Does anybody remember Clintons and AIDS?

Bill and Hillary Clinton visiting the AIDS Quilt when it was on display in the National Mall, 1996. The president later told a PBS interviewer: I remember when Hillary and I walked on the Mall [in Washington, D.C.] to see the AIDS Quilt. We walked back and forth to see all the squares, and we were looking for people that we knew. We had several people that we'd known and cared about who had had HIV, and it had grown into AIDS, and they had not survived it, including someone that Hillary worked with very closely in Legal Services back in the '70s. It was a personally emotional thing, seeing the love and devotion that those sections of the quilt represented for all those people who died prematurely, and knowing that now, with medicine, they didn't have to die anymore, if we did the right things. It was a very emotional day.

Well, so, the existence of a horrible and deadly new disease that seemed to be attacking primarily gay men became evident in 1981, and all sorts of things happened from there, as many of you will no doubt remember, but there was one thing that didn't happen, for about 12 years: no president of the United States, or his wife, would touch the thing with a ten-foot pole, even when, as was the case with the Reagans, a close personal friend, the great movie star Rock Hudson, was dying in inexplicable torment, and they refused to lift a finger to help. No attempt was made in the White House to set policy on the crisis, whose occupants seemed mainly to be hoping that AIDS, and the HIV virus that caused it, didn't really exist at all, or that it would blow over in some way, until something finally changed that pattern.

Which was, as it happens, Bill Clinton campaigning on HIV/AIDS, March 1992 (New York Times):

I would not just talk about it in campaign speeches; it would become a part of my obsession as President. There are two AIDS Commission reports gathering dust somewhere in the White House, presented by commissions appointed by a Republican President. There's some good recommendations in there. I would implement the recommendations of the AIDS Commission. I would broaden the H.I.V. definition to include women and I.V. drug users, for more research and development and treatment purposes.

I thought I'd offer a little timeline of the most easily Googlable events in the roles of Bill and Hillary Clinton in the struggle against AIDS from 1992 onwards, starting with President Bill Clinton's record on HIV/AIDS promises, as of August 1996 (Knight-Ridder via Seattle Times):

-- Appoint a federal AIDS policy coordinator.

Yes: He named Kristine Gebbie in June 1993; she resigned amid criticism. In November 1994, he named Patricia Fleming director; she remains. -- 

Lift the ban on travel and immigration to the United States for people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

No: Clinton tried to lift the ban, but Congress put the ban into a bill he signed because it included other priorities, such as money for the National Institutes of Health. -- 

Increase funding for AIDS research, prevention and treatment.

Yes: Funding has increased by 39 percent since Clinton took office, and his fiscal 1997 budget request would boost it by 43 percent from the level when he took office. -- 

Speed the approval process for AIDS-related drugs.

Yes: The Food and Drug Administration approved a new class of protease-inhibitor drugs in 1996 under an accelerated review process. -- 

Support local efforts to make condoms available in schools.

Yes: In 1994 federal public-service announcements advocated condoms for the first time, and the administration also encourages local advisory groups that distribute federal money to promote condoms. -- 

Provide health coverage to all Americans with HIV infection.

No: His big health-care-reform proposal would have provided this, but it died in Congress. -- 

Fully fund the Ryan White Care Act to provide $275 million to cities for AIDS treatment.

Yes: Funding under the act is now at $738.5 million in fiscal 1996, up 117 percent over his first three years. Clinton's fiscal 1997 request would push funding up by 129 percent over four years. -- 

Provide drug treatment on demand to stop the spread of HIV by intravenous drug users.

No: Congress has resisted Clinton's requests for such treatment; he seeks $1.2 billion for fiscal 1997. -- 

Improve access to experimental therapies.

Yes: Created office of alternative medicines at National Institutes of Health. Encouraged states to fund such treatments under Medicaid coverage. -- 

Provide confidential or anonymous testing for AIDS or HIV, as well as AIDS counseling, for everyone who wants it.

Yes: The Centers for Disease Control budget expands these services at some 900 testing sites. The administration also encourages states to provide this through Medicaid. --

 Prohibit health plans from providing lower coverage for AIDS than other life-threatening illnesses.

Yes: The Kennedy-Kassebaum bill passed by Congress in August, which Clinton intends to sign, would ensure this.

Clinton's engagement with HIV/AIDS in Africa:

As the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and other regions of the world increased, the Administration moved to take a leadership role in addressing its humanitarian, political, and economic impact. In March 1999, the State Department launched a diplomatic initiative on international HIV/AIDS to raise its global profile and foster political commitment to combating it overseas. It led to American ambassadors and high level U.S. officials encouraging foreign leaders to increase the level of their engagement in confronting this terrible disease.

