Question on AIDS Goes Unanswered

A new issue crept into the campaign Tuesday night -- what to do about AIDS in America -- and neither of the well-prepped candidates in the vice presidential debate had much to say.

Apparently citing federal figures, the moderator said that in the U.S., “black women between the ages of 25 and 44 are 13 times more likely to die of the disease than their [white] counterparts. What should the government’s role be in helping to end the growth of this epidemic?”

Don’t talk about the global problem, Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards were warned; talk about black women and AIDS here at home.

Cheney called the epidemic in America and abroad “a great tragedy” and talked about how the administration pushed $15 billion through Congress to attack the problem worldwide.

“I had not heard those numbers with respect to African American women,” Cheney said. “I was not aware that it was that severe an epidemic there, because we have made progress in terms of the overall rate.”

Edwards didn’t do any better. Africa was the first country out of his mouth, Russia the second. Africa came up again three times, as did genocide in Sudan, before he mentioned the U.S. And the black women? He never got to them at all.