Pay no attention to my super-cool smoking chief of staff, Herman Cain told the kids on TV this morning.
“Young people of America, all people, do not smoke,” Cain told CBS’ Face The Nation Sunday. “It is hazardous and it is dangerous to your health. Don’t smoke.”
Mark Block, the Cain staffer who really broke no news whatsoever when he showed that politicos (and the people who cover them) smoke by taking a drag of a cigarette in a now-famous campaign video, has nonetheless become the biggest spokesperson for tobacco since Joe Camel.
Cain said kids shouldn’t try to emulate the 55 year-old Block, despite his cigarette-fueled internet stardom.
“I have never smoked and I encourage people not to smoke,” Cain said. “It is not a cool thing to do.”
Cain himself may not have suggested more people smoke, but he’s certainly associated himself with people who have. A week ago, the New York Times delved into Cain’s time at the National Restaurant Association, in which he “allied himself closely with cigarette makers fighting restaurant smoking bans.”
When Cain ran for president the first time, back in 1999, the tobacco industry was on board with the idea: “He is a wonderful speaker and would be an effective and charismatic candidate,” one industry official wrote. “He is also good on our issues.”
Here’s video of Cain on Face The Nation:
