Obama is Smokin’

The Clinton’s has run a dirty “no holds barred” campaign, and unprofessional.
The Democratic Party delegates are starting to Unite behind Obama!

I think the fact that he admited it on national television last night shows his honesty.
Maybe his campaign said something different, but all campaigns are like that.

What suprises me is that nobody commented on John McCain smoking in his first recent campaign ad, where you see him talking as POW, stretched on a bed, and filling the screen with the smoke of his cigarette. Check that ad out to see it for yourself.
For a guy still going pretty strong at his age, that is a tobacco and nicotine ad like no other! Very convincing!
Smoke, and you’ll survive Vietnam! Smoke, and you’ll be running for President at the age of 71!
Haha.

I don’t blame him for falling off the wagon with all the sniper fire and going on.

“– 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.)”
I might have missed something, so not sure what you meant about Clinton and McCain, my impression is Clinton’s campaign has never contacted the Canadians for that NAFTA issue, it was finally and firmly verified by the Canada government.

It must be a slow news day ?

But, what was he smokin’?

Oh Please!

Gossips. Nothing major to report today ?

Smoking? Yes, someone can quit. Obama has access to all the resources needed to quit. Role model for kids? Smoking kills. Everyone went crazy when Bill had sex in the white house. Which is a worse role model? Smoking KILLS!!! Not just the smoker, but those around him. Also shows Obama’s lack of willpower and ability to use resources. Poor Obama!

Many more physical and spiritual weaknesses will undoubtedly be unearthed about Barack Obama as the process continues.
Who cares?
What matters is whether or not a candidate can win the electoral college in November.
Obama cannot, and he probably won’t get the chance to try.
History does repeat itself.
Consider the 1968 Democratic convention and the chosen candidate who did not campaign.
Now, what prominent Democrat has not campaigned and has the real qualifications and experience to be President?
Can you say Al Gore?

“It isn’t hard to take a charismatic guy, load his speeches with all the usual hooks the young and the desperate respond to, and create A Movement.”
Not in a fantasy novel, no, but nobody ever ran a overwhelmingly impressive presidential campaign on that scenario in the USA, you silly. Get real. You underestimate many millions of Americans, among then many of our prominent figures in politics, science and the economy.
And it’s easy, you mean, to beat the Clinton Machine? Then the Clintons aren’t worth a penny after all.

As to a candidate for the most important office in the world, the smoking question raised by Jake Tapper is appropriately pertinent to:
1. His crediibility. He has flip-flopped on whether he does or does not.
2. His judgment. Anyone who smokes in this 21st century, what with all the knowledge and proof we now have about smoking’s dire effects on health, has arguably SUSPECT common sense!

You could tell by looking at his lips and teeth, when he smiles that he’s still a smoker! He used to smoke very heavily for a long time. But he gave up drug habits, although his campaign tell you that he given up smoking, just by looking at his lips, mouth and teeth you could tell he’s been indulging in tobacco. You know having a family history of cancer; this is really playing with fire. I am so surprised you folks in the adoring press didn’t notice? The media let Sen. Obama get away with murder. I see a big element of self-destruction in Sen. Obama in spite all the charm and his popularity.
So now we know, since it has come in the open, something that few people knew; like in the SNL skit where he was chain smoking; I know it wasn’t a joke! Sen. Barak Obama should set a better example for rest us us we know all his talk about change is all nonsense. Sen. Barak Obama was made by the same cookie-cutter that was used by David Axelrod to make Gov. Duval Patrick of Massachusetts. CHANGE and HOPE were the same slogans that Duval Patrick used; and there’s nothing new in Barak Obama’s campaign. All the stuff about hope and change were re-cycled and reconstituted by political fixes from Chicago David Axelrod and David Plouff for the manipulation of American voters! We know Sen. Obama even used Duval Patrick’s speeches─ lifting them word for word! If you really want to find out what’s happening with “CHANGE” lately, you should look in to what’s going on with Barak Obama’s carbon-copy Duval Patrick and how he’s doing in Massachusetts! As a smoker Sen. Obama carries a huge health risk to the White House. A another tragedy in the making? Have we not had enough? Can we really take these kinds of risks with charming but unknown person?
That’s why, Jake Sen. Hillary Clinton is still our best hope for our country!

Come on, really ? This is absolutely ridiculous. Maybe he came from a bar where other people were smoking? Or a meeting with someone who was smoking? Or maybe he did smoke, but WHO CARES? Hardly something that reflects on the honesty or not of a campaign.

@al and the rest of you holier than thou judgemental “perfect” people
I don’t think it is spaciness ( as you say)that is the ultimate reason to smoke, I think it is dealing with people like you.
I think all you anti smokers should start- maybe it would help you calm down a little and take the edge off of your nastiness. I would pick Obama over Clinton as a role model for my kids any day Cigarette-gate vs. Watergate

Obama is like any other human being. Campaigning every day, receiving attacks from all directions, media attacks, a prolonged campaign which was not anticipated, being away from the family. All these contributes to one to be nervous.
He needs a cigarette a day to calm him down. Am sure once the pressure is over, he will make it without thinking of it.

My lord. Imasmoker…want to know how many times I’ve quit? Too many to count. Did my family members know everytime I fell off the wagon…no. If they asked and I didnt want to say, I’d ignore the quest. or say “yeah, yeah I quit”.
That does not mean when at my job I lie, am incapable of doing my job appropriately, or that Im incompatant.
All it means is “Stop being so darn nosey about whether or not Im still smoking”. It’s legal and a bad guilty pleasure and frankly nobody’s business!
Not to mention, that how many people smoke? How many have tried to quiit and havent been successful? How many finally were able to quit? And doesnt it make u feel a little better knowing that a Pres. candidate at least can sympothise with the difficultyof quitting smoking? It’s called Empathy..which a Pres. should have.

I didnt start smoking because a Pres. did. I started smoking because my FATHER DID. And most of my friends started due to a parent smoking. Not because media glamorizes it or because the PRes. hopefull started, then quit, then started then quit again.
Get real people….most people start smoking because they get taught it’s ok by a PARENT or guardian or some other family member. I highly doubt some 12 yr old kid sees Obama, knows his a smoker and is gunna light up. My guess is the 12 yr old will light up because a parent smokes, sibling, smokes teacher smokes…etc.

geevil,
just so you know, the reason he “snapped” at the guy trying to get the photo is because the guy and his “photographer” had been following him to several events, including disrupting his meeting with a group of 3rd graders to get the photo. The guy sells Obama stuff on ebay and was trying to get a photo with Obama to show that he is “legitimate.” trust me, in my former job, I had to work with celebrities and these “photograph” folks are just ruthless.

Now we must worry that Obama will fall back to his drug use which hasn’t been vetted. And if this guy was some kind of stalker the Secret Service would of hauled him away long ago. He was a rude jerk, but Obama handled it poorly.

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a cigarette we are talking about. We’ve had Presidents lie about affairs and covering up crimes and you focus on the fact that a candidate smelled like a cigarette???
The media really need to get a clue.

Out on my smoke break …what riveting Smoker Bashing did I miss? Oh thank you Amazon Traveler for giving me yet another reason to dislike Hillary… smoke free White House oh yippee I wonder if that was included in her “years of experience” as first lady. I will again state SMOKING IS LEGAL, it is something that we as FREE Americans can do ( for now, until they take that freedom away and then watch out!!! for here comes Prohibition and we all know how well that worked out)it’s about as stupid as someone giving me a ticket for not wearing my seatbelt( I’m sorry , yes government you do know best oh thank you for saving me from myself).

geevil,
these sort of people are not the traditional “stalkers”, just big jerks with the same mentality of paparazzi. the secret service did push him away when obama first went into the store, but Obama tried to talk to him and explain to him why he didn’t want to do the photo and the guy just kept on pushing on. this is exactly what they do. i’m telling ya, i’ve seen it a hundred times. and you just can’t shake these guys. if the secret service would have really dealt with this guy, then it would caused a bigger disturbance. there’s no talking logic with these guys. it’s all about selling stuff for top dollar, at any cost.

Ok then, the jerk incident was blown out of proportion. I take that part back. My wfie told me Obama was a smoker due to his lips. The problem is that we were told he quit.

