Huckabee Denies He Ever Called For Quarantining AIDS Patients, Contradicts His Own Comments
Huckabee Denies He Ever Called For Quarantining AIDS Patients, Contradicts His Own Comments
On Fox News Sunday this morning, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee denied that he ever called for quarantining AIDS patients in 1992, claiming that he “didn’t say that we should quarantine,” but that the onset of the AIDS epidemic “was the first time in public health protocols” that “we didn’t isolate the carrier”:
Chris, I didn’t say that we should quarantine. I said it was the first time in public health protocols that when we had an infectious disease and we didn’t really know just how extensive and how dramatic it could be and the impact of it, that we didn’t isolate the carrier.
Huckabee then asserted that he stands by his 1992 comments, saying he wouldn’t “run from” or “recant” them. Watch it:
Huckabee is being disingenious at best when he says he didn’t call for quarantining AIDS patients. As ThinkProgress noted yesterday, Huckabee told the Associated Press in 1992 that “we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague“:
In 1992, Huckabee wrote, “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.”
“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.”
In the same AP interview, Huckabee also claimed that “homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”
As Fox’s Chris Wallace noted this morning, “seven years before” Huckabee “made” his statement, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) “said that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact.” At the time of his comments, the CDC had recently reported that there were almost 200,000 AIDS patients in the United States, and 126,159 people had already died from the syndrome.
UPDATE: Politico’s Mike Allen adds: “Dictionary.com: quar-an-tine (noun) a strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease.”
Transcript:
CHRIS WALLACE: As you rise in the polls, I don’t have to tell you that your past is becoming more of an issue.It now turns out that when you ran for the Senate back in 1992, you called for quarantining AIDS patients, you opposed increased federal funding to find a cure, and you also said that homosexuality was a, quote, sinful lifestyle that could pose a dangerous health risk.
Do you stand by any of that now, Governor?
MIKE HUCKABEE: Chris, I didn’t say that we should quarantine. I said it was the first time in public health protocols that when we had an infectious disease and we didn’t really know just how extensive and how dramatic it could be and the impact of it, that we didn’t isolate the carrier.
Now, the headlines yesterday started saying that I called for quarantines, which if you’ll go back and read my comments, I did not.
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.
We didn’t think that there was a casual transmission. There were studies that showed that. But there were other concerns being voiced by public health officials.
Now, would I say things a little differently in 2007? Probably so. But I’m not going to recant or retract from the statement that I did make because, again, the point was not saying we ought to lock people up who have HIV/AIDS.
I knew people who had AIDS. I had a close friend who died of it in the 1980s. He was a hemophiliac. He contracted it through a blood transfusion. I had other friends of mine, one of whom passed away — he was, in fact, homosexual.
But my point is that I was trying to talk about the different public health protocols that we were dealing with. I think what it really does show, though, is that when people are digging back into everything I’ve ever said and done — and I understand that, it’s part of the political process.
But what I’m not going to do is to go back and now try to change every story I’ve ever had. I’m going to simply say that that was exactly what I said. I don’t run from it, don’t recant from it.
Would I say it a little differently today? Sure, in light of 15 years of additional knowledge and understanding, I would.
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It is the nuts which support this statment. So where does that put you?
December 9th, 2007 at 10:53 amRemember, he also never pressured a parole board to free a convicted Rapist either…
Don’t these Boobs know they’re actions are being documented?
December 9th, 2007 at 10:54 amAnother Republican liar who thinks he can spin anything he says until it means nothing.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:02 amMike Huckabee had a gay friend who died from aids? Who would that be, Rock Hudson?
December 9th, 2007 at 11:10 amActually, this wasn’t his most controversial statement on FNS. Huckabee stated that he would close down Gitmo, and not torture terrorists, so let’s see how that affects his numbers.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:11 amActually, this wasn’t his most controversial statement on FNS. Huckabee stated that he would close down Gitmo, and not torture terrorists, so let’s see how that affects his numbers.
Comment by Jason M. Hendler — December 9, 2007 @ 11:11 am
Link, or another of Jason Hitler’s lies?
December 9th, 2007 at 11:15 amI agree with the Huckster about one thing: it is now time to isolate the carriers of the “stupid” plague from the general population.
First, fire GDumbya and Darth Cheney’s sorry arses.
Second, cancel all planned Republican presidential candidate debates.
Third, take FoxSnooze off the air.
Fourth, put muzzles on the rest of the usual suspects — Britty Hume, Billy Krystol, John “Got Milk?” Bolton, Rush Limpalls, Little Seanie Insanity and the rest of the reich-wing rant jockeys — who add nothing to the public discourse except ignorance, bias, jingoism and outright lies.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:19 amre: #7
p.s. — settle the writers’ strike and get the late night hosts, John Stewart and Stephen Colbert back on the air; they are all true antidotes to the “stupid” virus that is spread every day by FoxSnooze, talk radio, the presi-dunce and the Republican candidates
December 9th, 2007 at 11:25 amCan we all say, FLIP FLOP!
December 9th, 2007 at 11:30 amHuckabee is wingnut fundie, WTF would you let a whackjob like that in the Oval Office?
December 9th, 2007 at 11:34 amOh come now natisman,
December 9th, 2007 at 11:36 amWe all know that it isn’t flipflopping when a candidate you support changes position. Then it is a thoughtful assessment of the issue and a willingness to consider other possibilities. Just ask Mitt’s crew if you don’t believe me.
How strange is it that Huckabee and his ilk have to hate gay people to get the “values voters?” Hate is a Republican value.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:45 am“Chris, I didn’t say that we should quarantine.”
Not in so many words, no, but here’s what you did say:
Actually, you wrote it. Twice. You write that “we need to… isolate the carriers” of AIDS. If that isn’t quarantine I don’t know what is. You go on to write that “(i)t’s difficult to understand” why we don’t.
You then go on to suggest that, rather than increasing the federal contribution to AIDS research and treatment, multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor (and) Madonna†should take up the slack.
Now, there’s a “man of God” for ya!
December 9th, 2007 at 12:02 pmLies and fraud brought to you courtesy of 1984, Animal Farm, The Wizard of Oz, the Booshit administration and the G.OP. Right is wrong, up is down, four legs are better than two legs, and don’t pay any attention to the man behind the curtain. What a glorious tradition this man works in: “Pay no attention to my efforts to appeal to the bigots of Arkansas. I am now appealing to the bigots of the entire U.S. That is an entirely different situation.”
December 9th, 2007 at 12:04 pmSmiles and lies will get us nowhere.
If these candidates,like Huckabee and many others like him do not answer questions with complete honestry now,then electing one of these sweet talkers can lead us to a mess later , when he or she get elected and have the power of presidency.
Today on ‘Meet The Press’ Giuliani was spinning on when asked about how his mistress expenses were paid by taxpayer when he was Mayor of New York ; he kept saying..his family was in danger,and he needed protection .but when asked by Tim Russert that your mistress was not known to public then…he kept spinning the story.
The same with Hillary who was spinning her story that she voted to consider half of Iran’s army as terrorists to put pressure on Iran to start peace talking…while in fact it was a vote for war.
We have to look and care for honesty now…or we will pay heavy price later…
December 9th, 2007 at 12:19 pmComment by S.D.: “Don’t these Boobs know they’re actions are being documented?”
Yeah, they know. They also know that the majority of us will never check. Sadly, I think they’re right.
December 9th, 2007 at 12:21 pmLike all of the 2008 Republican White House hopefuls, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is quick to claim the mantle of Ronald Reagan. But when it came to the AIDS crisis, even President Ronald Reagan was positively enlightened compared to the extremist Senate candidate Huckabee years later. As it turns out, everything Mike Huckabee argued in response to the AIDS epidemic in 1992 – quarantining victims, blaming gay Americans, decrying federal funding to fight the disease – Ronald Reagan himself debunked in 1987.
