October 6, 2004

CHENEY'S AIDS GAFFE: THE VEEP DOESN'T KNOW BLACK WOMEN ARE DYING FROM AIDS IN AMERICA (AND EDWARDS CAN'T SAY MUCH MORE): KERRY AND BUSH MUST SPEAK OUT ON AIDS IN AMERICA

At last night's debate, Vice President Dick Cheney said he "was not aware" of the deadly epidemic of AIDS among black women in the United States. Given a chance to respond, Senator John Edwards didn't mention it either.

Housing Works is outraged that Cheney, arguably the most powerful member of the Bush Administration, has no idea that black women are dying of AIDS in America. And we're outraged that Senator Edwards failed to address this huge gaffe and didn't offer a Kerry-Edwards plan to fight AIDS in America.

It's no surprise Cheney doesn't know much about AIDS in America – it hasn't been a priority for the Bush-Cheney administration.

George Bush and Dick Cheney proposed budgets that held domestic AIDS funding flat or cut it every year in office, as America has suffered over 100,000 new HIV infections during their term, many of them women of color. They tried to demolish Medicaid, the nation's largest source of funding for HIV/AIDS care. And the Bush Administration has fought against real-world HIV prevention and education programs that would keep black women safe from HIV, like condoms, clean needles and safer sex education.

Do Bush and Cheney have a plan to fight AIDS in America? They talk a whole lot about AIDS in Africa, but precious little about AIDS here at home. The Bush campaign website includes the text of the President's speech on HIV/AIDS in Philadelphia last June (http://www.georgewbush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=2825) which is long on global promises and short on domestic resources.

Kerry and Edwards do have a pretty strong and comprehensive plan to fight AIDS in America as well as abroad (http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/health_care/aids.html) but Edwards couldn't come up with the details last night.

President Bush and Vice-President Cheney should immediately apologize for the Vice-President's gaffe and immediately release their plan to fight AIDS among black women and others at high risk here in America.

And Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards should speak out on this issue in the closing weeks of the campaign so that voters with AIDS and voters who care about AIDS can make an informed choice.

Send emails today to the Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards campaigns demanding action on AIDS in America:

BUSH-CHENEY

"I'm outraged that Vice-President Cheney doesn't know black women are dying from AIDS in America. I demand that he apologize for his debate gaffe on AIDS and release his plan to fight AIDS among women of color and other high-risk groups in America."

Send this email to the Bush/Cheney campaign

KERRY-EDWARDS

"Senator Edwards should be able to explain how he and Senator Kerry will fight AIDS among women of color and other high-risk groups. I demand that both candidates speak out on AIDS in the closing weeks of the campaign so voters with AIDS and voters who care about AIDS can make an informed choice."

Send this email to the Kerry/Edwards campaign

You can go one step further with letters to the editor of your local papers -- don't let them get away with neglecting the fight against AIDS in America -- it's a matter of life and death.

(A note on AIDSVote and www.aidsvote.org: The AIDSVote model presidential platform on HIV/AIDS contains a detailed plan on effective strategies to combat HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and abroad. By registering their support for the model platform, thousands of individuals have generated emails to the candidates encouraging them to do more in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The goal of AIDSVote.org is to increase attention to the HIV pandemic as a serious issue for debate during this year's presidential election. AIDSVote organizers have contacted the press, including Ms. Ifill, to urge them to address AIDS as an important issue in this year's election. The AIDS question posed to vice presidential candidates is one sign that the AIDSVote campaign is having a positive impact.

The Housing Works AIDS Issues Update is reported, written and edited by Diana Scholl, David Thorpe, Christine Campbell, terri smith-caronia and Housing Works staff. Send your feedback, leads and story ideas to d.scholl@housingworks.org.

You can reach us by phone at 212-967-1500 x168, by fax at 212-868-4222, and by email at d.scholl@housingworks.org. Housing Works provides housing, advocacy and services to homeless people living with AIDS and HIV. Housing Works is the nation's largest community-based AIDS organization and the nation's largest minority-controlled AIDS organization.

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