If I had to spend my day meeting the press and pressing the meat, I’d want to light up every so often too.
Convenient that the press corpse has resurrected its curiosity just in time for a Democratic presidency. Imagine what could have been done if they’d investigated Bush’s DUI, coke habits, DOJ corruption, and close attention to PDBs. Oh, and the Iraq thing.

My own mother denied for about 10 years to my dad that she was sneaking cigarettes when he thought she had quit many years earlier. That’s the nature of the addiction. She finally confessed to him when they both were talking with her doctor the day the doctor told her shey had stage 4 lung cancer. It’s hard to quit smoking. I’m an ex-smoker, too so I know first hand. Give Obama a break Mr. Truth-Seeking journalist.

What an idiot. I haven’t smoked in 20 years, but when I went into a tavern to get bookwork from the owner, one of my accounting clients, I reeked for the rest of the day. My eyes watered, and I sneezed. It gets in your hair and soaks into your clothes. Of course, now In Washington state, that’s all a thing of the past, thank God.
My point being, you don’t have to smoke to smell like you do. Just be around smokers for any length of time.

Last post on this for me…
Even though it’s not anyone’s business about Obama’s smoking in my opinion… I mean come on, is anyone concerned about McCain’s new bandage on his face? And somehow his doctors are “not available” to answer questions about his health until May (hello? the guy is running for president and his doctors are not available?)? Maybe health care accessibility also sucks for men of such power…
In any event, Obama clearly said on Chris Matthews last night that he has fallen off the wagon a few times. What more do you want the guy to say? Sheesh…
Yep, this is what the country needs to be worried about as we slide into a nasty recession and our troops are dying for nothing.

Obama has many problems that is why he won’t be our next president he can’t take it and where is all the change just like he can’t quit smoking he can’t stay away from all the old WHITE guys in the party the AA will find out that it does not matter who is in the white house it never trickles down nothing will change Obama is juat another man who has been rasied in a white world he panders to everyone gore for global warminng why would an x vice president want to be in his Amin. there are also workin places that will fire you if you smoke he has been talked into this and it shows he just wan’t's to be left alone. The repubs will have a hey day with him

Obama the Embarrassed is unfit to lead our nation because he had a lapse while trying to quit smoking. Clinton the Delusional is unfit to lead our nation because she can’t tell whether she was under sniper fire or being greeted by a young girl on the tarmac. McCain the Incompetent is unfit to lead our nation because he can’t tell the difference between Iran and Al Qaeda. I’ll take my chances with Obama.

This’s soooo obama. He says one thing and does another..I can’t wait to see the faces of messiah’s supporters when the results in the general come in. (if he’s the nominee)
Everybody else knows that caucus-winner Obama doesn’t stand a chance against warhero Mccain. I’ve always voted democrat, but this fall it’s Mccain.

Did any one notice that all the Obama supporters are like little kids this is about Obama but they are well she did this they always want to blame it on Hillary . When he losees this it will be because of his lies any there are many.

This is so silly on so many levels. Jake didn’t ask Obama if he smoked only that he smelled smoke – could be from Obama or someone around Obama, or Jake could be wrong. Also, the person that you asked may not even have spoken to Obama and gave whatever answer he thought was accurate. All we know is that Obama WAS HONEST with Chris Matthews.
Then, makes the assumption that he is right and goes on a diatribe about Obama’s honesty. Sheesh.
I guess this is what passes for journalism these days.
Meanwhile Clinton lies about Bosnia, lies about her role in the FMLA, lies about opening borders in Macedonia etc…

We have a president who was a hard core alcoholic for more than twenty years and now appears to have suffered some brain damage as a result. Before that, we had a president who was a hard core sex addict which got him into all kinds of trouble. If Obama’s worst vice is the need to smoke a cigarette every now and then, thank goodness for that.

Little kids is right because there obviously a lack of comprehension of the underlying point of this posting: he doesn’t like the *feeling* that he was lied to.
He didn’t say that he was indeed lied to, but is having a hard time reconciling what he perceived to be the truth, what he was told and what the Obama camp said on Hardball.
Tapper also is making the observation that this perhaps is not an isolated incident, but a pattern in HIS experiences with the Obama campaign.
This posting is not about smoking at all folks, but opens up a dialog about sincerity and integrity and he’s been equally hard on the other candidates in these areas as well.

Pretty pathetic ‘reporting’ really…I, for one, would love to see Obama kick the habit but this is newsworthy?
Sounds like a witch hunt to try and unearth ‘something’ to take a shot at Obama.
Just another in a long line of reminders on how the media is doing such a ‘great’ job in covering ‘news’.

Weren’t being dealt with honestly??? Even if he did smell like smoke, did he somehow owe it to you to bring it up himself and explain it?
This is beyond shallow.

First of all, who do you think YOU are that Obama is obligated to tell you about his personal business? Whether or not he smoked that doesn’t make it any of your freaking business whatsoever. That is the arrogance of the media these days, they think that just because they ask that he is obligated to tell.
And to bring up a situation that happened in AUGUST of 2007 is flat out ridiculous. This POINTLESS and it is getting ridiculous. Why don’t you report on something that actually affects the people of this country? Get a life!

OH MY GOD, how DARE you say report something bad about Obama. No wonder all these Obama cult members are attacking you.
Obama has weak nerves already—not a good sign of a good leader.

ONION worthy.

My gosh, why don’t you report the truth that John McCain is a “campaign finance criminal. The Washington Post reported on the potential for criminal behavior by McCain:
Knowingly violating the spending limit is a criminal offense that could put McCain at risk of stiff fines and up to five years in prison.
Now, based on McCain’s latest campaign finance report, we know the GOP nominee has violated the spending limit. So, it’s time to take it to the next level.
The hypocrisy of the so-called “maverick” violating a law which he championed because it suits his purposes this time around is horrifying. Even worse is the relative silence of the press on this, given the rank hypocrisy of violations of McCain’s “signature” issue and all. Does it get to be your signature issue if you are blatantly violating it in an in-your-face maneuver after being warned not to by the head of the FEC? I think not.
You, Mr Tapper, are no journalist.
For shame…

If this were Hillary Clinton it would be the lead story on CNN and MSNBC. I can just see it, Hillary caught in another “misspeak”. Does Obama walk on water as well:?

WHO CARES?

When I heard that this educated, middle class ’40 something’ man was a smoker, I couldn’t believe it. Where was Obama during the 70′s and 80′s when cigarettes had virtually been scrubbed from all media – magazines, t.v., movies. Anti smoking campaigns were also in full force. More importantly, the health risks had been pounded into us from the mid-sixties and every package even back then contained “that warning”.
One of the first magazine pieces I remember following Obama’s presidential announcement was this “puff piece” about Michelle Obama’s annoyance with her husband’s nicotine habit – she made him sound so human. Well, I don’t know too many educated middle class ’40 something people who smoke.
Sadly, cigarettes have been making their way back into the media in the past 10 years. There are new groups of teen smokers out there now, but what’s Obama’s excuse?
Was it not being comfortable in his own skin that he had to adopt a “persona” or is it just his arrogance that the health problems associated with smoking won’t impact him or his family?

Are we supposed to take this post seriously? When Obama lies about something that really matters, something that affects the *public* trust, not something that merely *infects* your investigative reporter’s mind, then I’d be interested. Otherwise, just give us a break from this nonsense, please.

You can’t be serious? Have you nothing better to do than post about this idiotic speculation whether Sen.Obama did or did not smoke on the particular day you ran into him? Gee, your feelings are hurt you may have been misled? Cut me a break. A total non-story.
I cannot believe there are people just itching to dump anything on Sen. Obama, a truly once in a lifetime candidate for president. Nothing sticks because he is a man of character unlike his female rival.

I used to think there was nothing less relevant to the real issues facing our nation than whether or not the President got oral sex from another consenting adult. Now I know there are even more ridiculous distractions.
To avoid future confusion, please don’t waste our time and attention on whether a politician lied about (a) still smoking, (b) extramarital sex, (c) having a same-sex incident while a teenager, (d) smoking pot in college, (d) cheating on a test in high school (college counts, though), (e) using a line from another politician’s speech, with that politician’s consent. Or anything else that could lead people to vote for the wrong damn reasons.

Gee Jake, it’s not quite the “I dated Monica Lewinski too” headline grabber that launched your career, but I do appreciate your nose for a good story.

