Obama is still smoking

[no name 1]

Last August, I ran into Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, outside the Senate chamber in the Capitol.

This was before the Obama surge, before he had omnipresent Secret Service agents, back when you might see him strolling solo.

We chatted for a second, mainly about the Pakistan speech he'd recently given and about how the media had covered it. He was in good spirits.

As any close friend or family member can attest, I have an unusually keen sense of smell and immediately I smelled cigarette smoke on Obama. Frankly, he reeked of cigarettes.

Obama ran off before I could ask him if he'd just snuck a smoke, so I called his campaign.

They denied it. He'd quit months before, in February, they insisted. He chewed nicorette.

But I knew what I'd smelled and I asked his campaign to double-check and to ask him if he'd had a cigarette.

They reported back that he had told them he hadn't had a cigarette since he quit.

And maybe that was true. Maybe I imagined the cigarette smoke. My olfactory nerve somehow misfired.

Except….last night on MSNBC's Hardball, Obama admitted that his attempt to wean himself from the vile tobacco weed had not been entirely successful.

“I fell off the wagon a couple times during the course of it, and then was able to get back on," he said. "But it is a struggle like everything else.”

Now I wonder about last August.

It's not a big deal in the scheme of things -- the war on Iraq, a major economic crisis -- indeed, it's miniscule. Hardly worth mentioning.

Except that I don't like feeling that I wasn't being dealt with honestly. And as much as citizens who are suspect of the media might scoff at such a notion, many of us consider ourselves to be your representatives to help make sure our leaders are telling us the truth, and leading the country down a path we're confident is the right one. (Corny, I know.)

This isn't the only time I've felt that way about the Obama campaign, of course -- its response to the Austan Goolsbee controversy was a profile in dissembling. (Not that Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain or their campaigns are entirely innocent in this area either. Or even that Obama is necessarily the worst offender.)

Still.

link

Edited April 3, 2008 by illumine

[churipu 4]

So has his wife filed for divorce yet?

Sorry couldn't resist...

Edited April 3, 2008 by churipu

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Seriously...

[no name 1]

Seriously...

Lying about it? Not cool.

Wonder how much he gets $$ from tobacco companies?

Kinda makes his plan on caring about healthcare seem a bit off...

If you think it won't turn somevoters off, you are wrong.

Edited April 3, 2008 by illumine

[simple_male 1]

Seriously...

Very silly indeed.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It's not a big deal in the scheme of things -- the war on Iraq, a major economic crisis -- indeed, it's miniscule. Hardly worth mentioning.

Exactly. So don't.

Is that the best camp Hillary can produce these days? How pathetic.

[no name 1]

It's not a big deal in the scheme of things -- the war on Iraq, a major economic crisis -- indeed, it's miniscule. Hardly worth mentioning.

Exactly. So don't.

Is that the best camp Hillary can produce these days? How pathetic.

Um, check the source, it's not HC.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Oh, he smokes????????????????

I LOVE THIS MAN.

Edited April 3, 2008 by Len_and_Bren

[Alex+R 0]

He said he'd fallen off the wagon a few times. If you've ever tried to give up an addiction you'll know how hard it is. I hardly think this means he doesn't care about healthcare. That's a little too far of a stretch.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

He said he'd fallen off the wagon a few times. If you've ever tried to give up an addiction you'll know how hard it is. I hardly think this means he doesn't care about healthcare. That's a little too far of a stretch.

Alexandra: STFU (out of habit, sis)

And don't you know that all smokers are a bunch of perverts? deviants? ill-repute people? (#######, thats me )

[Alex+R 0]

He said he'd fallen off the wagon a few times. If you've ever tried to give up an addiction you'll know how hard it is. I hardly think this means he doesn't care about healthcare. That's a little too far of a stretch.

Alexandra: STFU (out of habit, sis)

And don't you know that all smokers are a bunch of perverts? deviants? ill-repute people? (#######, thats me )

OMG Tie her up and throw her in the ocean and see if she floats! Then burn her at the stake!

[no name 1]

He said he'd fallen off the wagon a few times. If you've ever tried to give up an addiction you'll know how hard it is. I hardly think this means he doesn't care about healthcare.

And as I said, others may not see it that way.

And he is off the wagon now.

I quit myself after 20 years & never fell off the wagon.

Edited April 3, 2008 by illumine

[Chica Yeyé 41]

He said he'd fallen off the wagon a few times. If you've ever tried to give up an addiction you'll know how hard it is. I hardly think this means he doesn't care about healthcare. That's a little too far of a stretch.

Alexandra: STFU (out of habit, sis)

And don't you know that all smokers are a bunch of perverts? deviants? ill-repute people? (#######, thats me )

OMG Tie her up and throw her in the ocean and see if she floats! Then burn her at the stake!

They tried that... me, a Phoenix. A SMOKING Phoenix

Now Bren will DEFINITELY vote for Barack. :thumbs:

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It's not a big deal in the scheme of things -- the war on Iraq, a major economic crisis -- indeed, it's miniscule. Hardly worth mentioning.

Exactly. So don't.

Is that the best camp Hillary can produce these days? How pathetic.

Um, check the source, it's not HC.

Um, you're peddling the story. You're camp Hillary.

[no name 1]

It's not a big deal in the scheme of things -- the war on Iraq, a major economic crisis -- indeed, it's miniscule. Hardly worth mentioning.

Exactly. So don't.

Is that the best camp Hillary can produce these days? How pathetic.

Um, check the source, it's not HC.

Um, you're peddling the story. You're camp Hillary.

I do not speak for her. Never claimed to, either.