The National Review Online(NRO)writer Michael Ledeen wrote this dreadful, full of lies, paean to the late, to bad he lived so long, Jesse Helms.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/...
"I'm at an age when moments of failed memory (aka senior moments) are common, but I'm pretty sure I remember this one right. Jesse Helms was aware that HIV-positive women often passed on the virus to their children during pregnancy, but that the transmission could be prevented most all the time by existing medication. It made sense, therefore, to routinely test pregnant women so that their babies could be saved. However, others leaders fought such testing, on the grounds that the "privacy" of the (possibly) HIV-positive women had to be protected at all costs. This made no sense to Helms, and one night, when the relevant bill was in conference, he quietly added a testing requirement to the legislation. Nobody noticed, it became law, he never talked about it.
I suspect he saved lots of lives."
Lies? You betcha.
Here is the truth.
http://query.nytimes.com/...
"The Senate reached a compromise on the issue of testing of pregnant women and newborns for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. Senators approved by voice vote a measure that requires 11 states that account for 80 percent of all newborns infected with H.I.V. to implement a program encouraging all pregnant women to be tested."
"Voting against the bill were Mr. Helms and two other Republicans, Jon Kyl of Arizona and Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire."
That they have the audacity to praise this man is beyond comprehension, but to try to revise history so that his is some sort of savior is just beyond everything. Jesse Helms(I refuse to give the SOB any honorific) did not care about pregnant women or babies.
I also love Ledeen's comment about other "leaders" wanting to protect "privacy" Veiled reference to what party do you think.
I guess I am not too amazed by his love of Jesse. Ledeen is, by the way, a man implicated in Iran-Contra, the Iraq-Niger yellow cake forgery and a main cheerleader for the Iraq war. He is not a man whose viewpoints should hold much credence. Then again the radical right loves these guys who spout lies and misinformation and reinforce their warped scary world view.