February (Web-only) 2002

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White House stands by Powell's MTV condom comment despite conservative fire "In my own judgment, condoms are the way to prevent infection and, therefore, I not only support their use, I encourage their use," Secretary of State Colin Powell said on MTV last week. "Forget about taboos, forget about conservative ideas with respect to what you should tell young people about it. It's the lives of young people that are put at risk by unsafe sex, and therefore, protect yourself." The remark has conservative Christian political groups upset. "Colin Powell is the Secretary of State, not the Secretary of Health," said radio psychologist James Dobson in a press release strongly denouncing the remarks. "He is talking about a subject he doesn't understand. He clearly doesn't understand the science regarding condom efficacy. … Powell is a career soldier. He knows what it means to follow the Commander-in-Chief. We have to assume he wouldn't contradict his boss without prior approval. If that is not the case, the President needs to publicly repudiate these statements immediately." The Family Research Council, which has strong ties to Dobson's Focus on the Family, also criticized Powell. "Sec. Powell's remarks are reckless and irresponsible," said the organization's president, Ken Connor. "They create the 'illusion' of safe sex, resulting in an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases in this country. President Bush should repudiate Sec. Powell's comments and publicly exhort him for his irresponsible remarks." So far, Bush hasn't repudiated the comments. In fact, National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice said, "I don't think there's any flap here, and I certainly know that the president doesn't feel that there is." Press secretary Ari ...