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There is a place, not so far away, where you can visit a political age of yesteryear. It's an enclave deep in the heart of the U.S. Capitol, and to find it all you must do is follow your nose through the halls of Congress and around the House chamber. Sooner or later you are bound to stumble into the Speakers' Lobby. Now, my friends, you're in flavor country.
The powers that be in your U.S. House have just made yet more encroachments into the ever-shrinking universe of public spaces where smoking is still allowed. Beginning this week, lighting up is no longer permitted in the outdoor courtyards, garages, lobbies, foyers, etc., on the House side of Capitol Hill. Smokers are now largely confined to two glassed-in, highly ventilated hamster cages in the adjacent office buildings.
But not all smokers.
If you're the sentimental type and you yearn for the days of the smoke-filled political salon -- or if you're simply a militant die-hard -- you can breathe easy. For there remains a hazy sanctuary for the unreconstructed, unrepentant pol who can puff away without concern for the second-hand smoke he is generating.
The Speakers' Lobby is the anteroom of the House chamber, and to enter is to be transported to another era of back room bosses and political machines. Decorum is the uniform of the day here, and even now you may not be admitted unless appropriately attired. Baroque portraits of long-forgotten House speakers hang in a clutter along the walls, their mutton-chopped jowls immortalized in oil. They look down upon a clubby scene that is probably not much changed from how it appeared back in their time: congressmen lounge in wingback chairs, feet up, smoking cigars or cigarettes and producing nimbus, carcinogenic formations of tobacco smoke. If you are a non-smoker or you're pregnant, enter at your own risk. It is the perfect anachronism and almost subversive in its political incorrectness.
There's new majority leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, a longtime regular of the smoking klatsch on the Republican side of the room, still popping off the floor during votes to light up another Barclay. Boehner is button-holed more these days, supplicants interrupting his smoke break to petition for this favor or that. Rep. Sherwood Boelhert, R-N.Y., is another regular. Over on the Democratic side Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., can typically be found sitting alone with his nose in a newspaper and his teeth chomping on a gigantic Churchill. There are many other members of the brotherhood (I have yet to see a female member smoke in this space).
It is an indulgence that has survived the ages, destructive though it may be. But perhaps it's about more than just a pause that refreshes. Maybe it's a window on the true nature of the political animal: primordial in its tastes, protective of its turf, and open to reforming itself only when absolutely necessary. After all, this is the home of the sovereign Congress, a co-equal branch of government. The fact that executive branch buildings are smoke-free means little here. Or better yet, it provides a means to make a subtle point: Members allow themselves the pleasure of an indoor smoke as a assertion of their independence. They allow smoking to survive in the Speakers' Lobby for the simple reason that they can.
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To Mrs. Rious, with love
I'm embrassed that you reside in our wonderful state of WI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will live & die for the US Military, most of my family either has served &/or is serving! I, unfortantely, have never been able to past the test due to health issue (LRP, GERD, Thyroid Cancer/Goiter=surgerically removed + meds). HOW DO YOU SLEEP @ NIGHT............ The balance of my family live in your "FORMER" Distract.......
DV
Deb w/ a heart (Sent Mar 10, 2007 1:45:48 PM)
I am a former smoker that use to rationalize my addiction. Things like it is legal and therefore I have a right to smoke, sin taxes offset other taxes, I smoke outside and am not hurting anyone, etc.
Once we had children, I began to re-evaluate my smoking as I was coughing excessively when I woke up in the morning, noticed shorthness of breath, and my Doctor stated he could hear early signs of emphysema from my breathing pattern. I smoked a pack a day for 20+ years. I was 30 pounds overweight, had poor eating habits, and no exercise program.
When people asked me why I smoked I'd tell them it was less embarrassing then sucking my thumb.
Quiting was one of the hardess things I ever did. It was like loosing a friend. I used the OTC patch method and it worked to take the edge off the nicotine addiction. I have been smoke free for 10 years, I have lost the 30 pounds and I actually run 3 days a week, lift weights and stay active. This isn't a political issue as so many have tried to spin.