The familar pattern we same in the NAFTA scandal
Obama had quit smoking for good.
When he finds out ABC is going to report he has relapsed he then admits to smoking a couple times
Slowly the truth comes out.
If he relapsed in smoking will he relapse in drug use? President of the USA is the world’s most stressful job.

Jay, this upsets me because as a former smoker, I know how hard it is to quit smoking. When you have a slip you are ashamed and embarassed. This is a horrible addiction.

I don’t care if he smokes or not. Why lie? But I think it goes to show he is as deceptive as any of the other candidates. All politicians lie or tell half-truths, even Saint Obama.

Obama Falls Off The Wagon

ABC’s Jake Tapper caught Obama smoking, and lying about it:Last August, I ran into Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, outside the Senate chamber in the Capitol. [. . .] As any close friend or family member can attest, I have an unusually keen sense of smel…

lol geevil. You know they say that heroin is easier to give up than cigs. Personally I wouldn’t know since I never did heroin. And smoking pot is not an addiction. People can give that up but they chose not to. Nicotine is addicting and that is a fact.

You are a few days late for an April Fools joke. Slow day ah?
I also am an ex-smoker, always 1 puff away from falling off the wagon from one day to the next.

I realize this is a blog and different journalism standards apply, but if you dont have any solid evidence or proof this isn’t news. What you believe or what you think arent things that we care about- we care about the facts, and if you don’t have any then please do us a favor and stop the accusations, the claims and the inneundo.

Jay, I’ve been quit almost 3 years and I don’t think about it at all anymore. That first year was rough through. I quit with the help of an online smoking cessation forum. I couldn’t have done it without them. The key is to change your mindset about smoking. Congrats to you for quitting so long ago

This is not petty. It’s a question of honesty. I don’t care if he smokes or not, I care that OBAMA LIES about EVERYTHING.
That’s what I care about:
NAFTA-Canadans, Rezko, Wright, plans, etc, etc, etc.
Obama is not fit for public office.

Guess it depends where he’s been.
I haven’t smoked for 15 years, but I met with friends a week ago and came away reeking of smoke.

Jake….
LOL….good job! He probabaly will say: “Oh…but I didn’t inhale..”
My concern is for those 2 little girls….2nd hand smoke is HORRIBLE, I know …my co-worker smokes…and even if he does it outside…I get a headache from the stench of smoke from him…
What a fraud!

Lauren | Apr 3, 2008 9:46:24 AM
—-
Next time, instead of thinking about what the cigarette will be like, try to think about how you’ll feel afterwards.
Been there, done that.

In any case wouldn’t it be a good idea to have more than circumstantial evidence before trying to trash people’s character. Supposing everything else is true, we still don’t know whether the senator was *with* someone else who was smoking. That famous sense of smell must be picking getting it from his clothes, but we still wouldn’t know who was doing the smoking.

Wait? What?! Your “story” is that you THINK Obama snuck a cigarette, but his PARTY told you that he’d quit in February? C’mon Jake. I guess you have some down time after fully detailing all of President Bush’s lies. And then you mention the Goolsbee controversy while adding that Obama isn’t the worst offender?! I’ll break it down for you, Obama is NOT a saint, he’s NOT the pope, he HAS and WILL make mistakes, but he’s by far the best candidate left in this race.

The fact that Senator Obama may have smoked a cigarette does not bother me. It is the fact that Senator Obama does not tell the truth about small or large issues that reflect on his character that I find disgusting. It simply shows he lacks judgement and intergity. Does America want a liar in the White House? A LIE IS A LIE IS A LIE.
As an ex-smoker, it is hard to quit and not pick up the habit again, unfortunately.

I missed in the article where Obama told the reporter that he didn’t smoke.
This has to be the dumbest thing that I have ever read.

Way too much focus was put on Hillary’s Bosnia trip. This is worse I think because its a character flaw not a one-time exaggeration to put a little drama in her story.

Obama recently drew headlines when he described the more than 3,000 Americans killed in Iraq since 2003 as wasted lives. (He subsequently apologized.) But he should know that about 600,000 Americans have died of lung cancer during the four years of the Iraq war — almost all of them because of smoking.

This is sure proof that this campaign needs to end. A professional newsman wonders if a surreptitious and unconfessed cigarette should be a campaign issue, and readers suggested, if Obama lied (to whom? his campaign folks?), this would be worse than saying you flew into Bosnia under gunfire.
What next? Hillary’s terrible, unconfessed nailbiting habit? Give the man (and the woman, for that matter) some space to be a human being.

Wow, you mean Obama’s human? I didn’t think I could like the guy even more, but now I do.

Jake,
For you to act surprised that Obama lied to you is funny to me.
You guys know that this guy lies and each time he does it you in the media bury it.
If Hillary is the one that lies, you magnify the story 10 times. History will not be kind to you in MSM. You are all in Obama camp and we know it. Even NPR (public media) is in that camp too.
You guys are selling to the American people a worthless bill of goods and you know it. Sad thing is that it’s too late to reverse the damage.

I can’t figure out why the heck the press hasn’t bothered to flesh out the more agregious white lies that BHO has been engaged. Am I the only person who remembers that in a debate when confronted about his relationship with Tony Rezko BHO blew Hillary off by stating that it was simple 5 billable hours of legal work. Go back and review the video. Now that was a whopper to me because it was not only intellectually dishonest but extremely misleading to the public.

“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.”
I think you should have stopped there. Grow up.

I’m thinking that the reason so many of Obama’s supporters are all worked up here is that if they were honest, they find smoking really distasteful and look down their noses at people who smoke. They’re probably the ones – like me – that support ordinances against smoking in public and increased taxes on cigarettes as a way to reduce this habit – and the incredible cost on society. They probably would not marry a smoker either – and again, they look down their noses at the average smoker. Obama, in their eyes, is anything but “average”. But how do they know?
I do know that their outrage about your printing this story is incredibly outsized.
I think that they believe, like I do, that Obama’s smoking as a 45 + year old man is a character flaw. Anyone between the ages of (35 – 60 years old) has been bombarded since childhood with anti-smoking messages. Also, the dangers of “second hand” smoke have been well known for almost as long.

And what does this have to do with poverty in America, education, crime, the war????

Jake,
You must have strike a nerve on the Obama supporters with your story. They are all whinning as usual.
Can you imagine stinking up the White House with cigarrete smoke? That is just what will happen.

Clearly this is written by someone who has never been close to someone trying to quit smoking. I have no doubt that he may have snuck a smoke — and was probably being harder on himself than anyone else could have been for doing so. Denial? You bet! It’s part of the nasty guilt trying to quit this addiction brings with it. It would be nice to have a human in the presidency who admits his humanity — instead of lying to us to try to prove that he’s some sort of demigod.

during the process of quiting almost everyone falls of the wagon on occasion. It takes time. And to quit in the midst of a presidential race has got to be the ultimate test.
and from experience… everyone lies about smoking when they are trying to quit!!

While it would wonderful to believe that Obama — and every other presidential candidate — spoke the truth all the time about matters large and small, the reality is they don’t and can’t. Everything a candidate says can be spun out of control. In this case, if he indeed had slipped and had a cigarette at that moment, you would most likely have written an article about his failed attempt to quit. Such an article would have undermined his continuing efforts to quit smoking and sent a terrible message to the youth of our nation. I, for one, can live with the possibility that he chose not to mention the slip because he firmly intended to continue working on his addiction.

Smokers are lepers in our society. I smoke and I’ve hidden it for years from family and friends. Why shouldn’t a politician be wary of letting on that he hasn’t been able to quit when we live in an ultra-critical society with a pathological hatred of smoking and smokers?

Sylvia, The truth hurts, doesn’t it.

in other words obama supporters
It is not so much the smokin cigarette
as it is the cover up”
———-
In other words Hillary supporters it is the cover up that really matters. “Sniper-Fire,” and “Fraudulent FEC Reports.” These are the things that matter as they are public issues that concern Americans, and don’t forget going behind someone backs beggin SD to move on this them using such personal issues. I think Obama should tell the SD to vote for him because they are too Divisive, Vicious, Sexually Immoral, and more.

