“Secretary of State Colin L. Powell strongly advocated condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS yesterday, setting himself apart from President Bush’s views on sex education and angering some of the president’s closest supporters on the political right,” The Washington Post reports.

‘It is important that the whole international community come together, speak candidly about it, forget about taboos, forget about conservative ideas with respect to what you should tell young people about,’ Powell told an MTV music channel audience. ‘It’s the lives of young people that are put at risk by unsafe sex. And, therefore, protect yourself.’

Powell’s remarks, aired last night on MTV and scheduled for rebroadcast around the globe, are consistent with U.S. support of international AIDS prevention programs. But they appeared to diverge from the message delivered by the president and other administration officials that abstinence from unmarried sex is the principal weapon against the spread of the deadly human immunodeficiency virus [the emphasis is all mine].

C’mon, now! Abstinence from sex is the principle weapon against the spread of AIDs. Which doesn’t mean condoms aren’t another effective weapon. Nobody in the Bush administration would think otherwise. The Post quotes Ken Connor of the Family Research Council and former Republican Presidential candidate Gary Bauer (remember him? That “little religious nut”?) as representative of the president’s core constituency, who we’re told are outraged by Powell’s remarks — an absolutely absurd assertion (Bauer got like, what? a half-percent of the vote?). The Post is taking pot shots here, plain and simple…

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