Is The Bush Admin. Blowing Smoke?

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

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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First disclosure: I'm a cancer survivor, and have lived for a long time with another disease called ulcerative colitis, both of which I probably got because of a long-ago, heavy addiction to nicotine.

So I am delighted the House will vote this week on legislation that for the fist time will give the Food and Drug Administration real power to regulate tobacco products. I hope it passes.

For the record, John McCain and Barack Obama, who don't agree on much, agree this needs to be done. So does the American Cancer Society, as well as the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, and on and on.

The administration - incredibly, in my opinion - opposes it for a reason that would make the Queen of Hearts from "Alice in Wonderland" proud.

Their reason: that the FDA already has such a huge job monitoring food safety that it just doesn't have the resources to take on the additional job of regulating tobacco.

If it did, the administration argues, regulating food and drugs might suffer.

I couldn't be more serious. That really is their main reason.

By that logic, we shouldn't have asked the military or our intelligence agencies to get involved in fighting terrorism after 9/11. For sure, they already had plenty to do before Osama bin Laden came along.

In "Alice," after the Queen of Hearts issued her weird orders, her husband the King had a way of undoing them when she wasn't looking.

Well, maybe Congress can do the same and pass this by veto-proof margins.

Because every day, 1,000 children in America are learning to smoke, and for 20 years now, 400,000 Americans have died each year from tobacco-related diseases.

That's no fairy tale. Those are just the facts.

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E-mail Face the Nation.

[veteran188]

Is this a joke?

When has this criminal administration NOT blown smoke?

When did a BUSH/CAIN ever tell the truth?

[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.

[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]

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.

[tawpdawg111]

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

[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.

[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.

[yamuttya]

sorry, not Mozambique, Zimbabwe.
oops.

[ioweign]

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.

Posted by wolfwarrior3 at 11:51 AM : Jul 27, 2008

Change can be a real b_itch...

[ubrew12]

Epitath for the Bush administration:
''He told us that big government didn''t work. So we hired him, and he proved it to us.''

[ewinters2]

The fact that Senators Obama and McCain are united on expanding the FDA''s powers to encompass regulatory authority over nicotine shows that they are both uninformed populists who are simply trying pander to the majority''s disapproval of tobacco products. If the Federal Government wants to stop the health risks caused by smoking, why not go all the way and just ban all tobacco products. I''m sure that the Mafia, the Russian "Mafia", the Chinese "Mafia" and the gangs of America would love to have another illegal product to traffic in, especially one that has billions of dollars in legal sales that could become tens of billions in illegal sales. If people cannot stop their own intake of this destructive product then no government program will be able to do it for them. Bob Schieffer has spent the vast majority of his journalistic career inside the beltway and as such sees Washington as the be all and end all of solving society''s problems. Bob, what government program enabled you to quit smoking? Better yet, what lack of a government program caused you to start? Did that choking response to your first smoke not send you some sort of message? Was your decision caused by "all the other journalists smoking" or "taking the edge off the tension of a deadline" or some other nonsensical reason. Smokers ALWAYS have an external motive to blame for taking up this stinky, choking, self-destructive habit! Over the hill to the rescue of ignorant people everywhere now comes the FDA!

[veteran188]

Just as in the case for Climate change (ever heard of the Ice Ages), and the case for Evolution (ever seen a flounder, or a fish fly?), there are the conservatives
among us that believe in nothing that did not come from a big white guy in a big white pulpit, the republicons for whom all change is scary,

they brought us GW Bush monsters like McCain and Cheney,

and of course endless needless warfare leaving milliond of human beings dead, displaced and tortured.

Lets all pray that these conservatives become human beings

[jon2012-2009]

Just a typical day in the White House. This administration operates in only one mode, the lying mode.

[mike18881]

My brother in law, never smoked in his life has canser my mother never somked, she died of cancer. My wife and I both smoke, no cancer. Smokers are just another way for the P/C people to get their money (taxes) and to feel their doing something

[mike18881]

My brother in law, never smoked in his life has canser my mother never somked, she died of cancer. My wife and I both smoke, no cancer. Smokers are just another way for the P/C people to get their money (taxes) and to feel their doing something

[jcr103]

The Bush Administration blowing smoke? Have they ever done anything but blow smoke over the past 7 years?

[veteran188]

right on jcr103,

the neo cons are nothing but NAZI fascists

[ewinters2]

Hmm. I just joined this site this morning hoping to find some intellectual discourse. Unfortunately, it seems to be populated by mental midgits who know nothing except to blame George W. Bush for everything and accuse anyone who dissents from their left-leaning view of the world to be a "Nazi" or a "Fascist." Do these intellectually-lazy morons have the conviction to actually stand by their beliefs? With regard to the smoking issue, there is enough information in the literature and in the societal consciousness already for people to know that it is bad. The FDA''s regulation of tobacco will just be another folly of public policy that will likely have the reverse effect as to what it seeks. We see how good the war on drugs is going (it is a total failure) wait and see how good the war on nicotine turns out. No to worry though, once Obama gives us all free health care, we can just trade in our lungs for transplants on the taxpayer''s tab when they become cancerous. No need to accept PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for our health. Nah! Let the government take care of us!

[sparks224]

ewinters2,
Fascism is an ultra right-wing political ideology that involves (among other things) the takeover of government by private industry. This is what the Neo-cons and the Bush administration have been trying very hard to achieve. So, you see, this why we refer to them as Fascists.

If you have any more questions (stupid or otherwise), feel free to ask.

[sparks224]

ewinters2,
Fascism is an ultra right-wing political ideology that involves (among other things) the takeover of government by private industry. This is what the Neo-cons and the Bush administration have been trying very hard to achieve. So, you see, this is why we refer to them as Fascists.

If you have any more questions (stupid or otherwise), feel free to ask.

[donevis-2009]

No to worry though, once Obama gives us all free health care, we can just trade in our lungs for transplants on the taxpayer''''s tab when they become cancerous. No need to accept PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for our health. Nah! Let the government take care of us!
Posted by ewinters2 at 04:01 PM : Jul 27, 2008

Better as a tax payer to pay for medical help other than bailing out Banks, lending companies, and paying for an illegal war. Go back to the Fox News comment section and help stroke your Neocon friends. Seems the right wings intelligent comments always include name calling.

[ubrew12]

ewinters2 said: "With regard to the smoking issue, there is enough information in the literature and in the societal consciousness already for people to know that it is bad. "
Tobacco is a drug. The Food and DRUG Administration should be monitoring its use and intervening where the law is broken. The Bush admin is claiming that if they don''t fund the police in your neighborhood, they can hardly be blamed if you get robbed. If you want to reduce regulation, thats fine. But don''t reduce it by making enforcement impossible. That encourages all KINDS of criminal behavior, not just in Tobacco. And I think this is the kind of ''get-around'' in law-enforcement that Schieffer is complaining about.

[rushlimpdrug]

"Is The Bush Admin. Blowing Smoke?"

At this point, who cares?

[peggyjohns]

Dear Bob:

Your commentary this morning really hit home with me. My husband, was a CBS Washington cameraman until his death in 1982 from lung cancer. As a matter of fact, he many times was assigned to Face the Nation. I''m delighted that Congress is poised to address at least part of the problem by assigning the FDA to monitor the tobacco industry. It is about time. As to the Bush administration''s possible veto, unlike you, I''m not even a tad surprised by their attitude. Like you, however, I hope Congress passes this by a veto-proof margin and this important legislation passes and stays passed.

By the way, I now live in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and still watch you via cable every Sunday morning after CBS Sunday Morning and before I leave for church. Keep up the wonderful work. I look forward to following the conventions and election with you and then celebrating Obama''s win with CBS too. Peggy Johnson

[ubrew12]

"Is The Bush Admin. Blowing Smoke?"

Iraq, no WMD, $10 trillion national debt, housing mortgage crisis, warrentless spying, outing CIA agents, Katrina response, bankrupt energy policy, bankrupt global warming policy, devalued dollar, rampant cronyism, E Coli conservatism, etc, etc

Oh, they''re blowing smoke all right. This administration obviously confiscates the ''good stuff'' for its own use.

