Well, my previous foray into the realm of right-wing opinion journalism was an overwhelming success, so I'm at it again. This time, we've got a gentleman named Deroy Murdock defending Reagan's record on AIDS for
National Review Online. You know, I doubt many NRO readers have seen or read
And the Band Played On..., I doubt many will see
Angels in America or
The Reagans, the CBS/Showtime Made-for-TV movie that sparked this whole controversy. So columns like Murdock's might be the only place they get their info. Would explain a lot.
But let's start by making the case against Reagan. The man simply didn't do enough to combat the rising epidemic of AIDS. It was identified in 1982, squarely on his watch, and he didn't even mention it in public until 1987. [Murdock disputes this claim, but I will dispute his disputation.] Was Reagan a mean old callous, heartless man who wanted gays to die? I can't imagine so. Was Reagan a homophobe? Accounts from people who knew him in his private life, including Rock Hudson, suggest that he was not. But that's not the issue. The issue is, did Reagan sufficiently use the powers of the presidency to address and to combat the terrible epidemic of AIDS? No, he didn't.
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