Reagan comment on AIDS / gays not a lie.

[redqueen]

Don't know if this was covered in any of the threads about the ranting crowds calling the Reagans mini-series on this 'lie'.

Turns out that while paraphrased, it most certainly wasn't a lie, after all.

From a NYT op-ed page, where Reagan biographer Edmund Moriss's reveals what the napper, sorry... the gipper... had to say about AIDS.

MORRIS: What Mr. Reagan did as president…cannot be argued away. Neither, it might be added, can his more serious derelictions, such as the bartering of arms for hostages, and (yes) his lack of any particular sympathy for the victims of AIDS. The writers of CBS’s canceled miniseries have invented a bit of dialogue to the latter effect, but historians might more seriously ponder Mr. Reagan’s actual remarks, including, “Maybe the Lord brought down this plague illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments.”

[Archae]

1. Can I be blunt here?

WHO CARES!!

That was about 20 years ago.
Before his mind went bye-bye, Reagan DID change his stance.

The CBS TV-movie sounds like it would have been simply a schlocky crapola film anyway, just like the Lynch movie.

Now let's simply drop this, and get on to more important things.

Like the &%$#@ Packers screwing up so bad last night! :-)

[ewagner]

3. Alert! Thread hijacking in progress.

Yes, my beloved Pack screwed up BIGTIME! last night.

Really pissed me off!

[redqueen]

6. So sorry... I just like to have the record straight.

The 'lie' was apparently one of the major reasons that the right was able to get their way.

Just in case there are any freepers lurking, I thought it might be nice to let them know they're being manipulated by their masters.

But just for the record, I'm also sorry about the Packers's loss. :(

[MoonAndSun]

2. I wonder where the writers and producers of "The Reagan's"

are now? I have not heard anything from them, are they po'd because of what CBS did? Or did they crawl under a rock to avoid all of the "liberal media bias" that has been swirling around their project?

[radwriter0555]

4. Read the whole script right here

if you like.

http://images.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/07/reagans_script/reagans.pdf

[DBoon]

7. The writers probably learned long ago

what it takes to stay employed in Hollywood. Openly criticizing your employer is a sure ticket to unemployment. It would be nice if some heroic individuals stood up to this, but given what writers typically get paid, it is understandable their first concern is keeping food on the table.

[Loonman]

5. He never did read the Koop report

On AIDS, that is.

[loudnclear]

8. I worked for a major biomedical research org (FED) during Reagan

administration. He would allow no funding of any research into AIDS thus we lost many years and resources for investigating this demon disease. Scientists who received funding and worked on AIDS did so by misrepresenting what they were working on in their grant applications.

[ibegurpard]

9. Republicans don't let the truth stand in the way

When it comes to THEIR attempts at revisionist history.

[paradisiac]

10. quotation

In "Dutch," Reagan's authorized biography, the author, Edmund Morris, writes that Reagan once said of AIDS, "Maybe the Lord brought down this plague," because "illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments."
http://www.365gay.com/entertainment/tv/102903tv.htm

Some other fun Reagan quotations:

"Facts are stupid things."

"Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born."

"This administration is totally colorblind."