Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090056
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Just joking, says Bliley. Never dreamed any one would take it seriously. Made the comment in jest to his very close friend Doug Wilder. It was a mistake, a gaffe, but it was a private, lighthearted comment.
Oh, please. Wilder did not pull a Connie Chung, urging Bliley to whisper in his ear. Bliley made the comment on a radio talk show hosted by Wilder, and he knew that the show is broadcast across much of Virginia.
Bliley, a longtime tobacco industry ally and now head of the House Commerce Committee that has jurisdiction over tobacco issues, is surely right that tobacco regulation of any sort won't be popular in many quarters of North Carolina, where the economy is closely linked to the stuff.
But North Carolina, no less than other states, has young people whose health is endangered because cigarettes are so readily available to them. Clinton's speech is expected to address ways to curb illegal cigarette sales to minors, a goal that almost all Americans agree is desirable and necessary.
We have doubts, as well, about the Food and Drug Administration getting in over its head trying to regulate tobacco. But Bliley's comment was not an expression of policy disagreement.
Rather, it was all too reminiscent of North Carolina Republican Jesse Helms' foot-in-mouth outburst last year, to the effect that Clinton would need a bodyguard if he visited North Carolina military bases.
Bliley, like Helms, should have known better. There's nothing funny about a public official speculating publicly, even in jest, about danger to the president's life.
Bliley had the good sense to apologize quickly. Even so, many will be left wondering if Helms Disease is some sort of epidemic spreading, like second-hand smokescreens, among Republican legislators obsequiously eager to shield tobacco interests from the consequences of their commerce.
by CNB