Thompson Against Bush's Fight Against Aids?

Update- I just got through telling another blogger I very much respect we have to be careful not to take things out of Context. I better follow my own advice. Again it is not clear what Thompson means by the following statement. However it should be clarified. So I wanted to make that clear!!!! We don't need to be taking our possible eventual Party nominee down in a mortal way before we get to the election

Well this is disturbing. Especially if you view the AIDS crisis in Africa an issue that affect the United States in many ways.

LADY'S ISLAND, S.C. -- Mixing theology and social issues on the campaign trail is rare for Fred Thompson, but he discussed it today answering a question from a member of the audience. A woman asked him if he would “as a Christian, as a conservative” continue President Bush’s programs to combat global AIDS. “Christ didn’t tell us to go to the government and pass a bill to get some of these social problems dealt with.

He told us to do it,” Thompson said. “The government has its role, but we need to keep firmly in mind the role of the government, and the role of us as individuals and as Christians on the other.” He received a round of applause for his answer, and went on to expand on the role of government in fighting AIDS and other diseases.

“I’m not going to go around the state and the country with regards to a serious problem and say that I’m going to prioritize that,” he said. “With people dying of cancer, and heart disease, and children dying of leukemia still, I got to tell you – we’ve got a lot of problems here, and we all may have our one that’s affected us the most, but it’s a broad array. And a president who will tell you the truth is that we have to look across the board and do what we can and what we should based upon the severity of the problem and the chances that our research money will do some good in these areas.”

Hmmm. Let me say I suggest he tried to take a swipe at Huckabee and suddenly find himself in bad waters

So it appears that Thompson is against the Global Fight on AIDS that Bush has done. It is a private religious matter or private matter for things like charity.

I must say I suspect that many of a South Carolina Evangelical that have been on Mission to Africa there might ask him for some clarification.

Also questions to ask are National Security related since having a AIDS infected country leads to instability . Not a good thing when African Christians and others are fighting for their survival against Radical Islam? What about the expanding US markets in Africa? I mean I am not even getting into the Morality of it.

However I suppose this is all liberal nonsense to Thompson perhaps. I imagine right now researchers are going through the records looking for what faith based initiatives Thompson supported. I think Thompson goofed here.

It appears one voice at the conservative anti Huckabee blog The Corner agrees:
Re: Fred on Religion [Yuval Levin]
Mark, I have to say I’m not quite sure what to make of the Thompson answer you cite. Do you take him to be opposing the Bush Administration’s global AIDS initiative in those remarks? And if so, is that a good thing? I would say it certainly isn't, but I'm not really sure Thompson is expressing opposition anywhow. Seems to me he just didn't answer the voter's question.
01/15 04:18 PM

I thought that Thompson was a big Foreign Policy guy?