Keep giving positive reinforcement to those who talk about quitting and do not judge to harshly. Like so many smokers I wanted the want to stop but it had to come from inside. I'm happy to know that politicians do have the same vices that we all have. I'll bet some of them even over eat, swear, and yes even lie.
Leo - Madison, WI (Sent Jun 28, 2006 2:28:17 PM)
Mike Viqueira is brilliant ... Why doesn't MSNBC turn stories like this into pieces? Another untapped potential.
Another NBC correspondent (Sent Jun 27, 2006 7:23:39 PM)
Wait till the next 430lb. office worker picks up that Hogie at the next HMO signup... They are next.
Glen in Allentown, PA (Sent Jun 27, 2006 7:02:19 PM)
Next time you're behind a bus or a diesel truck (semi) notice that the exhaust is facing up! Away from my face. That IS courtesy.
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 6:15:55 PM)
Yo - freedom fighters.
The issue is that Congress passes laws it doesn't see fit to obey.
My name's Forrest Gump people call me Forrest Gump (Sent Jun 27, 2006 6:11:17 PM)
I am so sick and tired of non-smoking people omplain exhaustively about us people who thoroghly enjoy to light up. If you don't like smoke then stay out of the bars and go to a non-smoking one, or don't work at it. Same goes for restaurants. Move on and SHUT UP. If everyone quit smoking just think of how high your taxes would be, well, then you would blab on about that too I suppose. I guess diesel fumes from buses etc are ok to breath in. Next time one goes by take a deep breath of that. Not only is that not good for your lungs but look what it does to the atmosphere. All this cancer is coming from (in my opinion) chemicals in that air we breath, the food we eat, the water we drink. Dogs and children and babies are dying of cancer and you can't tell me "Oh it's second hand smoke" Children and adults have respiratory problems like never before. I think you should look at the big picture and do something about that and leave the lowley 'ole smoker to his/her pleasures. Thanks.
Canada (Sent Jun 27, 2006 5:59:25 PM)
Have you ever heard of anyone complaining that the air was too clean? Yeah I am for freedom, but I am also for practicing courtesy and consideration. Put emissions on cigs. or put people in emissions...
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 5:39:15 PM)
I understand the freedom that smokers should enjoy. To be able to light up in a bar and enjoy a beer just seems to go hand in hand with the lifestyle. Who are people to dictate that people cant smoke in such a place, just because the smoke hurts their eyes. Cry me a river and get over it...HERE....HERE!
Susan Dole St Louis MO (Sent Jun 27, 2006 5:35:58 PM)
If the big bad smoke is as deadly as the Nanny's tell us, then by logic, there would be a conspicuous mass of people dropping dead all over the place. I haven't seen it, have any of you? Wouldn't we notice this "black plague" all around the world? I mean, in the good old days, any NYC bar would be filled with smokers and non-smokers alike. I never noticed people dropping dead.
Cigarette smokers are an easy target, plain and simple, for harassment and ostricizing by hypocritical politicians and self-righteous people.
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 4:27:20 PM)
The day that America takes automobile exhaust seriously is the day that I will take cigarette smoking seriously. The Automobile is doing more damage than the cigarette ever could. It just shows the dumbing down of America.
Jay Landry, Concord, CA (Sent Jun 27, 2006 4:08:27 PM)
if insurance is the issue why not a clause for smokers that they cut the amount of help they get if smoking? as far as making it a law that people cant smoke in their own buiness's, this means i cant open a club where smoking is allowed but i can serve drinks ,, would rather have smokers driving then drinkers,
liz coulter (Sent Jun 27, 2006 4:08:19 PM)
You politically "left" and "right" make me sick. Your accusations of "you're wrong and I'm right" are both frivolous and rather annoying. Nowhere in this entire column is there any indication of partisan politics, yet you feel compelled to twist this into such a debate.