Peter Jennings was from that generation like my mom’s that was already hooked on cigarettes before we started getting hit over the head with how dangerous cigarettes were. I’m sympathetic to people of that age who once addicted found it hard to stop even though they tried really hard. I have no sympathy for people my age and younger who started smoking despite being bombarded by messages about its dangers and the dangers of second hand smoke. In Obama’s generation – THERE WERE NO IMAGES TYING SMOKING TO COOL, ATTRACTIVE BEHAVIOR – so, why did he even pick up the habit. It’s a character flaw.
A character flaw of Obama’s that Peter Jennings might also be reporting if he had survived.

OMG – do Americans really require that their leaders be perfect, saints who do absolutely no wrong, ever, in their entire lives?
If so, you are simply begging to be lied to since it is IMPOSSIBLE to be PERFECT. So what if he fell off the non-smoking band wagon. If this is what you have to resort to in an attempt to paint Obama as a dissembler, than you don’t deserve decent politicians of any stripe.
Even the NAFTA issue would barely be a story in most democratic countries since the Canadian govt acknowledged and apoligized for 1) misquoting the advisor 2) for the media leak 3) implying that it was the campaign who contacted the consulate when in fact it was (my) Canadian govt representatives who asked to speak to the advisor as originally reported.
Focus people – you have a severe economic crisis, you are fighting two wars that aren’t going very well and you have a current President that is harming your international standing (ie environment, preemptive wars, etc.).

Let’ take a survey of all the people outraged by this story who support Obama AND who also look down their noses at the average smoker.
That’s what’s really got you all worked up – you need to think that your guy is extraordinary. He’s not.
You just don’t want to confront your hypocrisy.

Obama did not lie about his smoking. He is in denial. The same way he and other Democrats are in denial about the war being won in Iraq.

s valenti, I support the dem nominee. My problem is that this article touched a nerve with me because I’m an exsmoker. It is extremely difficult to quit. And people are too embarrassed and ashamed to admit they had a slip. They feel like a failure. It’s a very personal decision to quit and no one’s elses business. I applaud people who try to quit. And I know the pain they go through.

I’d think that TEAMOBAMA would welcome the distraction from the ever-cascading fall-out of the Wright scandal that may seem to be ebbing. That’s just because the republicans are holding onto it if he succeeds in making it to the general election. A big IF these days.

So is he smoking or isn’t he?

GASP!!!
“Mr. Perfect” smoking?
Democrats are so stupid and are falling for this obnoxious, arrogant rookie!
He’s even got his kool-aid drinkers acting full of hatred towards anyone who doesn’t worship the grounds HE walks on! I’ll never understand why so many Democrats are acting like Republicans…Pure Hatred…scary!!!

You know, I currently support Senator Clinton, but am finding it difficult to hold a lie or two about smoking against Obama.
I do, however, think there are much stronger arguments about his lies out there. For instance, Karl Rove in his interview with an abc reporter mentioned that Obama lied about him in his book, and essentially didn’t own up to it when confronted about the lie (seems to be a pattern for him).
The biggest problems I see for Obama are that he is arrogant, disingenuous and inexperienced, doesn’t own up to mistakes, and has a whole lot of baggage from Chicago that is going to hit him like a ton of bricks should he become the nominee. (Oh, and I’m sure we’ll be treated to some lovely post election scenes from his cousin’s run in Kenya — hopefully they won’t be too graphic, or we’ll all end up with nightmares.)
As it is, he already has very little appeal to blue collar voters, and his ties to Rev. Wright, Mr. Rezko, Mr. Ayers, and his cousin in Kenya should decrease his appeal with that group even more (too bad those silly Democrats can’t learn to respect those blue collar voters, if they did, they might actually have a chance of winning an election, and too bad those crazy Obama supporters labeled me an old hag on the blogs and boasted about not needing the votes of the old depends wearing hags that support Clinton — I didn’t bother to tell them that I’m younger than Obama).

aside from the fact that this is minutiae that isn’t remotely newsworthy, i don’t see what the lie here is. you didn’t ask sen. obama if he had just smoked a cigarette or not; you asked his campaign. they gave you the best information they had at the time, which was that his quitting was successful. is he required to phone his campaign HQ every time he takes a drag?
he told the truth on hardball last night, which was that he had fallen off the wagon a few times. where’s the inconsistency?

The all-time low of American media at its worst – petty, mean-spirited, distracting, gossippy, trivial, pandering and just plain low-IQ. No wonder serious discourse doesn’t get heard. There goes 15 minutes of my life, never to be recovered, and not a thing to show for it.

JenJen is right. The real problem with this is that smoking is only one of Obama’s habits. We cannot have a druggie for a President. If Obama is not strong enough to quit and is afraid of Michelle NOW, imagine what he will be like in Office. Actually I think SNL already has. Perhaps this is what has riled up the obama followers. He is not the cool cucumber he pretends to be -he is more like Barney Fife than Andy Taylor.

This is hilarious – all you Obama people going through all these contortions about smoking, quitting, smoking, quitting, lying about quitting, smoking, lying ……..
For Obama to have started smoking is evidence of a character flaw – a kind of arrogance that seems to say – despite all the health information to the contrary – I want to do it, I’m going to do it – No matter what anyone says.

Who cares????????

Jake wants to sniff Obama’s boxers. Get a life, you idiot. I swear, you white boys are obsessed with this man. I bet you wanna know his dyck size too, don’t you.

Just Maybe he didn’t smoke that day….
have you thought of that before you put his personal business out there.
Next thing you will as him how many times he jiggles his penis after he is done peeing.
you are no reporter, get a life!

With all the other BS that the current Administration Throw at us and the media on a daily basis. All drastically more consequential than the question as to whether Barack Obama had smoked a cigarette or not. I mean I used to smoke over 20 Years ago. I have not Smoked Since. Yet like many people who smoke or have smoked we tend to have friends or family who smoke and they sometimes smoke around me and Some would swear that I had been smoking. So, Could the smoke that Jake swears to smelled during the interview possibly have come from another source and got into the clothes?????? Jake, you are Pathetic

So, fibbing to Jake Tapper, who passes on lies of all sorts, is a big deal and “worth mentioning” and, according to another poster, lying to Karl Rove is too.
Okay, just so we’ve all got our facts straight. Let’s ignore the folks in power who tried to basically unwrite the constitution, this is important!
Justify your paycheck, Mr. Tapper. FIND SOME NEWS and before you hold candidates to an absurd standard of honesty, stop passing along lies in your apparent vendetta (for lying!) against Obama. You may just be the least trustworthy name in American journalism, my friend. And THAT is saying something.

s valenti, smoking is not a character flaw. And who are you to judge

Goodness Jake! Don’t you have anything better to do?

Even though I’m against the war and I know that McCain’s economic plans will push the country further into recession I’ll still vote for him because the other guy had a bad pastor and smoked a cigarette. I’m willing to sacrifice the economic wellbeing of the country and another 4,011 American lives rather than have a guy in the White House who had a bad paster and smoked a cigarette. The choice is clear and the issues are apparent.

There is something called second hand smoke. If you are in a room with a smoker you can end up smelling like smoke without actually smoking yourself. Unless you have footage this is a nonstory.

Jessica, I don’t care what you think.

We are simply sick and tired of the Republican agenda for the past 8 years, which has easily landed us in dept of trillions. America borrowing from Arab countries? No way! McCain blindly promises to follow Bushe’s steps. If I do not vote for Obama, who seem to be the smartest for now, I will stay home.

“many of us consider ourselves to be your representatives to help make sure our leaders are telling us the truth”
You have to be kidding, right? Where have you been for the last 7 years?

Obama’s a liar!?! Wow, gee, shucks, golly and gosh. I’d never have thunk it.

“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 piece is parody, right? I assume that last paragraph was a joke?
WMD to the north, west and south of Baghdad.
6 weeks, probably not 6 months
We’ve turned the corner.
Last throes.
It will only cost 15 billion dollars.
Oil revenues will pay for reconstruction.
We don’t torture.
You’re doing a heckofa job Brownie.
Excuse me now while I roll on the floor with spasms of hilarity.

whoops … meant to write “hasn’t passed many bills” in the last line of my post. apologies

You know you people need to take some time off work and look in your holier than thou mirrors. OR quit trying to hold your politicians to a standard that none of us could. How many white lies are told everyday, how many lies are told everyday. We lie all the time…go aheadthink about it…Tomorrow at work count up how many lies you tell at work in one day, or challenge yourself not to tell any lies for one day white or otherwise….You can’t!!!

