Flashback, 1982: Reagan White House press conference & a rollicking good time over "gay plague"

[Bluebear]

Reagan & Speakes

[RKP5637]

1. Yep, it was a great joke to the WH. Those queers over there, let them die, that was

what I got from Reagan.

[Hugabear]

2. It's still a joke to many conservatives

Doesn't matter that it's not just a "gay plague", that's how many of them still view it. And to them, anything that kills gays is a good thing.

[DBoon]

6. noting give a conservative more pleasure than seeing someone die in great pain

nt

[sakabatou]

3. Yes and it still is to many republicans.

[Maru Kitteh]

4. This transcript should be required reading in textbooks.

[Enrique]

5. damn

that's pretty bad. That guy's a White House official, and those people laughing are professional journalists? :puke:

[Hannah Bell]

7. kr.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

9. K/R

[progressoid]

10. k/r

[Hello_Kitty]

11. I remember that. It was disgusting. eom

[WCGreen]

12. compassionate Conservatism on display...

[David__77]

13. If only it had been contained at that point, things might be so much different today.

It's a public health issue that still must be addressed.

[MilesColtrane]

20. .

[Crowman1979]

33. Notice how the number living with HIV rises around the same time the Rethuglicans controlled...

...congress in 1995. Gee, I guess abstinence education was working wonders. :sarcasm:

[Toon Me Out]

14. Despicable GOP.

The official party of war and hate.

[libmom74]

15. horrible, repugnant asshole

how anyone in their right mind could idolize this man is beyond me. my uncles partner died of AIDS in the early 90's and it is no laughing matter.

[racaulk]

16. Reagan's legacy in the dawning of the AIDS epidemic was atrocious.

The way he has been lionized in history as some great hero makes me sick. He was no hero. He was a bigot, a coward, and a liar.

K&R

[AlbertCat]

43. He was a bigot, a coward, and a liar.

As an actor in Hollywood film industry, he was surrounded by "queers". They did his hair, his makeup, drove him around, got him coffee, made is costumes, kept him in focus, acted scenes with him....

Same was true of the horrible bigot, Charlton Heston.

And the same was true when they left the film industry.


It's like someone who loves jazz, but is a member of the KKK.... or something....

[mod mom]

17. Is there a link to this. I'd like to post it to FB

:mad:

[ehrnst]

18. Whoopi did a great piece on Ronnie finding out about Rock Hudson's death from AIDS.

Nancy panics and tells Ronnie that she slept with Rock Hudson - and Ronnie says, "So did I, Mommie."

[Brickbat]

19. Wow. Who was the reporter?

[jumptheshadow]

21. And Reagan wasn't the only one

I remember a couple of Democratic politicians cracking similar jokes at the time. One of them, who later built up a decent record on gay rights (hopefully, from an ethical and not an opportunistic place) made a limp wrist gesture when I suggested that our organization have an information session about it. There were several people in the room...

[xchrom]

22. i wish i could say i didnt remember all that -- but i do. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

23. Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

For those who might still be snickering at the 'gay plague' and rationalizing Reagan's vicious refusal to take action, just chew on this. The US is about 13% black, but the HIV Population is about 48% black. See how that works? It is a top killer of young African American women and men in 2011. So that which Reagan did to 'those people' he also did to the rest of the country, and the world, for the US should have been leading the world in taking on that challenge.
Dutch Reagan was a Death Clown Monster. The Obama attitude toward Ron seems to suggest some deeper issues on Obama's part. When the exchange in the OP happened, Barack was a grown man in college, so he should have been aware of this.
Also note that it is not Barack who is pointing out National Black HIV/AIDS awareness day here at DU, but me, a wee blue eyed homosexual. This is not how it should be, my friends. But it has been this way from the start.
http://www.blackaidsday.org/index.html

[originalpckelly]

24. Remember this Log Cabin Republicans.

This is who you support, guys like this.

[RoBear]

25. Ray-gun adulation is rampant, dog knows why!

An acquaintance of mine has a T-shirt that has a picture of Raygun and the text NOT DEAD ENOUGH. I couldn't agree more...

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

39. Is it time to organize that dance on RAYGUN's grave party?

And literally have hot little gay boys and old men who remember dance on his grave. ( or should we wait for Nancey to join him )

[DirkGently]

26. Another conservative value ("screw the other guy") ably pursued to disaster by R. Reagan.

[FourScore]

27. On Facebook, while I and many others were commenting on an old college group photo,

I learned that 2 people in the picture had passed away. I asked how they had died and I only got an explanation for one person (bone cancer). I pressed for info on the other person's death. I knew he was gay (as we all did), so I began to wonder if it was AIDS. Eventually, a friend PM'd me that it was, in fact, AIDS. I thought it was so sad that no one wanted to post it publicly, as if it were something shameful. I was shocked and saddened to realize that there is still this stigma that goes with the illness.

