Addicted to AIDS? George W. Bush spoke this morning at the Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia: "HIV/AIDS, you see, is a challenge, it's a direct challenge to the compassion of our country ... This disease leaves suffering and orphans and fear wherever it reaches. Every man and woman and child who suffers from this addiction, from the streets of Philly to the villages of Africa, is a child of God who deserves our love and our help. ..."

Two questions: Why is Bush calling AIDS an addiction? And what's up with "from the streets of Philly to the villages of Africa"? (Is that Repub code for "darkies"?) The White House's website had the speech as given here, but sometime between 2:30 and 3:15 this afternoon, it changed "addiction" to "affliction". The White House has a long habit of doing this to Bush's misstatements. ... You can read the actual speech that Bush gave here, here, here, here or here. ... We deserve to know what Bush actually says, not what he should have said.