U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith: Cigarette smoking worse for the country than Gulf oil spill

[Ed Barrow]

Source: Huntsville Times

During a congressional hearing dominated by harsh criticism of BP's CEO Tony Hayward and the company's culpability in the Gulf oil spill, U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith, R-Huntsville, offered a counterpoint, suggesting that cigarette smoking, not the BP oil spill, was the nation's worst environmental disaster.

"This is not going to be the worst thing that's ever happened to America," Griffith, a retired cancer doctor, said during the House investigations subcommittee meeting this morning.

As of Thursday morning, the BP well has gushed between 66 million and 120 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, based on government daily spill rate figures.


Read more: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/06/us_rep_parker_griffith_cigaret.html

[DURHAM D]

1. God - I love that all of these Republican House members have taken a stupid pill. nt

[AndyA]

2. Keep it up, idiots! America is FED UP with being taken advantage of

The GOP stance will not sit well with the public. :)

Keep it up! Next Republican in line to make a stupid/career ending comment? :rofl:

[sui generis]

3. oh, well gosh then let's not worry about the oil spill.

the stupidest thing people do in a crisis is compare it to some yet unforeseen extreme.

Of course. When that meteor the size of Delaware hits the planet 35 years from now, that will be MUCH worse than this silly little oil spill.

On the plus side no humans left on the planet = no cancer.

[Bozita]

4. His switch to the GOP was a good move.

What a fucking embarrassment!

[doc03]

5. What? The Republicans where the ones that backed

the tobacco companies when the tobacco companies claimed cigarettes were good for your health. The Republicans are always the ones that oppose the EPA and OSHA.

[awoke_in_2003]

6. As a smoker...

I must warn the congressmen that living with your head up your ass is more dangerous than smoking. K&R

[Dulcinea]

10. LOL!

"Living with your head up your ass is more dangerous than smoking." Can I borrow that? :rofl:

[awoke_in_2003]

14. have at it...

:hi:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

16. lol

:toast:

[awoke_in_2003]

28. it's five oclock somewhere

:toast: Well, it is five here, but I work second shift. Have to wait 5 more hours.

on edit: can never remember that smilie

[Submariner]

7. I hope the DNC is getting this stuff on film clips

this makes the development of campaign ads against these repuke dummies easy.

[Mimosa]

22. Oh, please!!! Why do Republicans hate the environment? And JOBS? N/T

[provis99]

8. I love it!

Republican throws tobacco companies under the bus. Now Griffith will have to apologize to tobacco companies for this betrayal, to the American public for taking tobacco PAC money in the past, and to BP for comparing them to tobacco companies.
Then to top it off, he must apologize to Rush Limbaugh for apologizing the first three times!

ps. Just on general treasonous principles, he should apologize to Democrats and his entire congressional staff for going turncoat and joining the Republicans right after being elected as a Democrat.

[Sebastian Doyle]

9. While it's somewhat refreshing to see a Southern Repuke who is NOT a tobacco industry whore

I really don't think the comparison works, in this instance. Millions of people have died and will continue to die from addiction to filthy tobacco products, but to my knowledge, as vile as Phillip Morris is, they have never destroyed an entire fucking ecosystem.

[jfkraus]

11. Sounds like a good argument to ban smoking!

[eowyn_of_rohan]

17. ...

:crazy:

[JaneQPublic]

12. Another video clip Dems can use in the campaign ads!

Who the hell is feeding the GOPers these idiot talking points?!?!?

Although the next time someone blows second-hand smoke my way, I will be considering use of the "junk shot."

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Huntsville? Like in Alabama? Bet that will sit well.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

15. whack case

[Optimistic]

18. If only the elections were this tuesday

With the Gaffes by the GOP Today there is no doubt that the Democratic Party would have control of at Least 400 of the 435 Seats in the House, I am now sure The Democratic Party will gain at lest 50 seats in the House and 6 to 10 seats in the Senate

[Jumping John]

19. The deadly Cigarette companies. example of another Republican blood money donating criminal. n/t

[Towlie]

20. Wait, what? How is cigarette smoking an "environmental disaster"?

Sure, it's a practice that causes cancer, just like sunbathing without sunscreen is a practice that causes cancer, but what does that have to do with the environment?

[Mimosa]

21. Cigarette smoking doesn't kill wildlife, destroy coastal marshes, poison the ocean

Cigarette smoking doesn't kill wildlife, destroy coastal marshes, poison the ocean, put hundreds of thousands of people out of work and mean I can't enjoy Gulf seafoods again. What a MORON.

[onehandle]

23. Well, cigarette smoking costs America more in lives and money that the spill could ever.

But it's still an asinine deflective comparison.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[davidinalameda]

36. pretty much

gotta love some of these republican congress critters

[Hubert Flottz]

24. Republican Bullshit is a worse disaster than all of the above.

[enuegii]

25. Fuck Parker Griffith--

switched to the GOP and got primaried earlier this month for his trouble. The platform for his personal brand of batshit crazy will soon be gone.

[truthisfreedom]

26. Masters of irrelevancy.

These are our LEADERS, ladies and gentlemen. What has our country become?

[BrklynLiberal]

27. Guess the repukes have never heard that old saying...

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Ironically, it was Republican, Abraham Lincoln, who said it.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

29. Did the Gulf sealife suddenly develop a chronic smoking habit that I'm not aware

of? I didn't even have to wonder for a micro second which party this jerkoff belongs to.

[Old Troop]

30. If you combine them, you'd get quite a blaze

[Rosa Luxemburg]

31. OMG he's going to be popular - keep it coming!

[JoeyT]

32. Time for people in Alabama to start demanding he apologize to tobacco companies

and smokers before he loses our votes. He didn't have them anyway, but the press release if he can be pushed to it should be hilarious.

[dixiegrrrrl]

33. We don't demand anything of thim, won't do no good.

We just look at people like him, roll our eyes, and say " his poor poor Momma must be mighty
embarrassed about him".
Believe me, that is a good enough put down, in this area.

[Curmudgeoness]

35. I guess we have to wait to see the number of deaths,

human, marine, plant, and land life caused by the oil spill to know if he is right. Oh wait, there are only a few animal deaths from the spill, at least we can't find many.

[Art_from_Ark]

37. Sounds like another graduate of the Ronald Reagan School of Science

"Ketchup is a vegetable"
"Trees cause more pollution than cars"
"Cigarette smoking is worse for the country than the Gulf oil spill"

:argh:

[HockeyMom]

38. Ban Smoking on Naples, Florida beaches

That is the "pressing" issue here. Second hand smoke and cigarette butts on the beaches. Hello? Maybe you should be a little more concerned right now with breathing OIL FUMES and SWIMMING IN OIL? If it is happening in Destin and Tampa, it will be there too.

BTW, this place is controlled by REPUBLICANS. Surprised?