In 1999, the Administration implemented a $325 million "Leadership and Investment in Fighting an Epidemic" (LIFE) initiative to fight AIDS around the world. LIFE focuses on 15 target countries, 14 in Sub-Saharan Africa plus India, with the most severe epidemics and the highest number of new infections.

In January 2000, Vice President Gore chaired an unprecedented session of the United Nations Security Council on HIV/AIDS in Africa. This meeting was the first time that the Security Council addressed a health issue.

In August 2000, the President signed the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000, which authorizes a U.S. contribution of up to $150 million to a proposed world bank global trust fund for AIDS prevention, care, and education as well as funding for other bilateral projects in this area. Such expenditures have made the United States the largest bilateral donor of HIV/AIDS assistance in Africa and the world.

Some information on the activities of the Clinton Foundation in the fight against AIDS/HIV from 2002 is to be found here:

When the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) was founded in 2002, only 200,000 people were receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS in low and middle income countries, with medicines that cost over $10,000 per person per year. Over a decade later, more than eight million people are receiving treatment and CHAI has helped reduce the cost of medicines to around $100 to $200 per person per year in many countries. Countries have repeatedly proven that it is possible to rapidly scale up treatment services. For the first time, there is real promise that we can turn the tide against HIV/AIDS. - See more at: https://www.clintonfoundation.org/our-work/clinton-health-access-initiative/programs/hivaids#sthash.QHbZ8z7E.dpuf

And meanwhile in 2006, Senator Hillary

Clinton fought to preserve AIDS and HIV care and treatment funding for New York in the Ryan White CARE Act. During the Senate debate over the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act, a federal program providing care for low-income and uninsured or under-insured AIDS and HIV victims and their families, Hillary Clinton fought against “a significant loss of funding for New York and many other states that have traditionally borne the brunt of this epidemic.” The Syracuse Post-Standard editorial board praised Hillary’s leadership on the issue, writing that “Sen. Hillary Clinton’s recent lone vote against a new funding distribution formula for the Ryan White CARE Act was the right thing to do. The act provides the largest source of federal funding for HIV/AIDS services, a growing need now that new drug therapies are helping people live longer.” 

Hillary Clinton in her first presidential campaign, Howard University, June 2007:

Our ears perked up when Sen. Hillary Clinton talked about the impact of HIV/AIDS on African American women. Clinton said, “If HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV/AIDS is indeed the leading cause of death of black women aged 25 to 34. Sen. Clinton also accused the Bush Administration of “disgracefully” keeping funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program “flat,” and in fact, spending on that program has hovered at just over $2 billion for the past five years, according to figures from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Campaign statement, November 2007:

The Clinton campaign unveiled its plan to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S. and around the world. The comprehensive approach addresses the multiple challenges that HIV/AIDS has presented for over 25 years and includes investments for increased research, prevention and education, and access to treatment and other services. Hillary’s plan would especially help groups in the U.S. that have seen HIV infection rates rise over the past several years, including African Americans and gay men, and address the continued risk in Latino communities and among women. In addition, Clinton has pledged to increase funding for the global HIV/AIDS fight to at least $50 billion by 2013. "In many ways, our fight against HIV/AIDS is at a crossroads. While we have made progress in education and developing medicine that keeps those living with HIV/AIDS healthier, we need to be vigilant in ensuring that people are getting the information and care they need,” said Clinton. “I believe with leadership and smart investments we can significantly reduce the number of new infections, develop treatments that turn HIV/AIDS into a chronic but manageable condition, and expand toward an eventual vaccine." On the domestic front, Clinton proposes doubling the HIV/AIDS research budget within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $5.2 billion annually, including the U.S. contribution towards finding a vaccine. Clinton's American Health Choices Plan will ensure that all Americans living with HIV/AIDS have access to care. Hillary will end the Bush administration's abstinence-only prevention policy, and instead, fund evidence-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs including, but not limited to, abstinence education as part of a comprehensive prevention message

And her particular concern about the spread of HIV among African Americans in February 2007:

Hillary Clinton Recognizes National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Underscores Her Plan to Fight HIV/AIDS Plaguing the African-American Community

On the seventh annual observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Senator Clinton underscored her commitment to fight HIV/AIDS at home and abroad, and to reduce the disproportionate burden of HIV/AIDS in communities of color. HIV/AIDS is a worldwide epidemic and impacts tens of thousands of Americans each year. Although the disease knows no color or ethnicity, it continues to strike African-Americans at alarming rates. While African Americans make up only 13% of the U.S. population, they account nearly half of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses each year.