Obama’s run for the Presidency is starting to resemble the Wizard of Oz! Who’s behind the curtain of this image we’ve been sold?
It’s starting to get creepy.
I think everybody’s been had.

$40 million in March! He’s smokin’ alright! Yes We Can!

Obama will say (lie about) anything to get elected. I voted for Hillary in the primary but if Obama is nominated I’ll vote for McCain.

A nicotine addict who chews nictoine gum is still an addict. An addict who lies about his habit is also a liar.

I only care about Obama stopping Clinton. If he does, I will be sincerely grateful to him, then I will vote for Bob Barr.

This story is such a waste of space! Let’s focus on what’s important.

Great. One more reason for those us living on Tobacco Road in North Carolina to support Obama. I’ve sent him two nice contributions, and I will contribute again.

Jim B. -
You hit the nail on the head. There are thousands of people who would abandon Obama because he’s one of those smokers and for that issue and that issue alone. Don’t be surprised if the Clinton surrogates push this story.

“Anyone who smokes in this 21st century, what with all the knowledge and proof we now have about smoking’s dire effects on health, has arguably SUSPECT common sense!”
Ok…if you are certain about that, perhaps you should suggest Hillary include this fact in her PA stump speeches: “Anyone who smokes in the 20th century does not have common sense!!! I mean you X% of the electorate!”
Newsflash: many people smoke. many people have trouble quitting.

Are you kidding me? Why weren’t you asking George Bush as many questions when he said we had to go to war with Iraq? You and your compadres just accepted it!! Anybody with any GD sense would have KNOWN that war with Iraq was a bad idea.
Now we’re stuck – because the MSM in more interested in BS like whether or not a candidate seeks a cigarette.

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.
&&&&&&&&&&& o &&&&&&&&
Oops,
Well you may think taht it’s a little bit childish.
Just try to understand the author. The fact is that this is the kind of reaction that flatters our ego. We just need to spread them and let people thinking that we’re the one who has been to X or Y office and discover that he is C-sniffer… Wait and see, next time he may bring us the scoop (?) HC takes two beer per day for example (?)
By the way it’s pathetic as far as he has nothing to give us than private discussion with a guy who let him go too close to his circle and at the same time refused to avow that he has a ‘péché mignon’.

Reading this account raises only one question: is it possible for political reporting get any more trivial. Clearly the campaign has gone on too.
Great job, Sherlock.

does it not show Obama speaks the truth even if his campaign does not? i thought he passed the honesty test here!

I agree with VNJ agreeing with Barb – RIGHT ON! I watched that View interview too, and he actually is charming in the excess which smacks to me as manipulation. And his talking around the Revered Wright thing: his explanations were just creative sidesteps that sounded as if he was being profound and wise, when he was really just covering his ass with untruths using his trademark pseudo “Profound Preacher-speak” to make it go down real nice. I just don’t understand why more people aren’t bringing his way of doing this to light. He lies and he character-assassinates but he does it in preacher tones that seem to mezmerize people from challenging him. He’s like a chameleon, he shifts and changes to the circumstances, and I never have felt like I’ve seen the real Obama. He’s shady, and it’s hard to put one’s finger on it exactly what it is. But Barb, “creative phraseology” that bamboozles us — that’s a good way of putting it. I want to be wrong about all this, but I’ve gotten an unsettled feeling about him for a long while now. I guess time will tell, except then we all may be stuck with him in the Oval Office, wishing we weren’t in another 8 year nightmare.

Well, he’d better pick a good running mate, because if Obama’s health fails, well, you know…

Will,
Look up the word fascist in the dictionary. Then stop using words you cannot define. I’d have to weep if you weren’t so absolutely, ridiculously funny. Oh, and take a course in modern history. You’d be surprised at just how stupid you appear in print as you seem to little about history or the English language.
Obama will wipe the floor with McCain. McCain can’t even raise any money. The usual suspects who support war mongerers, the evangelical right wing nut jobs praying for the apocalypse, won’t even vote for a Repub this time. But I am sure that the wealthy friends of GWB will soon begin to chip in–you know, his base.
And yes, I believe this article was written just so the author can tell us all how he actually met Barack way back when? Must be.

Being a smoker who quit and i’m sure the American public knows how hard this is, this is a non election issue.
Matter of fact his admission that he has ‘fallen off the wagon’ sometimes Makes him even more likable.At least he didn’t say he mispoke, that Bosnia story made Hillary win the liar in chief test.

I mean, seriously, THIS is the “news” that needs to be reported today? As an ex-smoker myself, I spent several years trying to quit smoking and occcasionally lying about my progress to my friends and family. But don’t you think there are one or two more important things to talk about? Is it really your business if he is smoking in private? Let’s see– we are in the middle of a long, costly and apparently endless war, the other major Presidential candidate had a husband who was impeached for having sex with a subordinate in the White House and has now made $50 million from somebody, the economy is collapsing and the taxpayers are bailing out everyone in sight–but the most important thing this journalist has to talk about is whether Sen. Obama was smoking one day last fall. Amazing.

you are SO olfactory!

This kind of stuff makes me want to throw up. Your acute sense of smell detected cigarette smoke – so what? Let’s swift boat him for that since Wright didn’t stick…maybe we can get Mc Cain to finish off turning the supreme court over to the neo-cons

joj you are wrong.

Vicki, actually, you missed the point that the article made clear. Jake Tapper NEVER asked Senator Obama if he had smoked, therefore, he did not lie to him. He NEVER asked him. He simply made his own humanly flawed assumption. Clearly, not a reason to accuse the Senator for lying. And that is exactly what this is about, it is about Jake Tapper and his ego, not that Senator Obama was smoking. It sounds like Jake got his feeling hurt because Senator Obama did not give him the time of day that he the great Jake Tapper thought that he deserved.

Jake,
Can you do your readers a favor and find out if John Yoo smokes? It’s plainly the only way the American public can get any insight into his character.

We are involved in a deadly war in which over 4,000 Americans have died, 30-100,000 Americans have been badly maimed, in which potentially 1,000,000 Iraqis have died and approximately 4.7 million Iraqis have been displaced since the war began. Furthermore, our domestic economy is in shambles. We are trying to select a president who has the power and poise to deal with these crushing issues–and there are those who think that focusing on ONE CIGARETTE is the most important issue at hand? Are there TRULY those who think that because Obama may or may not have had a cigarette he is less qualified than Hilary? If we want to get down to a brass tacks argument, please let’s do so, for the sake of all of the dead Americans and Iraqis. Let’s debate the important differences between Clinton and Obama, and not babble on about cigarettes.

This story has Smokygate and pulitzerprize written all over it. You sure have earned your money Jake Tapper, ABC News’ Senior National Correspondent.
If only the newsworld had more courageous reporters like you, the western civilization would be a better place to live.
You must surely go to bed every night proud and content knowing that your contribution to heightening the standard of american newsculture was invaluable.
Anyway, awesome job Jake, keep it up..

Cigs aren’t the only thing Obama smokes. Just ask his Secret Service detail about the doobies he likes to roll on his way back to the hotels after his speeches.
Of course, it is “just to relax.”

This is a ridiculous “article.”
Who cares?
Like you said, there are much more important things to worry about.
Next time I will think twice before I click a link to one of your posts.

Oh good heavens. You say he lied, but he admitted that it had been hard and he had slipped a few times. It is pathetic to see people have to work so hard to FIND SOMETHING.
Maybe he could make it easier on you. He could have a weekly press conference where he confesses something vile, like chewing gum in class in the third grade or not waiting 30 minutes after eating to go swimming. Then you columnists and cable news guys can rant about it all week until the next shocking confession comes out.
Get another job if this is all you can come up with during a time when Hillary STILL hasn’t turned in her 2006 income tax return and thinks the flowers and little girl in Bosnia were sniper fire.
We have a war with people getting killed and maimed, people moving out of foreclosed houses, losing jobs and dignity, and you are obsessing on how someone smelled almost a year ago?
Every time I am around other people who smoke, I come home smelling like that also. What is really smelling right now is the news media who apparently don’t have enough to do.
Get over it. He is going to be president, and will still try to make things better for you.

Excellent article. Obama has not been forthcoming about a lotta things. Most shockingly when he told the media his advisor never telephoned the Canadian Embassy. When the Canadian government finally fessed up, Obama didn’t look so honest.
I hope he’ll stop smoking.
He will be a terrible role model if he doesn’t.

why is it that the only sane candidate smokes cigarettes? i wish more of our elected officals would smoke. maybe we could get to working on some serious issues rather than these silly distractions.