For the details, see:
December 9th, 2007 at 12:39 pm“Reagan Debunked Huckabee’s AIDS Bigotry – in 1987.”
jason and frank m. the satan worshippers have arrived!
(source – bill o’reilly, “journalist”, fox news)
December 9th, 2007 at 12:54 pmPoor, poor Gomer Pyle! He’s suffering from the same Bush disease – loss of memory.
December 9th, 2007 at 12:58 pmIt 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
plague
an infectious, epidemic disease caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, characterized by fever, chills, and prostration, transmitted to humans from rats by means of the bites of fleas. Compare bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, septicemic plague.
Huckabee is a typical Republiscum that thinks the way out of a hole is to keep digging.
December 9th, 2007 at 12:58 pmDon’t these Boobs know they’re actions are being documented?
Comment by S.D.
You gotta love the internet. It used to be that only newspeople could do research on what people said but now anyone can do it. One would think that kind of exposure would cause these people to think before they opened their mouths, but apparently not.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:06 pmWhat Would Pastor Huck Do?
Lie
…WWJD?
December 9th, 2007 at 1:15 pm…WWJD?
Comment by rastaman — December 9, 2007 @ 1:15 pm
that question answers itself.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:19 pmMore garbage from Mike F**k-up-abee.
December 9th, 2007 at 2:16 pmMemo to the Huckster (and yes, I am referring to him that way for a reason — because he’s trying to con the American people by trying to avoid accountability)…
Attempting to rewrite history is never going to be 100% effective unless or until you have access to a “Memory Hole” — and if people like me have anything to say about it, you never will. You may not want to admit that you said such things, but it’s a matter of public record — just because you’re ashamed of the truth doesn’t make it any less true. Especially now that you’re running for President, perhaps you should take this as an object lesson in learning to consider the potential impact of your words before opening your pie-hole — because if you think the attention is too close for comfort now, you’re not ready for the White House.
December 9th, 2007 at 2:47 pm#21 – thanks billbo – and to add huckabee isn’t a great fan of science either,believing that the earth is only 6000 yrs old etc so it really comes as no surprise that his knowledge of viral infections is limited
December 9th, 2007 at 5:57 pmWho said:
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
/narf / snark /sound-of-pig-grunting.,
December 9th, 2007 at 7:21 pmAnyone interested in what Huckabee is really like face to face should
December 9th, 2007 at 8:13 pmtry
this funny (but it actually happened) column:
http://goupstate.us/index.php/lanefiller/2007/11/02/title_14
It is interesting to me that no one has raised the issue that the full questionnaire has not been released. The questionnaire we have now is only a part of it. We don’t know what questions were asked nor do we have additional responses made to those questions. Huckabee has not lied and none of the statements or information on this post have proved that he has.
#21- thanks for the definition
# 26- Huckabee hasn’t avoided anything. He responded, explained his position, and is standing by his comments. Your comment means nothing and shows your lack of information on the issue.
# 27- Were you or anyone you know here 100 million years ago? Any scientist will admit that dating could be flawed and we are always making new findings. That is the wonder of science; we don’t have all the answers. Therefore, your argument is flawed.
December 9th, 2007 at 8:24 pm#31 – “Unfortunately, you hateful, unAmerican pricks have used all your ammo.” Comment by Liberals Are Filled With Hate — December 10, 2007 @ 6:57 am
Wow, sounds like LAFWH is talking about Republicans here.
No surprise, though. It’s the man with the beam in his eye, talking about the splinter in someone else’s. Go figure.
December 10th, 2007 at 8:33 amI guess God phoned him up and told him that it was OK to lie about this one.
After all, everybody knows that God hates fags.
/sarc off
December 10th, 2007 at 12:06 pmSorry for a bit of blatant promotion but this article on Upchuckabee was to good to pass up passing on.
http://www.queerty.com/news/huckabee-may-have-lost-weight-but-hes-still-a-pig-20071210
December 10th, 2007 at 5:52 pm