Statement on a CDC report announcing a sharp increase in HIV infections, March 28 2008:

"As President, I will implement an aggressive national strategy. We need to ensure that we are doing everything possible to prevent new infections. I will put an end to the Bush administration's abstinence-only prevention policy, and instead, fund evidence-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs including, but not limited to, abstinence education as part of a comprehensive prevention message. I have also proposed a doubling in the HIV/AIDS research budget within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $5.2 billion annually, and my American Health Choices Plan will ensure that all Americans living with HIV/AIDS have access to care."

"I believe with leadership and smart investments we can significantly reduce the number of new infections and develop treatments that turn HIV/AIDS into a chronic but manageable condition."

2011 visit of Secretary of State Clinton to the NIH

Fauci, in opening remarks, recalled Clinton’s long history of support for NIH. He remembered her February 1994 visit to the Clinical Center as First Lady. Her tour included several patient care units for people infected with HIV.

“Her interest in and commitment to this critical public health issue were keen then and remain so today,” Fauci said. “The relationship continues in her current position as Secretary of State, where her strong and compassionate leadership in the arena of global health and her support for the role of biomedical research in this endeavor are greatly appreciated. She has been a wonderful friend throughout the years.”

Introducing the Secretary of State, Collins said that in his own 20-year acquaintance with Clinton, he has always appreciated her strong voice on any number of biomedical science topics, including his field of genome research.

At a 2012 White House event:

President Obama was joined by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in a call to our partners—including government stakeholders at all levels, healthcare professionals, and HIV/AIDS service providers—to unite in an effort to usher in an "AIDS-free generation." To reach this goal, it is clear we must address HIV among women, particularly among women of color.

And

On Tuesday, December 3, 2013, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) hosted its 25th Anniversary Global Impact Award Gala Dinner. The event honored former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for her leadership and determination in the fight against HIV/AIDS. 

And then on Friday, March 11 2016, on the occasion of the funeral of the nasty old piece of work who had been one of her predecessors, casting around desperately for something nice to say about Mrs. Reagan, because she's a fucking Methodist, and you have to think of something nice to say when somebody dies, she remembered or invented something that never happened, making the harpy sound nicer and more concerned about her friends than she actually was:

because of both President and Mrs. Reagan–in particular Mrs. Reagan–we started a national conversation when before nobody would talk about it, nobody wanted to do anything about it. And you know that too is something that I really appreciate with her very effective, low-key advocacy but it penetrated the public conscience.

And took, like, virtually six hours to correct the error on Twitter, and this proves that Hillary Clinton actually never gave a fuck about AIDS at all. The other 25 years, starting when she and her husband were the first White House couple to take an interest in the question or admit publicly that it existed or welcome gay people as open, proud gay people into their lives and openly mourn dead of their own, and continuing to work on it at a time when most politicians seem to think the crisis is over because rich white people stopped dying a long  time ago, were obviously just a head fake.

No, I don't think so either. Does anybody want to notice that the remark actually made her look less brave and original than she actually was? You think she meant that as a campaign move? I think we need to ask a lot of hard questions about Hillary Clinton and her ideas on the Syria situation, and how she plans to tweak the Affordable Care Act to achieve real universal coverage, and where she really stands on international trade agreements, and various other things, but you need to leave her the fuck alone on the Nancy Reagan issue.

Update: Hypothesis from commenter AMK at LGM on the basis of a little contextual analysis instead of blowing up Scalia-fashion at the isolated words:

I chalk it up to some young speechwriter just thinking Nancy Reagan–>heath advocacy–>80s–>AIDS. If you look at the way the remarks are structured, it’s easy to see how somebody who knows nothing about the AIDS crisis aside from when it happened would just lump it in with Nancy’s Alzhiemers and stem cell work, assuming that a woman who does those things would also be some kind of AIDS advocate when she was in the White House.

Of course, a halfway-competent politician would look at that line and know not to read it, even if they weren’t exactly sure how responsible Nancy Reagan was for the AIDS response. But this is Hilary “that’s what they offered” Clinton….political instincts on the fly are not exactly a strength.

Of course. And Clinton never bothered to edit the text (as Obama would have done) and may not have even listened to herself reading it. Less than halfway competent at this type of task, I'll give you that. Good thing she'll have Bill around to send to the odd funeral. 

But not the repudiation of 25 years as one of the nation's highest-profile AIDS activists.

Update2: Clinton's fine essay at Medium looking forward in the battle against AIDS begins with an appropriate apology:

To be clear, the Reagans did not start a national conversation about HIV and AIDS. That distinction belongs to generations of brave lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, along with straight allies, who started not just a conversation but a movement that continues to this day.