It’s a shame to see how people view others and how race in America is still so a “cloud ” up in the sky. Being that I’m not from this great country of America, it allows me to look “in” from the outside. I truly don’t understand the politics involved in someone smoking, is this the Only issues that America face, I mean come on people!! Wake up! This is a Great country with so much to offer, don’t let the world view this country as a loser, as it is already viewed that way. Sen. Clinton and Sen Obama are both great, formidable candidates! However Obama is a winner around the world!

Let me get this straight.
You didn’t ask Obama, you asked some staffer who didn’t know.
Later on Obama is asked directly and he admits he has had problems quitting.
and somehow you think that he was lying?
Damn, it sure would have been nice if you had spent half as much of this energy observing Bush. Sheesh

Does anyone believe every question is passed to the candidate before a campaign staffer responds? The campaign was unaware that Obama was sneaking a cigarette now and again, one would suspect, if one were reasonably able.

Again it is a question of judgement. Oh but wait all he has to say is, ” it was a bonheaded mistake” and we should all be okay with it.

“Many of us consider ourselves to be your representatives to help make sure our leaders are telling us the truth”. Yeah, you’re doing a great job there, dude.

quote from obama: “i wouldn’t want them (his daughters) to be punished with a child.”
nuff said.

As I read your post I could guess the ensuing comments that would appear below. I was not disappointed.
Your point, and I actually “got it”, was HONESTY. Personally, I wouldn’t vote for a president that smoked. I’m weird that way. But that’s not the point. The point is honesty. It’s about being who your PR says you are. I was very intrigued with Obama at first, and thought he’d be the one I’d be supporting, but seeing him off the teleprompter, I just really sensed a lack of authenticity in his campaign. The smoking revelation, among others, really confirms that feeling for me. I sometimes wonder if he hates all of this.. of having to hide who he really is.
The people that will attack even a hint of objective questioning of Obama are beginning to slip into the realm of cultists.

This is why I think Obama should not do anymore interviews or debates with ABC. It is clear that they have a mission to destroy his candidacy. The fact that this reporter is trying to tie the fact that he smelled of cigarette smoke to he must have had a cigarette is stupid. First of all, he could have been around people who were smoking. I doubt very seriously that he would choose to puff on cigarettes right before an interview with a reporter. The fact that this reporter called the campaign office to ask an aide if Obama was smoking a cigarette is obnoxious. The aide isn’t in the position to answer that question. Obama said that he was trying to quit, that he has fallen off of the wagon a couple of times–that doesn’t make him a liar. Many people struggling with an addition to cigarettes, food,alcohol etc. find that they may fall off the wagon a time or two before completely kicking the habit.

I support Obama. I voted for him in the primary.
A lie is a lie. If Obama lies in small things, he will probably hedge on the large things. If a cigarette messes up his image and you smelled it on him while he later denies it, then I get a clearer picture of where he is going.
I don’t think he should get a pass on the Canadian story either. If there is a pattern to his lies, we can know what to expect when he is in office and he has our fate in his hands.
I don’t think making the argument that all politicians stretch the truth is good enough. If you or other reporters give us the basis for his lying or any politician’s lies (I still chuckle at the amount of honesty David Patterson is giving NY right now), then we know more than we did.

Ok, Marie, I’m not going to quibble with you about the distinctions between Lecturers and Professors. We both know what they are.
My point is simply that there seems to be a tendency to embellish that strikes me as unnecessary and therefore manipulative.
I don’t hear anyone questioning whether Obama might have had a tenured professorship at U of Chicago had he wanted one. I’m certainly not questioning his qualifications for that job. I just wonder why he said he and been a “professor.” The Lecturers at the university where I work (one equal in reputation to U of Chicago) would not within earshot of a tenured or tenure-track professor refer to themselves as “professors” because the distinctions are so obvious and so important in the university community.
Similarly, why call a political science major a “degree in international relations”?

Everything about Obama is fake. You just can’t trust him.

Perhaps everyone should have read the top of the page before engaging in such outré verbal acrobatics over this article. “Power, pop, and probings from ABC News National …” is how the site is billed. Nowhere does it imply that it is to be interpreted as a scholarly, political journal-like screed. It’s clearly an anecdotal article with Mr. Tapper’s interpretation of the story’s significance. For him, it seems to be a matter of being dealt with honestly, not Obama’s smoking habit.
If you don’t like the topic, express it in a less offensive way. Heck, I don’t always like the subjects that Mr. Tapper writes about. I supported John Edwards, and I didn’t always consider Tapper’s assessment of him as objective and fair. But, I didn’t curse or becoming personally attacking over it.
However, a significant number of Obama supporters become very confrontational with name-calling, vicious diatribes, etc. in their disagreement over an article, blog post, or even another comment. It certainly doesn’t make a case for attracting further Obama supporters. I used to think that these types of comments were made by the politically uninitiated, but even formerly informative blogs like TPM have become political cauldrons. What has happened to people during this primary?

tennisgirl: obama calls himself a professor because (a) UC says he is & (b) a lot of people wouldn’t have a clue what a ‘senior lecturer’ is. they might think it’s an old guy who yells at the neighborhood kids — you know, like mccain.

This is the same person that is against smoking but perfectly alright with abortion.

I’m a Clinton supporter but I’m not going to bash Obama if he fell off the wagon when it came to quitting smoking. It’s not uncommon. The stress of the campaign has to be tough and people who smoke or did smoke know that a cigarette craving can get the best of you.
I wouldn’t stop supporting Obama for this. Of course I have other reasons for not supporting him, lots of other reasons…but being human isn’t one of them.
I wanted to like Obama, I did like Obama until I started to see the hypocracy of how he lives his life and what he says in his speeches. The Press created a myth, I guess it was human that he just let it happen? He’s just a typical politician, a man not a Saint or Savior.

Good post, tessablue. I’m beginning to think this is the South Park generation and we’re worse off for it.

Just another lie he is caught with. The point was, why lie about it in the first place. Obama is a great speaker and he knows how to say what you want to hear, depends I guess on what you want to hear. Depends on what group of people he’s talking to as how he answers ANY question. Just another typical polititian trying to get into office.

“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.”
What is this a joke? In these times with all that has transpired you make a statements like this? How is one supposed to take this.

“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.”
that’s a friggin whopper if there ever was one.
I second that. a self important one at that. If you think you’re a representative for public interest, maybe you should be more concerned about lies to the public and not trivialities like this.

The correct response would have been, “Yes, I smoke” Now lets move on to something that’s actually important.
The fact that the media has placed such significance on it, should tell you a lot about what’s really important to the media. It has nothing to do with qualifications for the job.
I don’t have a horse in this race.
Clinton & Obama, are both socialists.
OH wait, sorry, now they’re calling it “progressive”. It’s certainly a more pallatable term, so.. my mistake.
McCain is out of touch with reality.
Are these three really the best America has to choose from?
Sad.

This is a ridulous story. Obama has the right to smoke if he wants to. He is in the fight of his life and needs a smoke occasionally to ease the tension of dealing with Hillary Clinton!

Are we serious? Smoking?
Smoking is one of the most difficult things for your body to give up physiologically and psychologically. It is also something that millions of Americans struggle with. I applaud him for making an effort.
With him being a role model, I do not expect him to come out and say how much he enjoys ciggarettes, its a bad example for kids especially.
Should he have been more honest, despite the fact that some clown would make an issue out of it? Certainly. No lie is good.
Is whether or not Obama smokes important? Absolutely not.
There are far more important Lies and half truths out there to cover. If this is an honesty issue, this is far less important than lying about the experience you’ve run your campaign on. (Clinton) Which in turn is far less important than lying to conflate Iran with iraq (McCain)
Lets get real people.

When all is said and done, I’m sure history will remember Obama’s campaign as the dirtiest ever, punctuated by the cover of “clean” but painting the Clintons as racist clearly crossed the line. He lies a lot, but seriously, of all the reasons he shouldn’t be President, not that it could happen, McCain will clobber him in Dukakis fashion, but smoking just isn’t it. The media need cover the growing list of lies from his team an uncover the charlatan he is and the dirty machine running him, though it might expose the dirty Democratic establishment pushing him, but not this. Yes, I am a Republican. I eagerly await the Obama nomination, I was originally worried we’d lose this year, but it looks like the Dems are going to give us one of the greatest gifts in elections history, Barack Obama.

