Mod: Have they begun claiming that cigarette smoking kills Covid yet? 'Carcinogenic propaganda from right-wing losers': How the GOP is 'killing its own voters' by hyping Big Tobacco (Alternetlink): In a scathing article published by The Nation on January 23, journalist Joan Walsh slams House Republicans and their supporters for promoting something as unhealthy as smoking and argues that they are “killing” their “own voters.”
“I honestly thought it was fake news,”
Walsh writes. “Just after
Kevin McCarthy became
House speaker, giving away his power to right-wing antagonists the first week in January, I read about
Congress members smoking on the
GOP side of the aisle. Just a projection from my liberal allies of
Republicans’ intent to erode public health, I assumed. Funny GIF to come. But it was true.
Rep. Tom Cole was smoking cigars in his office. Others were reportedly smoking cigarettes in other places.”
“Under
McCarthy, smoking is allowed not just in members’ offices, but in public areas too,”
Walsh explains. “Now comes more carcinogenic propaganda from right-wing losers. Last week,
Fox’s
Tucker Carlson began preaching a return to smoking as a return to
American values. Tobacco is so much more
American than increasingly legal and available weed, he told his stoned-on-lies audience.”
On
Fox News,
Carlson made cigarette smoking a culture war issue, telling viewers that liberals “hate nicotine” but “love
THC.”
Walsh comments, “I shouldn’t be surprised at Carlson’s tribute to tobacco…. Republicans have long opposed anti-smoking measures, at least partly out of fealty to Big Tobacco. Former GOP Speaker John Boehner became infamous for handing out checks from tobacco lobbyists on the House floor in 1995.
As
Indiana governor,
Mike Pence railed against tobacco restrictions and insisted ‘smoking doesn’t kill.’ But the recent pro-smoking crusade seems to be inspired more by culture war imperatives than by defending the tobacco industry.”
The journalist points out that Limbaugh spent decades vigorously defending cigarette smoking on his radio show — before dying of lung cancer in 2021.
Mod: Light up and enjoy the rest of this article at the link. And here's a calendar for you.
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