Ex-smoker Obama still sneaks occasional puff

[Limoncello]

Ex-smoker Obama still sneaks occasional puff | Oddly Enough | Reuters
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama may have just made life more difficult for cigarette makers, but he is not above sneaking a smoke every now and again.
Obama, who has publicly struggled to quit smoking, said he still hasn't completely kicked the habit even after signing a law this week that will likely set tough new rules for the tobacco industry.........end excerpt



How can you be an ex-smoker if you still smoke? Just askin..........?

 

[Surf Monkey]

If you sneak smokes, you're still a smoker.

In fact, if you've been addicted to cigarettes, even when you quit you're still a smoker. It's a lifetime thing, just like alcoholism IMO. But even if you disagree with that position, I think it's clear that secret smokers are still smokers.

 

[TropicalBob]

Reports said at his peak he smoked five cigarettes a day. To me, that's not an addicted smoker. And the word he used in the Rose Garden was "habit." I have far more than a habit and five cigarettes used to get me through breakfast coffee. I needed another 25 during work hours.

He's struggling, as many of us do. Imagine the pressures in our lives; then magnify them by the pressures he faces daily. I'd want a cigarette, too!

In fact, I do. But right now I have my e-cigs (four in regular use), my snus, Stonewall dissolvable, Oliver Twist tobacco bits, seven varieties of nasal snuff and 10 cans of pipe tobacco. If the FDA does anything to prohibit those, I'm with Obama sneaking a cigarette.

 

[providence]

Reports said at his peak he smoked five cigarettes a day.

Well, that's if you believe the reports. I mean, it does sound better than for him to say he smoked half a pack to a pack a day.

 

[BigJimW]

He smokes much more than that. He has a "press secretary" to tell us this.

5 a day. Phht, yeah right.

Remember, what the president does in his personal life will never make it out to the American public. Sure, he's due his privacy, but don't bull**** us either. He's a smoker.

He tells of using the Nicorette Gum, and now we read this, which proves that these NRT that big pharma puts out are totally ineffective.

For the first time, the world has a safer method and the world shuns it. We landed on the Moon, and the world rejoiced. The world now has a system that will end up saving millions of lives, and the world shuns it.

Money goes a long way to run a country.

 

[kylewinther]

Thats funny. He signs all the bills but is still smoking. Kind of a hypocrite. Why is he not smoking an electronic cigarette? He would be able to smoke it indoors, around the dog, family, etc.
If he would use the electronic cigarette on a continuous basis he would promote them when he finds out how great they are!!!

 

[Surf Monkey]

Thats funny. He signs all the bills but is still smoking. Kind of a hypocrite.

Not really. The bill doesn't outlaw tobacco. If it did, and he was still smoking, then he'd be a hypocrite. As it is, he's just another victim of bad legislation, just like the rest of us.

 

[BigJimW]

Thats funny. He signs all the bills but is still smoking. Kind of a hypocrite. Why is he not smoking an electronic cigarette? He would be able to smoke it indoors, around the dog, family, etc.
If he would use the electronic cigarette on a continuous basis he would promote them when he finds out how great they are!!!

There is this little thing called tax revenue. e-Cigs are not taxed or regulated. If they can find a way to tax it, then the government would welcome it with open arms and Obama can vape his head off.

Sure, Obama vaping an e-cig would be the RIGHT thing to do. But as he has already shown himself as a weak kneed president bowing to the bill that cements big pharma and Phillip Morris, I'm sure he was already bullied out of it by some clowns in dark suits wearing ties.

And his admission of him chewing Nicorette gum constantly is strong evidence he smokes more than 5 cigarettes a day. A 5 cigarette a day smoker only exists when one first starts out. Just another bullsh*t story.

 

[Limoncello]

As it is, he's just another victim of bad legislation, just like the rest of us.

Uhhhh, your "victim" SIGNED THE DA%$ BILL into law.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Uhhhh, your "victim" SIGNED THE DA%$ BILL into law.

And? President McCain would have done the same thing. So would President Bush. Vetoing this bill, as flawed as it is, would be political suicide. The blame doesn't rest with Obama. It rests with the authors of the bill and the Senators and Congressmen who approved what amounts to anti-competitive legislation crafted by Altria in order to force RJ Reynolds out of business. Henry Waxman is the culprit, not Obama.

 

[happily]

the vote was like 79-17. It made no difference if he signed the bill or not it would have been overridden and passed. He had no choice but to play ball which is what they all do.

 

[Palmetto]

And? President McCain would have done the same thing. So would President Bush.