They pay you to write this crap?
“Obama ran off before I could ask him if he’d just snuck a smoke, so I called his campaign.”
What kind of investigative reporting is this? Seems more like tabloid to me…Maybe you should follow up with an interview with his alien brother from Mars who secretly has a love-child with Britney Spears…really…

We all lie a little, especially when we fail to live up to the standards we have set for ourselves. This would be a big deal if Obama based part of his candidacy on the inner strength he exhibited while quitting smoking. This would be a big deal if Obama used quitting smoking as an example of an experience that qualifies him to lead. Why is this a story?

Molehill politics.

Amos,
People have seen Obama smoking backstage and outside before a event. He is also known for hitting up staff members for cigs. He is chain smoker who has no self control. He has no judgment to be president.

The candidate didn’t lie, his campaign staffers didn’t know he was off the wagon.

character and strength is needed to stop an addiction….and good judgement to avoid the habit in the first place.

Barack’s petty lies are not important or unique, they are part and parcel of the “holier than thou” syndrome among politicians.
What is of really significant importance in this presidential race, is the admitted conviction of both his and his wife’s toward this country and the ruling majority. First Mrs. Barack: the fact that she did not consider her opportunity to be schooled in two Ivy-league institutions and the chance for being a successful partner in a law firm as a reflection of the privilege and opportunities she was afforded with by this country, of which she could be proud of, tells us a great deal about her character. Plus the fact that for a long period of time, with her intelligence and culture, she did not find it offensive to belong to a church and be close friend of a man who calls himself a “pastor”, and who is also a close friend and admirer of a hateful and “dictator-like” little punk with bow-ties, tells you more. Furthermore, a mother, who did not consider it brainwashing with hate of her small children, exposed to the same pastor’s speeches, during a long time, she has no place in the White House in my book.
Now, back to the candidate himself. Obama with his excellent mind, intellect, great capacity to deliver heartwarming and glorious speeches and world-saving promises, did not have either the courage to contradict his religious guide and friend for twenty years in either convincing him to modify his teachings,(a pastor is a “teacher” or not?) or enough courage to simply leave that church for one that dedicates itself to “religion” and not politics. Secondly, here is a man, who wishes to ride to fame by promising so much to all, sinners and saints in and out of the country, to deal with petty dictators like Castro, Chavez, Hsu, and their elk, as well as good and great leaders alike, simply because he dreams of being an enlightened knight on a white horse? Where has he been all his life, living in a dream world, an imaginary land where simply because he went to great schools, delivers great speeches, they will all bow to him? Give me a break, to paraphrase a TV journalist. Sounds like he is a great dreamer, just like the bright Chamberlain of the U.K. was, if anybody remembers him.
A man, no matter how intelligent and cultured and “handsome” he might be, should never be considered as a leader of this country who has demonstrated such poor judgment in his personal life.

This is what they pay you for? Seriously?

This is a joke, right? An elaborate, albeit belated April Fools prank? That you even *bothered* to ask such a piffling question of Obama’s staff is puzzling enough. But to see the incident as being illustrative of anyone’s character is absurd. Dollars to doughnuts Obama knew nothing about this little exchange. Imagine it: “Senator, I know you’re very busy running to be leader of the free world, but we’ve been asked to confirm why you smell funny.”

Yo people, don’t you see what’s happening here. This man doesn’t care about the truth. He is just sitting back and watching you all tear each other apart over a pastor and a bosnia trip while the dollar goes down the drain and a few more soldiers die in Iraq. Tomorrow he might say that Clinton/Obama/McCain uses double-ply toilet paper when in fact he/she has claimed to use only single-ply! And he/she doesn’t even fold it … oh the horror.

Bad judgement gets you into a bad marriage where your spouse messes around on you over and over and over—-
Character and strength are needed to stand up for yourself and your daughter and all the women you want to respresent and leave the good for nothing Bill Clinton!

Nicotine is an addiction and is a sign of great dependency. Dependent people scare me. Lying about it is a sneaky thing to do. Also a sign of denial. I want a strong, emotionally sound, upfront leader not a sneaky addict who can’t stop smoking. Anyone who still smokes in light of the great medical evidence that it is a killer, has a serious reality problem. Just another sign that Senator Obama has issues. Maybe not a big deal to some, but it is to me. Thanks for the story.

I really thought this was a joke.
Americans are so stupid, they hate who they’re told to hate. FOX tells you to hate Obama and you obey like robots.
You don’t deserve a good president.

I’m trying to quit myself….it’s VERY hard to do…..all this talk about cigarettes makes me REALLY want one…..Sorry….that’s the end of my comment…..I have to go light one up!

Baby steps….
Now try looking into all the other lies and posting them here and it might actually look like you are being a journalist.
Geez…the man lies as much as Hillary does.
And the Republicans have no probelm seeing what a ‘glass jaw’ Obama has…when they finally have their way with him I wonder if the ‘fainters’ are going to be able to contain themselves?

I am stunned that whether Obama smoked a cigarette or not could influence someone in their voting.
A feeling, but not proof, that someone in his campaign may have misled the reporter (or made an honest mistake)is really not a consideration when the stakes are this high and Political corruption particularly in the GOP is more openly defiant than ever before.
Americans will end up with the president they deserve,

people who take the moral high ground when it comes to smoking had better examine their own lives very closely. this means you, people like commenter Alma — so painfully self-righteous! take the plank out of your own eye, church lady! do you drink coffee every morning? do you eat too much? (if you are an american, odds are good you do – far too much.) do you ever walk anywhere or use public transport, or do you always have to take your car? addiction is addiction — very few people can claim to not be dependent on anything to get by. an addiction is an addiction. society has just decided that are just more heinous than others.

The American Cancer should endorse Obama to help him dealt this nasty habit.Maybe he quits for votes

THIS is something you people are giving serious thought to?? And you’re trying to tie this guy having a cigarette into his character?? Are ya NUTS??
If this is what passes for political discourse, and you people vote, then we get what we deserve. Except there are a lot of us who don’t deserve people like you even having the right to vote, if a cigarette can influence you.
The dumbing down of America is now complete. Guess that means McCain will win by a landslide.

Wow talk about a petty, pointless story.
Let me get this straight: you called the Obama campaign to ask them to ask him if he had a cigarette? And this is relevant HOW?
Aw, I understand your feelings were hurt because of a perceived slight (that the campaign wasn’t completely honest with you). About the Senator quitting smoking.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is running around telling pointed stories about dodging sniper fire (which were confirmed to be false), and now we hear that her favorite health care stump speech is also made of similarly fictional threads.
I’ve not had the chance to read any of your other musings this campaign season, but I must say that this article leaves a horrible first impression on someone not familiar with your work.

What hasn’t Obama lied about?

Hold on a minute…you’re claiming that Barack Obama was lying to you- because 1) you had a close personal encounter with him and noticed that he smelled as if he had just smoked a cigarette; and 2) you later called his campaign office, and they claimed that Obama hadn’t had a cigarette since last February?
Four points: 1) Obama did not lie to you about his tobacco use- you never even asked him the question. 2) The Obama campaign office that you did query about his tobacco use is not in the business of continual monitoring of the success of his attempts to quit tobacco, or any relapses in that struggle. It would certainly be exceptional if they were. 3) Even if the person speaking to you on the phone about Sen. Obama’s personal habits knew about his relapse and lied to you about it- it was their lie, not Sen. Obama’s. It wasn’t even a lie publically disseminated by “the Obama campaign”, in regard to a position of public policy. If it was a knowing lie- and you’ve provided little reason to assume that it was- the exclusive responsibility for it resides with the person who answered the phone. 4) Sen. Obama answered candidly and truthfully about his problems quitting tobacco, when queried about it in a public interview.
I don’t get your high moral dudgeon.
But, as long as we’re on the topic of substance use and addiction- next time you see him, why not ask John McCain how his status as son-in-law to one of the largest alcohol distributors in Arizona affects his views on drug prohibition and substance abuse? At least that’s a matter of public policy.
People upset about Sen. Obama’s tobacco use and its possible effect on his ability to govern ought to pick a biography or autobiography of Winston Churchill. Consider this excerpt from Wikipedia:
“On one occasion during an election campaign Churchill was speaking in a church hall in rural England. The hall was decorated in the well accepted colour scheme of that era – mission brown up to shoulder height, then cream up to and including the ceiling. When he finished his speech Churchill called for questions. The first came from a middle-aged woman dressed in country tweeds. “Mr Churchill, I am a member of the Temperance League,” she said, “My local branch has been examining your use of alcohol. Are you aware Prime Minister that, during your lifetime to date you have consumed enough alcohol to fill this hall up to here” stretching her arm dramatically to indicate the mission brown zone on the wall. “We want to know what you intend to do about it?” Churchill looked at the woman, followed her arm to the top of the mission brown zone, and then slowly allowed his gaze to move up through the cream zone to the ceiling. “So little time, so much to do” he said.”

