The media can't help themselves. Before long it will be, "He's dishonoring the Whitehouse," like his Saturday dress code, or "He's cheating on his wife," since he reportedly promised Michelle he would quit.

I suppose even McClatchy reporters engage in 'teh stupid' now and then--that particular outlet has been loads better in substantive reporting than just about any other.

Haven't any other Presidents smoked? Seriously - the Washington press corps is treating this issue like it's another first: First black man elected President! First smoker in the White House!

AAAAHHHH! he has a 65% approval rating AAAAIIIEEEE we have nothing...quick there's something ..lets focus on that . It will swing voters and revive the Republican Party. The offical party of grasping for straws.

As a former smoker, the president has my deepest sympathies. If you've never been a smoker, you have no idea how hard quitting is. It is harder than you can possibly imagine--even after taking into account that it's harder than you can imagine.

So I don't see even slight hypocrisy in this. I see someone struggling with an addiction that's harder to kick than heroin.

The President's adversaries believe that Obama's advantage is that he is perceived as a truly extraordinary individual. You know, all that stuff about "The One." For them, something like smoking is an "achilles heel" that -- who knows -- just might bring him down to earth.

That's why they take precious time away from defending tobacco companies to make a stink about it.

Methinks they are going to drop this one pretty quick ...shiny new object shiny new object
Report: SC gov was in Argentina, not hiking trail

From TPM
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/06/report_sc_gov_was_in_argentina_not_hiking_trail.php?ref=fpa

As another former smoker, I can say with all seriousness that I'd rather the president wait until the end of his second term before quitting.

The last thing we need is a president dealing with nicotine withdrawal. I'd like him to keep a clear head, please.

Our LAUGHABLE "news" media at work...YEGODS, and we thought they were awful during BUSHCO...now they're faced with an intelligent, witty, thoughtful and articulate person and they can only become more stupid and snarky as witnessed in yesterday's press conference...and we wonder why AMERICA is declining...check out Juan Williams (FAUX NEWS) doing his little "analysis" bit on NPR this morning...the president made these boobs look like the fools most of them are and hurt their little feelings...BOO HOO...

I'm told that President Bush once had a drinking problem, and that he started drinking again while in the White House. Hard to believe since it wasn't in any papers.

I am an American, and therefore have an infitesimally short memory, to go with my ADD attention span. So, remind me:

How many times did a "reporter" ask W "when was the last time you took a drink? How many times have you fallen off the wagon? Can you share with us the many fights about booze you had with Laura?" HMMMM??????

Please, President Obama, do what you can to stop smoking, but, NEVER, NEVER, give up burgers. I followed your lead, yesterday, in helping stimulate the economy and performed community service in aiding Five Guys Burgers in their attempt to reduce their inventory.

Burgers were great and I am Proud to have served this nation.

It's hard to believe just how dumb our media is.

And who knew Buenos Aires was on the AT? Maybe I'll go hike that part of the trail one of these days!

Oh, wow! Your president is human! If only the American people would have known before the election! He should have shown his birth certificate. Oh, wait...

...anyway: He should step down!

I know, I'll work my whole life to become a "journalist", work my way up the ladder, get invited into the Press Room, hope to be called on and then waste my question to the most powerful man in the world by asking him how many butts he smokes a day. Nauseating...

It's not just the media that's stupid. But, if I knew nothing about the new tobacco legislation--the media did not attempt to inform me when they had an excellent opportunity. No, Instead of asking what they hoped to accomplish with this bill, and what the risks to succeeding in those objectives might be-- they told me that the person who will sign this bill into law is a recovering smoker who occasionally breaks down and smokes a cigarette. This encapsulates the failure of journalism in this country to perfection.

And curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid git!

Wow. Michelle Malkin making "bizarre criticism" of a Democratic president. How will I ever recover from the shock?

I, too, quit smoking, but had the cravings to smoke for about 7 years.

I think you are all missing the point. The reporter was simply letting Obama tell the voters that he too was one of the special citizens of this country who had been singled out to provide "poor" children with health care, that he accepted the notion that private business was prohibited by law from choosing to accomodate his habit and that he was doing his part to keep social security solvent by shortening his life span. I am sure that he also won points with all the men out there who have been forced into some draconian deal with their wives in a moment of weakness and had the testicles to renege on it in the light of day.

FDR smoked in front of the cameras at Yalta, not a big deal.

How many of the reporters are closet smokers ?

How many times did a "reporter" ask W "when was the last time you took a drink? How many times have you fallen off the wagon?

Excellent point.

But we shouldn't have been surprised. During the 2000 campaign, Bush said he wouldn't discuss whether he used cocaine. Real journalists would have taken the cue that there's a story there, but the pack of ass-lickers in the national press corpse just shurgged and acquiesced.

Actually, I think the president's having this particular monkey on his back IS important.

If quitting is this difficult for the President, it's pretty difficult for a lot of other people too. As someone who has smoked her whole life, I can tell you that giving up cigarettes is hugely difficult.

Part of what makes it difficult is that I do not want to stop but am being forced to do so because the cost of a pack of cigarettes is beyond what my wallet can support.

And a hearty FU to all you self-righteous non-smokers.

Questions never asked:

"As a former drunk and cocaine user, I understand the frustration and the fear that comes with quitting. But with the new law that you signed yesterday regulating drug enforcement, I'd like to ask you a few questions. How many drinks a day do you now have? Do you drink alone or in the presence of other people? And do you believe the laws against cocaine could help you to quit? If so, why?"

