Comments on: Is The Bush Admin. Blowing Smoke?

Bob Schieffer Says Not Allowing The FDA To Regulate Tobacco Because They're Overworked Makes No Sense

[yamuttya]

sorry, not Mozambique, Zimbabwe.
oops.

[yamuttya]

With every day Bush /Cheney bring more disrespect to America and democracy.They betray us all.
They enable the nut cases from China to Mozambique to Saudi Arabia who use them as an excuse to act like thugs.
Republicans are undermining western values.
Enough already.

[wolfwarrior3]

I am a public servant for state governement. I understand when politicians vote for an agency to do something above and beyond the scope of their duties. Also I understand fully when an agency does not have the staffing, funding, or plan to get the "new mission" done. I have a problem with politicians want to look good by saying that an agency should take on more responsibility to do a certain function but will not put their funding, planning, or proper staffing in place to get the job done. The end result is that the additional function as well as the existing jobs will not be done properly. At this point the taxpayers complain that the agency is not doing their job. Next the politicians talk to the agency head and tell him/her that they are not doing a "good job" or that the agency is "out of control". The agency head may or may not have the guts to tell the politicians that the agency has problems because it does not have enough manpower,funding, or a solid paln in place to take care of all of the issues that have to be dealt with on a daily bases. I believe that we the people should expect more from our government, but I also think the people should understand that the politicians need to be accountable for what "new directives" are placed on an agency and the consiquences of what may happen if manpower, planning, and staffing is not taken in consideration.

[tawpdawg111]

Smoking CURES cancer! Freakin'' libs are so stupid!

[ewinters2]

If the FDA starts regulating tobacco products just how will they do it?

1. Will they insist on lower nicotine cigarettes? If so, will not people just smoke more cigarettes to get the nicotine that they crave? Will that not INCREASE cancer incidents?

2. Will they require a doctor''s prescription to use nicotine products? If so, will doctors then become legitimate targets of lawsuits by the imbeciles who smoke and have developed cancer or their family members who want to blame everyone but their hapless loved one?

3. Will the FDA require more educational information on the dangers of smoking? It seems to me that terms like "Smoking causes cancer" are pretty strong already. I''ve heard it said that if you create a cigarette brand called "Death," package it in black with a gold skull and crossbones, it will become a phoenom among the youth population, perhaps eventually outselling Marlboro.

Bob Schieffer is doing here what so many Americans do all the time. They relinquish control to Washington then sit back and say "problem solved." Of course, ten years later when we realize that nothing has changed and things have actually gotten worse, we look for yet another Washington "magic bullet." We seem incapable of making our own rational decisions regarding self-preservation.

[horse3farm]

More propaganda. Smoking does not cause cancer. It''s a hype. Always has been. It''s a wonder anyone from the 50''s & 60''s is still alive if this were true. Alcohol does more damage and kills more people by "secondhand" effects of driving drunk. Food additives are more dangerous over the long term. How about radiation..everywhere..even in granite countertops. Find a better reason for cancer. This one is a cop out.

[ewinters2]

Bob Schieffer blames his battle with cancer partially on his "long ago addiction to nicotine." I am glad that he is winning this battle. However, his admonishment of the Bush Administration for its unwillingness to support FDA regulatory control over tobacco products is absurd. Here''s why: Everyone who can read or understand English since 1964 understands that cigarettes and other tobacco products will eventually kill you. Is it conceivable that anyone has missed this societal constant? Anyone with even a slight amount of brainpower is aware of the deadly nature of tobacco products. This being the case, what is the point of FDA regulation? There is none other than to create another gigantic bureaucratic entity within the FDA to regulate a product that EVERYONE knows is deadly. The Federal Government needs to get out of the business of trying to regulate personal responsibility. If people are too stupid to not start smoking or too weak-constituted to quit, then they deserve what they get! The FDA cannot save them. Bush is dead right in opposing this however, he should have expressed himself in precisely the way I did above instead of saying that "the FDA already has enough to do." Bob Schieffer was smart enough to quit smoking, even though he probably started prior to the Surgeon General''s 1964 warning. Why can''t the rest of our population quit? The FDA regulatory process will do NOTHING to stop people from smoking and may in fact spawn a black market of tobacco products.

[veteran188]

Is this a joke?

When has this criminal administration NOT blown smoke?

When did a BUSH/CAIN ever tell the truth?