[barbaraf4]

"My brother in law, never smoked in his life has canser my mother never somked, she died of cancer. My wife and I both smoke, no cancer. Smokers are just another way for the P/C people to get their money (taxes) and to feel their doing something" Posted by mike18881
~~~~~~~~~~~
Let''s put the cancer subject on the back burner for a minutes. Do you realize how bad you smell?

[jimfinster]

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.

Posted by horse3farm


Sounds like denial from a smoker.

[element51]

I don''t know if smoking causes cancer or not. But I do know this. As a smoker who has tried to quit many times without success it is one of the strongest psychological addictions known to man. It''s not that hard to make it for a week or so...long enough for the nicotine to leave the body. It''s the psychological craving that gets you in the end. If I could go back in my life and undo just one thing, and believe me I have done some stupid things, it would be not ever picking up that first cigarette. I''ve made it 63 years and not a day goes by that I don''t wonder how many years have I thrown away for cigarettes. And my 3 year old grandson informs me that it stinks.

[sociald63]

"Is The Bush Admin. Blowing Smoke?"

since 1984 :(

[yamuttya]

I don''''t know if smoking causes cancer or not. But I do know this. As a smoker who has tried to quit many times without success it is one of the strongest psychological addictions known to man.
Element 51

I smoked for 30 years, trying to quit for 29.
Tried a million times to quit.Got sick and couldnt stand the thought of smoke. That did it. When my cold was gone I just stayed with it and havent touched a smoke since. That was ten years ago.
Met a new girlfriend this year and she told me to lose the beer ( and the gut ). Havent had a beer in 6 months.Now we play tennis and go swimming together. Never felt better .Saving a lot of dough.
Nothing is impossible.
Good luck ( next time you get sick , just stop ! )
The key is to really ,really want to quit.
Just thought I''d share.

[yamuttya]

I don''''t know if smoking causes cancer or not. But I do know this. As a smoker who has tried to quit many times without success it is one of the strongest psychological addictions known to man.
Element 51

I smoked for 30 years, trying to quit for 29.
Tried a million times to quit.Got sick and couldnt stand the thought of smoke. That did it. When my cold was gone I just stayed with it and havent touched a smoke since. That was ten years ago.
Met a new girlfriend this year and she told me to lose the beer ( and the gut ). Havent had a beer in 6 months.Now we play tennis and go swimming together. Never felt better .Saving a lot of dough.
Nothing is impossible.
Good luck ( next time you get sick , just stop ! )
The key is to really ,really want to quit.
Just thought I''d share.

[yamuttya]

I don''''t know if smoking causes cancer or not. But I do know this. As a smoker who has tried to quit many times without success it is one of the strongest psychological addictions known to man.
Element 51

I smoked for 30 years, trying to quit for 29.
Tried a million times to quit.Got sick and couldnt stand the thought of smoke. That did it. When my cold was gone I just stayed with it and havent touched a smoke since. That was ten years ago.
Met a new girlfriend this year and she told me to lose the beer ( and the gut ). Havent had a beer in 6 months.Now we play tennis and go swimming together. Never felt better .Saving a lot of dough.
Nothing is impossible.
Good luck ( next time you get sick , just stop ! )
The key is to really ,really want to quit.
Just thought I''d share.

[yamuttya]

I don''''t know if smoking causes cancer or not. But I do know this. As a smoker who has tried to quit many times without success it is one of the strongest psychological addictions known to man.
Element 51

I smoked for 30 years, trying to quit for 29.
Tried a million times to quit.Got sick and couldnt stand the thought of smoke. That did it. When my cold was gone I just stayed with it and havent touched a smoke since. That was ten years ago.
Met a new girlfriend this year and she told me to lose the beer ( and the gut ). Havent had a beer in 6 months.Now we play tennis and go swimming together. Never felt better .Saving a lot of dough.
Nothing is impossible.
Good luck ( next time you get sick , just stop ! )
The key is to really ,really want to quit.

Just thought I''d share.

[yamuttya]

