1982. A five fold increase in just 12 months, as a response to the growing infection rate in the gay community.
Re: Reagan’s Silence:
Note that this was not a pressing national issue, and didn’t even hit the radar in a national way until 1983, at which point the President directed his HHS Secretary to make AIDS a “top priority”.
It was such a small, community specific issue, that neither candidate spoke out AIDS during the 1984 campaign. There is not a single quote from Mondale’s campaign on the issue.
And with regard to the 1985 1st mention, what anti-Reagan advocates always fail to mention is the actual quote. Go to the Sept 17, 1985 White House records for the press conference and re-read the transcript.
Here it is for your convenience:
Federal Support for AIDS Research
Q. Mr. President, the Nation’s best-known AIDS scientist says the time has come now to boost existing research into what he called a minor moonshot program to attack this AIDS epidemic that has struck fear into the Nation’s health workers and even its schoolchildren. Would you support a massive government research program against AIDS like the one that President Nixon launched against cancer?
The President. I have been supporting it for more than 4 years now. It’s been one of the top priorities with us, and over the last 4 years, and including what we have in the budget for ’86, it will amount to over a half a billion dollars that we have provided for research on AIDS in addition to what I’m sure other medical groups are doing. And we have $100 million in the budget this year; it’ll be 126 million next year. So, this is a top priority with us. Yes, there’s no question about the seriousness of this and the need to find an answer.
Q. If I could follow up, sir. The scientist who talked about this, who does work for the Government, is in the National Cancer Institute. He was referring to your program and the increase that you proposed as being not nearly enough at this stage to go forward and really attack the problem.
The President. I think with our budgetary constraints and all, it seems to me that $126 million in a single year for research has got to be something of a vital contribution.
Timmybear October 20th, 2014 at 14:56
When I was 15 or so, I remember reading about it in medical journals, and (a) those were not gay medical journals and (b) I had no idea of having ANY sexual orientation when I was 15. That would be 1982. So to claim it was regional and community-specific is not true.
searambler October 20th, 2014 at 20:28
Obama has already committed a billion dollars this year to fight ebola. We have two cases in the USA. Two.
Saint Ronnie, the ‘Great Communicator’, didn’t say a damn thing publicly about AIDS for four freakin’ years. The President, who people actually do listen to, said nothing about it. Defend him all you want. Doesn’t change what he did or did NOT do. He failed here, as he did in so many other areas. He was a bad president.
And none of that addresses the story HERE about his staff laughing and joking about the ‘gay plague’ more than a year after it was discovered to be killing gay Americans, and people who got blood transfusions. Defend THAT.
R.J. Carter October 20th, 2014 at 17:55
NIH / CDC cuts only applied to discretionary spending. If this impacted research into finding a vaccine, it speaks more to the NIH / CDC considering Ebola to be a discretionary disease.
searambler October 20th, 2014 at 20:21
“The CDC saw its discretionary funding cut by $585 million from 2010 to 2014, while the NIH’s budget was slashed by $446 million over the last four years. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, spelled out the impact of the cuts in dire terms during a recent hearing on Capitol Hill.
“I have to tell you honestly it’s been a significant impact on us,” Fauci said. “It has both in an acute and a chronic, insidious way eroded our ability to respond in the way that I and my colleagues would like to see us be able to respond to these emerging threats. And in my institute particularly, that’s responsible for responding on the dime to an emerging infectious disease threat, this is particularly damaging. The CDC also cited the budget cuts in a report earlier this year, saying that annual funding for its public health preparedness and response efforts were $1 billion lower in the 2013 fiscal year than in 2002.” (CNN)
Monte Lutz October 21st, 2014 at 15:14
You forgot to mention the gargantuan INCREASES in budgets the years prior and that the “slashed” budgets were simply a return to sustainable levels.
searambler October 21st, 2014 at 17:07
Really? Hmmm. OK, I found this:
“NIH’s purchasing power is down 23 percent from what it was a decade ago, and its budget has remained almost static. In fiscal year 2004, the agency’s budget was $28.03 billion. In FY 2013, it was $29.31 billion — barely a change, even before adjusting for inflation. The situation is even more pronounced at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a subdivision of NIH, where the budget has fallen from $4.30 billion in FY 2004 to $4.25 billion in FY 2013.”
Whaddya got? I showed you mine, let’s see yours…
Dana October 19th, 2014 at 22:20
You, sir, are a liar. It is NOT “almost exclusively” gay men getting this.
Unless you think all of Africa is gay, including the kids.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS#Epidemiology
LittleLeadmen October 20th, 2014 at 10:33
Reading Comprehension. I suggest you re-read what I wrote. I was very clear.
I said that it was almost exclusively Gay men that had AIDS in the earliest days of the outbreak in the 1980s. I did not make that connection, nor even imply it, with regard to Ebola.
R.J. Carter October 20th, 2014 at 17:54
Hence why it was initially called GRIDS.
fishskicanoe October 20th, 2014 at 17:47
You lie.
http://emergency.cdc.gov/planning/
$32809 October 22nd, 2014 at 22:25
You’re a liar. The Reagan administration deliberately hampered the CDC on AIDS response and research. It’s well known and dozens of doctors and health officials have testified that is exactly what happened.
LittleLeadmen October 22nd, 2014 at 23:11
By all means, please show me where these statistical numbers ar e incorrect or where the Lexus Nexus shows contrary.
Here is the official report documenting the expenditures for Congress: http://fas.org/spp/civil/crs/96-293.pdf
burqa October 18th, 2014 at 23:17
According to what they’re saying on Fox, you could get ebola from a wet fart.
.
BRAAAAAAAAAP!
sorry.
whatthe46 October 18th, 2014 at 23:54
that was hilarious!
Candide Thirtythree October 20th, 2014 at 07:43
a shart? That sounds like what all of Fox news is
burqa October 18th, 2014 at 23:17
According to what they’re saying on Fox, you could get ebola from a wet fart.
.
BRAAAAAAAAAP!
sorry.
whatthe46 October 18th, 2014 at 23:54
that was hilarious!
Candide Thirtythree October 20th, 2014 at 07:43
a shart? That sounds like what all of Fox news is
M D Reese October 19th, 2014 at 01:10
There’s an excellent book (and movie) about that time called “And the Band Played On” by Randy Shilts. It was a scary time–especially for gay men.
shellbell October 20th, 2014 at 23:34
And for those of us who love gay brothers, cousins, uncles and friends!!!
M D Reese October 25th, 2014 at 17:46
Yes. I was on the Central California coast at the time and lost several acquaintances–one that was very special. Another friend used to live and work up on the Russian River, which had (has?) a thriving gay community. He couldn’t stand to go back to visit after awhile because so many of his community had died.
M D Reese October 19th, 2014 at 01:10
There’s an excellent book (and movie) about that time called “And the Band Played On” by Randy Shilts. It was a scary time–especially for gay men.
shellbell October 20th, 2014 at 23:34
And for those of us who love gay brothers, cousins, uncles and friends!!!
M D Reese October 25th, 2014 at 17:46
Yes. I was on the Central California coast at the time and lost several acquaintances–one that was very special. Another friend used to live and work up on the Russian River, which had (has?) a thriving gay community. He couldn’t stand to go back to visit after awhile because so many of his community had died.
rg9rts October 19th, 2014 at 04:02
I’m just waiting for Texas to deny the Carnival Cruise ship docking rights….Defending their borders and reenforced by a posse of open carry twits
rg9rts October 19th, 2014 at 04:02
I’m just waiting for Texas to deny the Carnival Cruise ship docking rights….Defending their borders and reenforced by a posse of open carry twits