THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 10, 1995 TAG: 9508100018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Addiction to tobacco causes all sorts of health problems. Addiction to tobacco-company contributions apparently causes feeble-mindedness in politicians.
Rep. Thomas Bliley, R-Va., this week became the second prominent tobacco-state legislator to make a ``light-hearted'' reference to presidential assassination - a topic most people don't find particularly amusing.
Last year, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., said President Clinton was so unpopular on military bases that he'd need a bodyguard to visit one. The remark created a furor and led to an eventual apology, but not until the president's bodyguard - the Secret Service - had asked Helms a few pointed questions. Did he know anything specific, or was he just shooting off his mouth as usual? The latter, as it turned out.
But Bliley must have missed the contretemps since he repeated the offense more or less verbatim. He said if Clinton gave a speech in North Carolina recommending stricter regulation of tobacco sales to minors, ``I hope they've got a good security detail for him.''
Great! Two funny topics sure to leave a bad taste in your mouth, presidential assassination and underage smoking. What's next, cancer jokes?
When the inevitable outrage was expressed, Bliley issued the obligatory retraction. ``The security of the president is no laughing matter,'' Bliley said, as if having an original idea.
If Helms and Bliley are so anxious for Clinton to expire, maybe they can just persuade him to take up smoking and make sure he inhales. But for Bliley, promoting such a solution - like his promoting of tobacco interests - really ought to count as a conflict of interest. His family fortune is founded on a chain of funeral homes. Ha ha, Representative Bliley, just joking. by CNB