The best explanation for Hillary Clinton's bizarre comments about the Reagans and HIV/AIDS

[XemaSab]

On Friday, Hillary Clinton made a bizarre claim about Ronald and Nancy Reagan during the former first lady's funeral: that on HIV/AIDS, they "started a national conversation. When before nobody would talk about it, nobody wanted to do anything about it."

This got the history, as we now know it, completely wrong. Through documents and reviews of the time period, we know the Reagan administration did not care much about HIV/AIDS until years into the epidemic — in large part because it was perceived as a disease that only afflicted gay people. In a particularly brazen example, Reagan's press secretary joked and laughed about HIV and its victims in press conferences.

So it came as little surprise when Clinton walked back her comment in a statement later in the day: "While the Reagans were strong advocates for stem cell research and finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease, I misspoke about their record on HIV and AIDS. For that, I'm sorry."

But there's some reason to believe Clinton meant what she said: Clinton was part of a Democratic establishment in the 1980s that was by and large as out of touch with the plight of HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ people as the Reagan administration was at the time. So it's wholly plausible that her recollection of the period genuinely reflected well on the Reagans, at least on this issue.

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/12/11210044/clinton-reagan-hiv-aids-lgbt

[Tanuki]

1. My guess is that she left the writing of her remarks for Nancy Reagan's funeral to some low level

staffer, having bigger fish to fry at the moment and figuring it would be impossible to screw something like that up. Even if that were the case, she should have been more careful and read the statement closely before delivering it, and the buck stops with her. There is so much pain for so many in this issue.

[TM99]

2. This really doesn't help her.

It actually confirms that she was indeed a homophobe like everyone knows she was until she 'evolved' in 2013.

Y'all might just want to admit to her pandering and lying. It looks bad, but this looks far worse.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. If she really had no idea of the truth, she is absolutely not qualified to be President.

Not even close. She and Bill were told repeatedly what the facts were,they were confronted by activists, lobbied by other activists, there were massive demonstrations at the WH when they lived in it.

ACT UP: Ashes Action - 13 October 1996
ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) took the cremated human remains of friends, lovers, and family members who were murdered by AIDS (killed by government neglect) and threw the ashes onto the White House lawn in Washington DC in protest on October 11, 1992.