The Amusements of Randall Tobias

Who Told Randall To Buy Ass?

By now the news about Randall (aka "Randy") Tobias is all over the blogosphere. Tobias was the (reservoir) tip of the spear in Bush's foreign anti-AIDS initiative, and as a loyal Bushie he oversaw a policy that promoted abstinence and faithfulness over condom use. He resigned last week when it came to light that he was a regular customer of a D.C. "escort service" whose madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, is under indictment by a federal grand jury.

The Prostitution Rests, Your Honor

Many of the posts about this latest amusement from the Bushes mention an anti-prostitution "loyalty oath"; that provision is actually part of a law called the
"U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003". It's sometimes known as the "Global Aids Act". Here's the official press release on its signing.

That act created the post -- Global Aids Coordinator -- from which Tobias resigned. What's important to remember here, even as we savor the rich ironies on offer, is that Bush, true to form, appointed RT to this position despite his utter lack of public health or AIDS experience. (Check his bio here.) We'll hazard a guess that Mr. Tobias demonstrated his loyal-Bushie status, and therefore his worthiness to hold his post, in some yet-to-be-discovered way.

Actually, I may have misspoken about his lack of qualifications: it turns out that randy Randy received an award from the National Association of People with AIDS in 2005. It's called the "Positive Ally Award." This is fitting; he might test positive for quite a few things, given his sexual history.


F*ck You and the Whores You Rode In On

What else is there to say? I'm glad to see another unqualified political appointee leave the Bush administration, even though I don't have much hope that his replacement will be any better. With any luck, mainstream news outlets will pick this up and expose a bit more widely the hypocrisy at the core of much of what this government does. In the meantime, Mr. Tobias says he's been using a different escort service, this time with "Central American women".


In the face of Republican rhetoric about immigration and human trafficking, you should make of that what you will.


Here is some news about the ongoing effort to get rid of the "loyalty oath", which according to every source I've seen, was not well-received among organizations doing anti-AIDS work.

More on the Global AIDS Act here.