Now, I'm on a non-smoker but I have one thing to say to other non-smokers out there: Get a little self-confidence, quit crying in letters, and tell the people your surround yourself with that it bothers you. If you don't know the person smoking near you, there's little personal obligation for them to care. However, you have the freedom to leave that environment for one you find more suitable.
John Brown, Houston, Texas (Sent Jun 27, 2006 3:55:21 PM)
That's all it took was five posting to blame the Bush administration. I think you Libs are slipping. What does Haliburton own the glass Smoking Rooms?
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 3:38:12 PM)
I, your average US Citizen am inclined to be concerned about the cost of my health insurance. It appears that Congress does not have this same worry, since we tax payers are the ones who foot their health insurance bill. And if my understanding is correct, we tax payers pay for these "smokers" for the rest of their lives. Its amazing what one will do when they know they have a free ride for life...
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 3:29:39 PM)
It's funny how "they" keep making laws for "us", but do the laws have to apply to "them"... No "they" are of a different breed. Bred where? Only in America...
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 3:24:52 PM)
What did DeLay tell the airport security person who wanted him to go through the process? "I am the law."
Personally, though, they're more than welcomed to smoke themselves to death.
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 3:09:29 PM)
I couldn't agree more with Benjamin Rush. I have often wondered what the attraction to smoking can be. It has zero redeeming qualities and to be around someone who is a smoker is pure agony for those of us who have allergies effected by the smoke. I try to tell the young people I work with, that the bad habits you form, can sentance you to a life of poverty and misery.
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 3:04:24 PM)
I would gladly exchange taxes from 'the smokers' for the price of the all costs of smoking (medical, property, etc, etc). I beleive that would make me THE richest person on earth.
Also, I have to laugh at all the people who argue in favor of the concept of 'smokers rights'......To talk about smokers' rights in the context of ADDICTION is absurd! Also, has anyone read the Surgeon General's report, out today, on second hand smoke? Smokers' rights my a** !!!
Common Sense Smith, Anywhere but Texas (Sent Jun 27, 2006 3:01:22 PM)
NOT FAIR, they should not be excluded from smoking laws. I do not smoke, however I think smoking should be allowed in bars. How is it that one can drink, get drunk and not smoke in a BAR- but Congress officials are allowed to smoke in a government building but not drink?? Go figure --- These are probably the same people who do not have many friends, they have special words for people like this and it starts with an A.
Kevin Goodchild, Charlotte NC (Sent Jun 27, 2006 2:59:58 PM)
I've no problem with smokers, just as I've no problem with others who do things that harm one's own body ... but when the harm is then to others, then we're speaking of the same argument made regarding porn, drinkin'n'driving and other situations where the behavior actually does affect the health and well-being of others ... in light of today's surgeon general pronouncement that second-hand smoke is also dangerous, it is especially true ...
John, Nashville (Sent Jun 27, 2006 2:58:22 PM)
It seems that many forget that our country was build on the tabacco industry. While I have no arguement with the smoking bans (even though I am a smoker myself), many nowadays forget our roots. And our tax dollars may pay their salaries, they still have to work for them (although not as hard as most of us).
Tannim, Small town, Iowa (Sent Jun 27, 2006 2:56:05 PM)
All these new laws are taking away freedoms. People somehow forget the freedom of property and business owners. I have never smoked but if I owned land, building, restaurant, why shouldn't I have the freedom to allow smoking? But alas, the American people are incredibly stupid and just vote for laws based on their preferences, not realizing they are grinding away on all our freedoms.
Bill Crippen, Coeur d'Alene, ID (Sent Jun 27, 2006 2:53:18 PM)
Second hand smoke is harmless......First hand smoke is not a horrible as portrayed either.....were all gonna die eventually anyhow....I know people in there 80's who have smoked 2 packs per day since they were teenagers, and there as healthy as any other senior citizen... smoke em' if ya got em
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 2:48:32 PM)
Thank You.. great story and insight.
Let keep smoking, I'll even send them a few packs. Hopefully the result will catch up with them and we will be able to elect some honest politicians.
(Sent Jun 27, 2006 2:45:30 PM)
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