Hillary's comments on Nancy, Ronald and AIDS

[Quixote1818]

First I want to disclose that I am a Bernie supporter though I will support Hillary full throttle if she gets the nomination. As I start to write this I am not even sure what I am about to write because I am trying to sort this out as it's just sort of bizarre and hard to believe. I have a lot of old emotions bubbling up and I guess I just need to write about this and see what it is I am feeling. It's strange because if there is one thing I was extremely aware of growing up in the 70's 80's was that Reagan completely and utterly failed in every possible way on AIDS. I am a straight man but was raised by two very liberal parents who both taught at the local University and I remember several poignant discussions about Reagan's prejudices leading his staff to joke about AIDS and the millions of folks who (mostly gay and drug users) were dropping like flies at the time and nothing was being done.

My oldest sisters best friend died of AIDS and sadly we saw him just a week before he died. That whole experience is seared into my mind. I remember Mom literally almost falling down in tears after we saw him and his partner who was much younger than he was. I don't want to give his real name so I will just call him "John" for now. I just remember my Mom crying because she was very upset about "John" but even more upset about his young partner who she described over and over as "doomed" as she was absolutely crushed at seeing such a deer friend of our family and his loved one dying in front of our eyes. There are few instances in my life I remember seeing her so torn up.

I also remember several instances in college when professors would talk about AIDS and religious right nuts would argue with the professors suggesting God had sent AIDS to kill off all the gays and drug users. I will never forget the look on one of my professors faces as he rolled his eyes in complete and utter disgust. This kind of crap was coming out of the Reagan and the Republican party and it was everywhere!

So even as a kid in HS and College I remember all too well the fucking crap Reagan the Republicans and all their ilk were pulling to delay any progress on AIDS so millions of folks who they despised would die horrible deaths. I remember the anger in my parents voices toward Reagan over this. So what strikes me is how on Earth Hillary could get this so wrong? It's why this strikes me as sort of a Freudian slip on her part. People who cared deeply about those dying of AIDS were focused like a laser on the failings of the Reagan Administration, so for her to get that wrong tells me that this issue simply was not important to her at the time. Perhaps she has changed but this really makes me wonder if that Berry Goldwater girl blood was still somewhat running through her veins at the time. Her answer is a real window into her soul around the time all this was going down.

Perhaps she didn't lose anyone close to her from AIDS and I can understand how that would prevent her from being as strongly impacted as my family and I were, but still, watching all those folks die as Reagan sat by and his Press Secretary laughed at those dying; as many people suggested they had it coming, was flat out evil! It just boggles my mind how anyone who does politics for a living could get this so wrong.

I will still of course support Hillary if she gets the nomination but I hope she learns from this. When there is a disease holocaust going on in front of our eyes, how can someone not be deeply touched and moved into action, and in Hillary's case be so oblivious to the fact that the Reagans were the enemy of AIDS victims? How was she not aware of how deeply painful this was to the gay and lesbian community among so many others? I am willing to give her a pass on a lot of things other Bernie supporters won't because I agree with Thom Hartmann that Hillary is basically running a pretty typical dirty campaign that is considered okay by most in politics but how she got this wrong just kind of floored me and I had to say something. I will probably always look at her a bit differently now; with a little more distrust.

[SusanCalvin]

1. Here's what I still want to know.

Whereinthehell did she get the idea Nancy was an AIDS activist??

[seattleite]

3. I'm gay and don't think it's hard to believe.

I think she thinks she's got the gay vote locked, that's pretty clear. I also think she wants to say good things about St. Ronald and woo some "moderate" Republicans who might dislike their current crop of lunatics.

It's not believable that she just "misspoke." No one was afraid to talk about Alzheimer's or stem cell research during the Reagan administration- hell, the latter didn't even exist.

[SusanCalvin]

4. Oh, she's obviously doing a combination of

speaking well of the dead and pandering to Republicans. I just can't figure out where she got the idea to praise Nancy on AIDS, and why she thought it was a *good* idea once she got it.

Oh, wait, I found a possible explanation.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1169&pid=1363

I still say what she said in that interview was a stupid choice.

[ALBliberal]

2. Excellent post. I had a co-worker who contracted AIDS in in the late 80's.

The firm I worked for fired him. Another co-worker went to see him and was so upset afterward he told me: AIDS victims die a dog's death. I remember he developed TB at the end. I did speak with him on the phone a few weeks before he passed and the fear in his voice completely saddened and frightened me.

This is my question and my remarks for Hillary: As First Lady of Arkansas and as a beloved fighter of just and liberal causes how in the world could you mis-speak about the horror of this disease that blindsided our country? Surely as First Lady of Arkansas you were in a position of constituents pleading for help. Surely you were touched in your own personal way with the disease killing a friend or acquaintance. And as the political being we know you are you surely knew the Reagans were MIA on HIV/AIDS. I won't even speak to the Alzheimer's mix up you gave us as an apology. Eye roll.

All I have left to say is that I feel you are squandering your incredible potential as a transformative leader by these completely avoidable situations you put yourself in. You were in many of our eyes a leader of our generation and someone we want(ed) to believe in.

I will vote for you in the GE but I am saddened that I can't be happy about it. Please stop it with the unforced errors.