Stawmen, with regard to the original post. McCain doesn't smoke, not does Bush.

Best to call a hypocrite a hypocrite and be done with it.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Stawmen, with regard to the original post. McCain doesn't smoke, not does Bush.

Best to call a hypocrite a hypocrite and be done with it.

Except that dude's not a hypocrite. The bill doesn't outlaw smoking. If it did, he'd be a hypocrite. Since it doesn't, he still has the right to smoke just as much as anyone else.

And there's no straw man in that statement. It's illustrative of a specific point: that there isn't a modern president who would veto this bill. Obama did exactly what any other president would have done in this situation. Complain all you want. Blame him all you want. Just know that the real person(s) you should be blaming is Henry Waxman and the lobbyists for Altria.

 

[Limoncello]

And? President McCain would have done the same thing. So would President Bush. Vetoing this bill, as flawed as it is, would be political suicide. The blame doesn't rest with Obama. It rests with the authors of the bill and the Senators and Congressmen who approved what amounts to anti-competitive legislation crafted by Altria in order to force RJ Reynolds out of business. Henry Waxman is the culprit, not Obama.

Geez, how do you know this? If he doesn't have the 'nads to veto something, then he doesn't deserve to be president.
Oh, he wants to save that precious political capital.

IMHO

 

[ramblingrose]

Reports said at his peak he smoked five cigarettes a day. To me, that's not an addicted smoker.

As a former chain smoker I can't relate to it, but I've read that it can be equally, and actually harder for some people who smoke only a few a day to quit. Apparently the few cigarettes are so cherished that these folk have extreme cravings of a different nature than someone like me would have.

My mom was this way, and she always had a self imposed limit of only one carton a month when she smoked. 20 years later she still says its what keeps her away from cigs even now. She dreads having to go through the quit process ever again.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Geez, how do you know this? If he doesn't have the 'nads to veto something, then he doesn't deserve to be president.
Oh, he wants to save that precious political capital.

IMHO

Are you kidding? How long have you been observing politics? As happily pointed out, this bill passed by such a wide margin that even if the president chose to veto it, the Senate would have overridden the veto and passed it into law anyway. Furthermore, McCain supported the bill, so there's no question that if he was president, he'd sign it into law.

I get that people are angry about the law, but let's not lose our grip on reality here. This is a popular bill. It was going to become law no matter what. The issue with it is how it was written in the first place, not the fact that Obama signed it. Besides, it's only a bad bill to the extent that it acts as an anti-competitive tactic on the part of Altria against RJR. The basic idea, that nicotine should be regulated just like any other drug, is solid.

 

[TropicalBob]

Yes, it's a popular bill. Posters forget the minority that we are here. An unwanted minority, in fact. This bill, flawed at its core, had overwhelming House and Senate support. Last year, Obama was a co-sponsor. This year, he signed it as President. And he did so while noting that not one more generation of kids should become hooked on tobacco. Whether that can be accomplished remains to be seen. But that's the desired end result of this law.

Oh, and John McCain was a smoker for, I believe, 28 years. During the campaign, he said he regularly thinks about wanting another cigarette. He voted for this bill.

You bet cigarette smoking is addictive. To McCain. To Obama. To most smokers. Smoking can be stopped, but at tortuous cost. There are psychological and physiological consequences with continuing or stopping. That sorry fact of addiction is what the bill aims to address.

We should also dump the notion that the President of the United States will ever use or endorse a patented Chinese invention (the e-cig) where all profits flow from American industry directly to China. Talk about political suicide, not to mention that 4 out of 5 people do NOT want to see the President with a metal tube in his mouth, blowing vapor out. He'd be better off smoking a Marlboro during the Rose Garden signing.

 

[BigJimW]

We should also dump the notion that the President of the United States will ever use or endorse a patented Chinese invention (the e-cig) where all profits flow from American industry directly to China.

Have you shopped at Walmart lately? Profits flow to China on a daily basis.

Perhaps Obama should run around naked as well, as I'm sure everything he wears, right down to his presidential skivvies, were manufactured in China.

 

[denec]

Have you shopped at Walmart lately? Profits flow to China on a daily basis.

Perhaps Obama should run around naked as well, as I'm sure everything he wears, right down to his presidential skivvies, were manufactured in China.

lol our country should be renamed United States of China because we are in so much debt to china it is not funny, they basically own us

 

[brownbrown4]

China, Japan, UAE, Saudi, Ect ect... they all have huge stakes in our economy... They even own Our LAND...