This press conference is horrible. Just horrible. I have had so many wonderful friends and acquaintances die from AIDS. It makes me very sad.

[bobbolink]

28. Do we know the attitude is much different now?

Yeah, laughter is disgusting... but indifference is just as deadly.

[Ian David]

29. Oddly enough, this doesn't appear to be on YouTube.

However, I DID find these:

NBC's Earliest Report on AIDS 1982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LKJ5ZzzL0w


And the Band Played On
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5vJa1LnSEY&feature=related

[XanaDUer]

30. Disgusting to laugh at citizens' problems

wow, I remember the 80s. And I don't miss them.

[onenote]

31. Here is a more complete transcript

It doesn't make it any better.

http://www.aegis.com/pubs/atn/2004/atn040607.html

[LibDemAlways]

32. The prevailing attitude at the time was that

gay people had brought this on themselves and they deserved what they got.

Public attitudes only began to change when Princess Diana embraced aids sufferers, when movie icon Rock Hudson was dying of the disease, when Magic Johnson announced that he was HiV positive, and when Ryan White, a boy who had contracted the disease through a blood transfusion, became well known. (Of course in the case of Ryan White, it was because he was seen as an "innocent" victim that he received such sympathetic press.)

I do remember the shameful indifference and outright cruelty of politicians and especially the Reagan administration. Then again, who ever expected a Republican to give a damn about anybody? It's not in their DNA.

[Shandris]

45. I was raised to believe that AIDS was God's punishment to...

...gays for being gay, because how else could a disease from monkeys appear in humans unless they were animals themselves? And then they slept with drug takers, so they willingly cursed themselves, and spread it through their needles. Hogwash naturally, but that's just what was 'accepted' premise in my family.

One thing though -- Ryan White's sympathetic press had less to do with his being an innocent victim and much, much more to do with his mother being a constant force of pushing his story with all the determination, power, and love that only a mother can. It's not like the press just descended on Ryan's door and said 'Oh hey, this poor kid, lets tell everyone his story'.

[LibDemAlways]

46. Yes, his mother was instrumental in getting his story out, as was

Elton John, who was a tremendous friend to Ryan. It's terrible that in the US it sometimes takes the involvement of a celebrity to shine a light on a story worthy of attention.

[perdita9]

34. Bumper Sticker seen at Republican Convention...

... when Reagan was president.

AIDS: It's killing all the right people

Want to bet the pro-life people stood around laughing, never once seeing the hypocrisy?

[TwentyFive]

35. If that was how they responded in public...how did they respond in PRIVATE???

Reagan only cared about the top 1% who ran publicly held corporations. To everybody else, he was their worst nightmare...but many are still too stupid to see it.

[TomClash]

36. WAPO - July 2009 - The Speakes Family Battle Goes South

Larry Speakes had one of those classic Washington careers. A small-town guy with a Mississippi drawl who was promoted amid crisis into a top White House job, he served longer than any other press secretary of the past half-century, wrote a controversial memoir -- then receded into quiet corporate life.

Now 69 and suffering the effects of Alzheimer's disease, the veteran Reagan aide is at the center of a bitter family feud. His third wife is battling two of his children from an earlier marriage over who should oversee his estate and take responsibility for his care -- one side slinging allegations of abduction, the other side claiming neglect.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/07/rs-speakes17.html

[Unvanguard]

37. There are no words for how incredibly evil that administration was.

None at all.

[Raster]

38. And it's fucking EVIL will be felt for generations to come. Ronnie the Raygun WAS the instrument of

...destruction of the American Middle Class and the destroyer of any hope of financial equity in this country. A mediocre actor whose best role was a so-so President. The epitome of corporate schill and rich man's tool. He was no great communicator; he was the great bullshit artist.

If I lived close enough, I would piss on his grave on a daily basis. I lost at least 75% of my dear friends and peers to AIDS, including my dearest friend and long-time companion.

I am an atheist, and I believe in neither heaven or hell, but wish fervently that there is some semblance of hell, and hope with all my heart that Ronnie the Raygun fries there for all eternity.

[HillWilliam]

41. If there is, he will

Oh, but he will.

[Initech]

40. Conservatives can be such heartless bastards, cant they?

[delightfulstar]

42. They turned such a blind eye...

That's why HIV/AIDS was so underfunded while he was in the WH. We lost a lot of precious time in research and awareness that could have saved so many lives, because of Raygun's stance. I would have thought that the stories of Rock Hudson and young Ryan White would have roused something in him to change that, but sadly, it didn't happen.

[AlbertCat]

44. We lost a lot of precious time in research and awareness

Stem cells, anyone?

[delightfulstar]

47. Absolutely.

A lot of people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer's, and many other medical conditions could be helped with stem cells. The fundies keep trying to put that wall up, and it's not fair.

[NNN0LHI]

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