Talk:Larry Speakes

AIDS'controversy
In this article there is somebody interesting on deleting references to his jokes about the AIDS'spread. i have added a reference and if somebody wants to delete it i hope a good reason will be given. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.47.192.162 (talk) 20:17, 4 November 2009 (UTC) i added a link by a prestious journalist which refers to a White House Briefing Room transcript and somebody continue to clean the aids controversy because this is no source. i dont understand it. is the grand-grandson of this guy editing the article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.47.192.185 (talk) 23:53, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Read our policy on biographies of living persons. Using WorldNetDaily, an unreliable source, to add negative content will not be allowed.  APK   because, he says, it's true  02:24, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

The Speakes AIDS jokes appear in Jon Cohen's "Shots in the Dark: The Wayward Search for an AIDS Vaccine" which was published in 2001. They are very juvenile type banter with reporters in White House press conferences. A reporter would ask a serious question whether the President was worried about HIV transmission etc and Speakes would glibly turn on the reporter and ask if he had been tested himself or if he had anything to worry about. It's hard to imagine in a bird-flu post-SARS world that the White House could joke about public health crises. But I guess that was the political culture then... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.211.112.21 (talk) 14:45, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

Larry Speakes laughter towards the AIDS epidemic and derisive jokes towards gay people was also document by Bussiness Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/aids-white-house-larry-speakes-reporters-obama-bush-funding-2013-12 and a recent column by Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner, found here http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/times-the-reagan-white-house-press-briefing-erupted-with  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.77.198.218 (talk) 05:20, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

Another reason to delete it is that it is disproportionate, giving great detail about isolated event, against Wikipedia rules. Rodchen (talk) 04:02, 13 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Yet, I do not see you being so strict when it's something regarding a conspiracy theory or a right wing rumor regarding say "the Clintons". This is whitewashing and you know it. 2001:4647:5503:0:44F1:466E:50AB:66B1 (talk) 11:10, 30 July 2023 (UTC)

The article points out that there was no criticism. This article is totally false.

While the exchange seems shocking now, it clearly was routine to the journalists sitting in the briefing room. Archives show the exchange merited no mention in news coverage at the time. The episode illustrates how radically the nation’s political and popular culture has changed since it took place.

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It should be pointed out that Lester Kinsolving was a figure of fun in and among the White House Press Corps, for reasons which antedated his interest in AIDS. He was also disliked by some. At one of Richard Nixon's last press conferences, he began bellowing 'Mr. President, Mr. President' and John Osborne of "The New Republic" yelled "Shut up, you bawling jackass" at him. Osborne was described in his obituary as 'courtly in a manner older Southerners still are', but he wasn't that day. This incident is recounted in Mr. Osborne's obituary, published in "The New Republic" in May, 1981. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:140:8000:B5C0:AD9D:2CAE:FE25:E98E (talk) 13:23, 14 January 2023 (UTC)