I think folks are just upset that he included an exemption in the law so he could still get his favorite "pink bubblegum flavor" cigs.

Nice to see the Press Corpse still knows which side their continued employment is buttered on - suck up to the far right corporate asswipes who own you.

jerry is posting as terry now?

Quitting smoking was the hardest thing I've ever done. And I've done some extremely hard things.

I hope Obama doesn't also sign bills improving food safety. I hear he secretly eats food. Or highway safety, cuz I hear he might like to drive.

Hypocrite

It's shameful that we have a smoker for a president.

Why can't we just have a good old fashioned non-smokin', needless-war-startin', magna-carta ignorin', torturin', warrantless wiretappin', Katrina non-reactin', 9/11-warning ignorin', crony oilman for a president?

Shortstop, I do not know who Jerry is but I am Terry. My point was sort of in line with Karen Marie's.

Grover Cleveland smoked so many goddamned cigars he had to have parts of his upper jaw and hard palate removed due to verrucous carcinoma. FDR smoked Camels like a fiend from his iconic cigarette holder. He died of a stroke. Might not have been caused solely by smoking, but it certainly didn't help.

That's the way it was back then, and we liked it. We loved it! Now a president can't sneak a few drags here and there without provoking the usual self-appointed moral scolds. Jeebus! I smoked cigarettes for 24 years. Next April it will be ten years since I quit. The first three years are the hardest. Once you get there, you're done forever. I know how hard it is to quit, and that's why I vowed never to be a militant anti-smoker. I hated them when I smoked, and I don't like them now either. Those commercials from thetruth.com annoy the shit out of me. I don't like being lectured to by sanctimonious assholes.

I have great sympathy for Obama. It's tough enough for the average Joe or Jane to quit. Imagine having his job. With the state of the world being what it is, I'd probably smoke a pack a day while popping Xanax as frequently Dr. House knocks back Vicodin.

karen marie: And a hearty FU to all you self-righteous non-smokers.

It might be a good idea to hold fire until a single non-smoker in this thread behaves self-righteously. Just one.

...as frequently as Dr. House knocks back Vicodin.

It's early here in the west. Not enough caffeine yet.

It wasn't THAT long ago that the media almost unanimously bought into the image of Bush as a living saint because he found Jesus and cured himself of alcoholism (yeah, right! And when he passed out in the White House it was from choking on a pretzel. Uh huh). This was proof of his heroically strong character and his religious faith.

How did John Boner vote on this bill, that's what I want to know? Why? Is he going to quit? Does he think smoking causes cancer?

Every problem America now faces can be traced to corporations...every single one. Remove corporate personhood...and start revoking corporate charters and watch how quickly our problems get resolved.

Something is clearly wrong with a voting system where an entire term can go by and another election comes and goes and MN still hasn't seated it's winning senator from the first election.

Cronyism republicanism leading the obstructionist senate movement.

@berttheclock Your next stop, The Dairy Godmother in Del Ray. Tasty creamy treats for after your burgers (mmm, tasty five guys...) I support my local businesses!

Oh, and it's sad to say that I'm a smoker. I never smoke in public and only outside MY OWN HOUSE. I am perfectly well aware of how gross, dangerous, and expensive it is. I've tried and tried to quit but it is extremely hard, and I usually only make it a few days at a time.

My balcony has a a nice view, Mr. President, you can come over any time, and we can sit outside and have a smoke together and talk about local eateries.

I'm not a smoker partly because I know myself and that it's really easy for me to become addicted to whatever. I know if I had started smoking I would have been a 3-pack/day smoker who had a terrible time giving it up. I'm a recovering alcoholic (6 1/2 years sober now) and was at one time addicted to Valium and other benzodiazepines.

Yes, Margaret of McClatchy could have used her time to educate rather than to stupidly carp. WSP: Obama would be a hypocrite here if he pretended that he never smokes but he freely admits to smoking from time to time, and how he struggles with trying to give it up.

My understanding is that tobacco is more addictive than cocaine or heroin.

steve calls smoking a "vice"...i coulda sworn than in tobacco country it was a sacrement...

There's something odd about the media's fascination with President Obama's occasional cigarette....

When you're in love...

the "frustration and the fear that comes with quitting"? I smoke and I've tried to quit a number of times, managed once for 5 years. What frustration and fear is she talking about? Fear all your smoking friends (of whom there's very few left) won't accept you? Frustration and fear you'll be cast out of polite society? Fear you'll get a disease that can be warded off by a pack a day habit? What the hell is that woman talking about?

Anon, I think it's the fear of having to develop small talk that doesn't begin with, "Do you have/need a light?"

As someone who has been cig free for 20 yrs (and remembers last paying $0.85 for a pack), I can attest to the fact that quitting is hell, but that the craving does indeed get less over time and eventually (in my case at least) disappears.

And I'll be self-righteous here -- if you're above the age of maturity and you actually *want* to keep smoking, you're an idiot.

I'm glad they're onto him.

He signs a big bill taxing cigarettes, but he still occasionally smokes. But now we understand perfectly well that he has a CONFLICT OF INTEREST in that as a smoker himself he has every motivation to evade his new tax that we now have to pay. Really, the onus should be on him to show that he's paying the extra 3.1 cents on each of his illicit cigarettes just like we are. Otherwise how can we trust him anymore? The appearance of a conflict of interest IS a conflict of interest, Mr. Obama.

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