Beyond the spurious claim currently being spun and spread far and wide by Machine Republicans that “Obama lied” about his quitting tobacco, as a result of the tacit innuendo in your report-
consider the importance and relevance of tobacco use to statesmanship:
Churchill and FDR were smokers.
Hitler was a non-smoker.
I wouldn’t make too much of it, if I were you.
yt, cabdriver (non-smoker)

Don’t worry though, Hussein Obama like, Al Qaeda, has assured us he will push for a nationwide smoking ban.
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/03/rwjf-ctfk-nicoderm-funded-pr-consultant.html
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/09/al-qaeda-smoking-ban-is-one-of-reasons.html

How utterly pathetic of you to call someone’s honour into question in this way! Neither did he lie to you, nor, if that’s the way you ‘follow up’ on an informal chat, did you deserve to be talking with him in the first place. And you’re wasting people’s time if that’s all you can rustle up and you’re actually in Washington…’As any close friend or family member can attest,I have an unusually keen sense of smell…blah, blah, blah’.

To Geevil, and all others who have complained about trivial reporting: Bravo!
Should we be wondering about the editors as well? The bosses who send these guys out to “smoke out” and promote … distractions?
Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned NEWS DESK?
I am so tired of being talked down to … by the President, by the Vice-President, by the Fourth Estate.
To the Editors: We are begging for more. We promise we’ll read, listen and contribute what we can. But please … if there is no dirt for the day, why not use the space to present issues?
I suppose the days of a professional press are over. Along with the Executive branch murdering habeas corpus, the loss of an intelligent press corp is the final nail in the coffin of Emerson’s America.

“Not a big deal in the scheme of things” “Hardly worth mentioning” “Not that Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain or their campaigns are entirely innocent in this area either. Or even that Obama is the worst offender.” “Still.”
But I just CAN’T write about McCain’s lies. He invites us to barbecues. My corporate-media boss says don’t criticize him, so here’s another shallow column about our opponents – I mean McCain’s, McCain’s!

Why is this an issue?
Has our media really stooped to this point?

I don’t know how I missed this smoking issue. I admit it has a serious effect on how I feel about Barack. As a matter of fact, after being 100% behind Barack since the speech he gave announcing his candidacy, I don’t think I can vote for him if he’s still smoking. It’s a blow to learn he ever did. My argument is “how smart CAN you be to start smoking EVER.” That is my policy for everyone. I’m very disapointed.

Wow, such DEEP journalism!
Why is McCain getting a free ride?

WOW, THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF! Now maybe you should see if someone lied about something much less consequential- the $3 trillion war of choice, Katrina, budget deficits–you know, the small stuff

Obama is a phony, and this is just one more example of it. Typical Democrat running for President, but this time the party is going full throttle pushing the gender card (Clinton) as well as the race card (Obama), with neither having the necessary experience to be commander in chief.
I can’t wait for either of them to win, just for a good 4 years of laughter.

Oh Please, cut the crap about how the Media are Our representatives and it’s your duty to find out the truth to keep our political leaders in check…
did the media disappear from 2002-2005? Did you not exist?
Where were you when our political leaders were lying to us every day and all the media did was Cheer and copy the propaganda straight from the donkey’s mouth.
You failed the American people.
The media didn’t do their job, and frankly, who cares if Obama smoked. Don’t you have anything better to talk about? There is a gruesome war going on in Iraq and Afghanistan and all you can talk about is Obama smoking… the Media is FULL OF IT! you don’t do your job, at all. Besides, you all work for Rupert anyways

Wow, you people are really small minded – you can’t trust a person who smokes??!! Do you know that nicotine is more addictive than heroin?? It’s not that easy to “just quit”, and why did he start in the first place?? Maybe you don’t understand the pressures of growing up biracial and the pressure of studying at Harvard Law School. You won’t vote for somebody who smokes – give me a break!! You want a role model for you kids, how about somebody who was president of the law review at Harvard. Ok, Obama is not God, he is not perfect, but he realizes that smoking is not good and he is trying to quit and he is being honest about the relapse. Quitting is not easy, but given all that Obama has overcome in his life, I’m sure he will overcome this too in time. Think about the real issues when you go to vote in November!!

I don’t know about you, but it’s a wakeup call when Brangelina gets more news than this election!

Who really cares, people need to be worrying about the real topics at hand: Energy Costs, The Wars in Iraq and Afganistan, Health Care, and the Housing Crunch. Smoking is bad, but it is looked down upon too much in America, after years of ignorance.

I do not care that he smoke, what I do care about is that he lied about it and that is what Jakes point is. If Obama is going to lie about smoking, about something so petty, then what happens when he lies to the american people about his dealings with much bigger issues??? Why are people so defensive over this guy?? He is NOTHING but another dirty politican!

Well, I’m a smoker and I definitely understand how hard it is to quit! I would even be glad that someone might be in the White House who would understand smokers concerns. Unfortunately, the fact that he hides it, makes it highly unlikely that he would be supportive of smokers concerns and might overreact in the opposite direction to keep hiding it. It also shows a lack of courage. I am constantly being pressured by friends, loved ones, co-workers, and business management to quit, but I successfully resist giving in until I’m ready. The last thing I would do is pretend to quit, but not actually quit and deny it or if not able to, act like I had. It is at best, disingenuous, and at least, cowardly, to do otherwise

I would rather deal with Clinton’s or Obama’s type of “secret”. Launching missiles to hide getting funky with an intern is bad, true enough. But you can’t possibly say that things were worse before we let that cokehead rule the free world. As for McCain, following in the footsteps of a cokehead is even more insane.

Having not read all of the comments but only about half, someone else may have addressed this. However, it seems to me there are two reasonable explanations of the Obama encounter:
1. He was *around* someone else who was smoking. Maybe he was in a smoky room, or chatting with a friend who was smoking. Rarely, I will go to a smoky bar, and when I come home I have to take a shower because it’s the only way to get the smoky smell off of me.
2. Even if he did lie, it may have been caused by momentary embarrassment at having quit!!! He is *human* after all, and humans tend to be embarrassed at failures, even temporary ones.
And frankly, as long as it is broadly true that he quit smoking, I don’t think it’s anyone’s darned business whether he smoked a cigarette before quitting. Quitting is hard, and the more times you quit the more likely it is that you will stick with it. It’s a personal issue, and not the business of the world whether he had a lone cigarette back in August.

I’d rather have him lie about a stupid cigarette (which was legal last time I checked, gross or not) than lie about why he’s bombing and taking over countries that we shouldn’t be in in the first place, big difference people! Wake up and grow up, you neo-con white trash are just using it as an excuse to say you don’t trust him when you’re really all racist pieces of PLOP!

Great persuader or great liar?
Why are you not doing articles on the fact that Obama has stopped talking about taking our troops out of Iraq? Just today the Iraqi Government voted to keep US troops until 2012. Didn’t Obama promise change? Didn’t he tell all you liberals that he would take the troops out day 1???
Change? What does that mean? You all were LIED to. And the liberal media never asked Obama a question!!!!

Come on, who cares if he smokes. It is no one’s business and it is his right. It is not illegal. There are more important issues to worry about. Smoke away!

Hey seems like a lot of the comments sumed up what I wanted to say about the President and his smoking (even though I didn’t read all of them)He have more issues to worry about than smoking’ he’s human give the man a break. It’s a stress relief even though I pefer the Almighty for mines. But we live and learn.Let’s just focus on the more important things like the “Economy”. ok. Can we just all get along?

ITs all about the lie.

I too heard that Obama is smoking. But he’s trying to ban e cigarette.