The following should be enough reason alone to prevent John McCain from ever being president. Or, for that matter, holding any kind of public office ever again.

Reporter: Should U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS

Mr. McCain: Well I think it’s a combination. The guy I really respect on this is Dr. Coburn. He believes — and I was just reading the thing he wrote — that you should do what you can to encourage abstinence where there is going to be sexual activity. Where that doesn�t succeed, than he thinks that we should employ contraceptives as well. But I agree with him that the first priority is on abstinence. I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I’m not very wise on it.

(Mr. McCain turns to take a question on Iraq, but a moment later looks back to the reporter who asked him about AIDS.)

Mr. McCain: I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.

Q: What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.

Q: So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) You’ve stumped me.

Q: I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception — I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.

Q: But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: “No, we’re not going to distribute them,” knowing that?

Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.

AIDS was first identified in 1981. Six years and some 30,000 deaths later, President Ronald Reagan publicly spoke about AIDS for the first time. Because of his loyalty to ancient sexual mores, the Gipper stood by while people died, left and right. They were expendable because they were faggots and junkies and people who wouldn’t keep it in their pants.

AIDS is not as fatal as it was then, but it’s still a threat. And there are other dangers; the old-fashioned STI’s are still out there, like syphillis, gonorrhea, and HPV. The biggest one, though, is ignorance. Twenty years after Reagan finally got the word “AIDS” past his lips, the government is still functioning on policies that pander to people who think that it’s better that their children get lethal diseases than have sex. Worse, to sustain those policies, they have to deny outright scientific truth, such as the ironclad FACT that condoms do reduce transmission of STI’s.

McCain got this far on a reputation as a plain-speaking maverick who wasn’t afraid to speak the truth. He’s shown that he’s unable to speak the truth about people dying in Iraq, and now he’s unable to speak a truth as plain and elementary as this. We can’t afford another president who stands by while people die.