I don''''t know if smoking causes cancer or not. But I do know this. As a smoker who has tried to quit many times without success it is one of the strongest psychological addictions known to man.
Element 51

I smoked for 30 years, trying to quit for 29.
Tried a million times to quit.Got sick and couldnt stand the thought of smoke. That did it. When my cold was gone I just stayed with it and havent touched a smoke since. That was ten years ago.
Met a new girlfriend this year and she told me to lose the beer ( and the gut ). Havent had a beer in 6 months.Now we play tennis and go swimming together. Never felt better .Saving a lot of dough.
Nothing is impossible.
Good luck ( next time you get sick , just stop ! )
The key is to really ,really want to quit.

Just thought I''d share.

[gunfighter51]

Mr Aint,
Do you wear a sack over your head, ala Katrina.

You best look at your lame unions as the cause of all your good jobs going overseas. When Clinton was in office, 2 million union workers, when he left, 500,000 workers, now 250,000 workers. Put the blame where it belongs.
LIBERALISM, combined with SOCIALISM.

[neobrian-2009]

Complete Failure is spelled,
" SHRUB "
Far and Away The W Worst resident to EVER Occupy the White House .A Criminal operate like Shrove has made a mockery of the Justice system .Dicck,Scooter,Delay,Harriet,Gonzo and All others ned to be W Waterboarded !

[jjp735i]

Is The Bush Admin. Blowing Smoke? Aren''t they always?

[Syndicate]

Remove the nicotine from tobacco products.

[chalres-2009]

Gunfighter51 You have got to be kidding me. You conservatives (neocons) have been running the show since 1994. Newt and the contract on america. Get you facts straight befor spouting them...

[gunfighter51]

Chalres,
What does the party that''s controlling America have to do with losing union jobs?
That sounds like a union problem to me!

[gunfighter51]

If it was''nt for stupid liberals talking about issues not even related to the article, I would have kept my mouth shut.

[rosalbanj79]

Soultion: Get the the resources to take on the additional job of regulating tobacco.

[veteran188]

is Bush blowing smoke?

what a joke , has he ever done anything but blow smoke?

the criminal conservative agenda, hey will protect any business, even tobacco, prostitution, illegal drugs, or religions, if they can keep a little of their power because of it,

They are greed driven, anything for money

check out Larry Craig and Ted Stevens for good examples

gunfghter51 is another typical example of the kind of

goose stepping fascism we are talking about,

It is a mindless voting machine that props up republiCons

[veteran188]

gunfighter51

socialism is what your senator , McSame, and even Bush use to get their healthcare, they have socialized medical care,

have you heard any one of them complain about socialism,

the only thing wrong with socialism is that people like you do not understand it

[rossborba]

Mr. Schieffer should check his facts before asserting that smoking (nicotine) causes ulcerative colitus. Here, from the Medicine Net website (http://www.medicinenet.com/ulcerative_colitis/page4.htm) is a direct quote by: "It has long been observed that the risk of ulcerative colitis appears to be higher in nonsmokers and in ex-smokers. In certain circumstances, patients improve when treated with nicotine."
Additionally, if FDA were charged with regulation of tobacco products, they''d have no choice but to outlaw it, totally.
I agree with President Bush that FDA has enough on their plate without becoming political footballs for the anti-smoking crowd.

RB,J

[ewinters2]

Veteran188,

You are nothing but a malcontent and an extraordinarily ignorant person. Your statements in this forum are so idiotic, so completely outrageous and without foundation that you should be ashamed of yourself.

What are you a "veteran" of anyway? The insane asylum??

[ewinters2]

What I find amazing in this forum and almost every other forum is that the democrat-liberal-marxists use any and every opportunity to call Bush names and make baseless and stupid accusations without ever defending their positions. Is the left in this country even capable of developing an argument in favor of their bigger government, more taxes and greater control over The People''s lives policies? I am rooting for Obama and a democrat congress just to be able to say "I told you so" as we pick ourselves up from the shambles of Marxism 4-6 year hence. So sad.

[martublade]

http://niconotnow.blogspot.com/