Did Mike Huckabee show basic ignorance with his comments about quarantining AIDS patients in 1992?

Here is what he said:

"It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.

Any epidemiologist in 1992 had been saying for a number of years than a quarantine was not indicated due to it not being readily transmitted.


Or did Huckabee make that statement because he hates homosexuals?

It was well known from 1987 on that AIDS was not readily transmitted (air water ect). Yet Huckabee makes a statement about quarantining in 1992. It's not a statement which can be defended for context of the time.

I think there's a third option. Huckabee will say anything that he believes will pander to the religious right and hardline conservatives. Just as his blathering about creationism will cater to them now (remember they think we're in a "Holy War" for Christianity), in 1992, he was pandering as much as possible to homophobes and religious sex obsessors in his state.

Does Huckabee himself hate homosexuals? Probably not. Does he see the political expediency in homophobia? Most certainly. Such things pay off for conservative politicians. It gets the hardliners out to the polls, but it does not alienate "swing voters".

No and No. I am a liberal and I don't disagree with Huckabee. I think quarantining AIDS patience is a good idea. They won't infect others.

Back in the 1980's and early 1990's we all were ignorant and uninformed about Aids and how it was caught. Even kissing and getting it from toilet seats was par for the course as possible ways to get it. So yes Huckabee was as ignorant as we all were. The problem I have now is he stands by what he said back then and would do the same thing, when he and we all know better now. America doesn't need another stubborn man in the Presidency that will not adjust his views when new information presents itself.
As far as his possibly hating homosexuals I just don't know.

Personally I really don't think it matters. I do not believe that he has enough of a following to become President anyway. Not to mention that you are asking a question about a comment made by someone 15 years ago. Just because someone made a statement on wanting to quarantine AIDS patients, does not make that person a homosexual hater.

Gays have a privileged position cause they were never quarantined as they should.

I was 12 years old then and knew how not to get it, are you telling he did not.

i think that it was ignorance about the subject . everyone was terrified of this in the 80s and lots of misinformation still around in 90 s . there is still a fear / freak out of people that know someone today. it was a death sentence at one time . media told everyone that it was a 'gay disease" which we all learned decades later was not true. AND doctors had conflicting opinions about how it was transmitted. i remember asking my gynecologist AND my internist in the mid 80 's about these aids. one told me you will never get this as a female . other doctor told me that you can get it if you kiss / chances would be slim but there was a risk. if doctors didn't agree / understand it .. how was the rest of the population.

He must be scaring someone for them to go to the trouble of digging up that little piece of information.

If Aids had been treated like syphilis and gonorrhea it would not be the epidemic it is today.

No, I think you are the one showing basic ignorance. If you read the Bible, rather than bash people who do, you would find that God tells us to love the sinner, yet hate the sin.

No one really knew for positive sure about anything then. I mean they discovered it....made it a gay thing and people bought that...then suddenly other people were getting it through various means. Some didn't know how they got it......the virus was mutating and usually that goes to an easier method of infecting others. There was nothing 100% and everything that was told was changing as studies went on. So I believe it was basic ignorance. We were all ignorant. Right at that time I had a gay friend who got extreemly ill.......immediately they isolated him in the hospital and basicly told him it was over...had to be aids. Wasn't though.....he had a serious bout with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and it took awhile for them to figure it out. This was in the 90's with actual health professionals who all weren't up to par with everything either. Not all were on the same page and nothing was 100% for sure.

Because Mike Huckabee is a idiot! Im a evangelical Christian from the south and I recognize his "Preacher" speeches when i hear them...hes just marketing himself to people who like one liners and catch phrases (If we break it we should fix it...thats what my mommy taught me). Listen...he always tells little Forrest Gump "when i was growing up stories before he replies to any question.

If you want more religious tension within our country and in the international field then put him in. Geez people!!!!....He sounds like a "Extremeist" to me and I grew up with this stuff!