{"id":1894,"date":"2014-02-07T20:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T20:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1894"},"modified":"2014-02-08T04:56:39","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T04:56:39","slug":"response-to-cvs-pharmacies-ban-on-tobacco-tom-brokaw-intelligent-fox-news-blathering-idiots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1894","title":{"rendered":"Response to CVS Pharmacies ban on tobacco: Tom Brokaw intelligent, Fox News …. blathering idiots"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"gretchen<\/a>
Gretchen Carlson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shaking my head at this one.<\/p>\n

The Mensa crowd at Fox News<\/a> blew a gasket when CVS Pharmacies announced it would not longer be selling tobacco products. First of all, Fox News tried to blame Barack Obama somehow for a private company’s decision not to sell a poisonous product because Obama had the audacity to (gasp!) express his support for the decision. On three separate occasions, Fox analysts used the CVS decision to attack Obama (Neil Cavuto claimed CVS was becoming “scaredy-cat” because of the ACA … that doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense).<\/p>\n

What’s interesting is Fox promotes free market capitalism pretty unabashedly. Well, here you have a company, making a decision of its own free will, to no longer sell a product — what is that? FREE MARKET CAPITALISM.<\/p>\n

Even more ludicrous was a comment by Gretchen Carlson<\/a> asking out loud if it was legal for CVS Pharmacies to not sell tobacco products since they are legal. “Is it\u00a0OK\u00a0legally\u00a0…\u00a0to restrict tobacco availability in a private store like this?” she asked her guests.<\/p>\n

Oh … my … freaking … God. Do they give IQ tests at Fox News? And then if you fail the test, you get the job?<\/p>\n

There is no requirement anywhere that forces businesses to sell products they choose not sell? That would impinging on FREE MARKET CAPITALISM. My question to Gretchen. So, using your logic, are you saying that CVS Pharmacies should also be required to sell guns and vibrators? Since, these are both legal products? Just frightening how stupid these arguments become.<\/p>\n

Tom Brokaw chimes in<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"tom_brokaw_01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Retired NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw had a — not surprisingly — much more intelligent response. In his op-ed piece,<\/a> “Bravo, CVS, for banning tobacco products,” Brokaw admits he is a “cigarette scold,” who is not shy about confronting smokers about their habit (Personally, I don’t take it this far, unless smokers start telling me about their Aunt Mabel who smoked and lived to be 92.).<\/p>\n

Brokaw says he feels this strongly partly because he counts 11 friends and family members who have been killed by tobacco, and partly because he is aware of the damage smoking does to health care costs.<\/p>\n

Brokaw writes:<\/p>\n

\n

So I was thrilled to see that CVS — the giant pharmacy chain — announce it was going out of the cigarette business even though it meant a two billion dollar loss in sales. Two billion, with a “b.”<\/p>\n

CVS is more and more in the health care business — providing vaccinations, clinics and the like — and selling cigarettes was not just inappropriate, but not good for the growing health care piece of their business plan.<\/p>\n

Smokers will say they have a right to make their own decisions. We heard those same arguments about drinking and driving and about resisting seat belts. Think of how many lives and dollars the two changes in driving have saved.<\/p>\n

I grew up in the smoking Fifties and couldn’t wait to graduate from high school sports to Lucky Strikes or whatever brand tobacco companies would distribute free to incoming freshmen classes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What madness.<\/div>\n

So thank you, CVS for putting health, a national security issue, over profit.<\/p>\n

You didn’t lose my cigarette business because I haven’t smoked in 45 years. But you did gain my admiration — and I now know where I’ll buy my toothpaste, razors, shampoo, cold tablets, cough drops, sunscreen and vitamin pills.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shaking my head at this one. The Mensa crowd at Fox News blew a gasket when CVS Pharmacies announced it would not longer be selling tobacco products. First of all, Fox News tried to blame Barack Obama somehow for a private company’s decision not to sell a poisonous product because Obama had the audacity to … Continue reading Response to CVS Pharmacies ban on tobacco: Tom Brokaw intelligent, Fox News …. blathering idiots<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[223,225,54],"tags":[631,633,227,226],"class_list":["post-1894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cvs-pharmacy","category-fox-news","category-right-wing-douchebags","tag-cvs-pharmacy","tag-fox-news","tag-gretchen-carlson","tag-tom-brokaw"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/140206-cigarettes-jms-1548_b0b8174b6ec06fbac2af2eee65967e9c.nbcnews-ux-800-600.jpg?fit=800%2C551&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-uy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1886,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1886","url_meta":{"origin":1894,"position":0},"title":"CVS Pharmacies to ban cigarette sales, other tobacco products","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the words of Joe Biden ... this is a big fucking deal. , the second biggest drug store chain in the country, will no longer sell any tobacco products in its 7,600 stores across the country. This means CVS will lose $2 billion a year in sales revenues ...\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cigarettes"","block_context":{"text":"cigarettes","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"CVS","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/CVS.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2929,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2929","url_meta":{"origin":1894,"position":1},"title":"CVS revenues soaring — despite ban on tobacco sales","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an awesome story. When CVS Pharmacies cut out tobacco sales, everyone fully expected the company's revenues to drop, including CVS. Instead, the opposite has happened. In the fourth quarter of 2014, the first full financial quarter after CVS banned tobacco sales, the company's revenues didn't go down, they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CVS Pharmacy"","block_context":{"text":"CVS Pharmacy","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=223"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/CVS-Pharmacy-01.jpg?fit=1000%2C649&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/CVS-Pharmacy-01.jpg?fit=1000%2C649&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/CVS-Pharmacy-01.jpg?fit=1000%2C649&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/CVS-Pharmacy-01.jpg?fit=1000%2C649&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3482,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3482","url_meta":{"origin":1894,"position":2},"title":"CVS bailing on tobacco sales results in impressive drop in cigarette sales overall","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"September 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Very interesting story. CVS Pharmacies about a year ago announced it would no longer be selling any tobacco products. It's just one drug store chain, right? No big deal, right? Well, it turns out that decision resulted in a 1 percent reduction in cigarette sales in 13 states ... that's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CVS Pharmacy"","block_context":{"text":"CVS Pharmacy","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=223"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/cvs-no-smoke.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/cvs-no-smoke.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/cvs-no-smoke.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2411,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2411","url_meta":{"origin":1894,"position":3},"title":"CVS pulls all tobacco products, changes name","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"September 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As the company announced a few months ago, CVS went ahead this week and pulled all tobacco products off its shelves -- and changed its name to CVS Health in conjunction with this move. However, CVS, the second largest drug store company in the U.S., made the decision more quickly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CVS Pharmacy"","block_context":{"text":"CVS Pharmacy","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=223"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/lockup_fnalv6.png?fit=1000%2C1005&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/lockup_fnalv6.png?fit=1000%2C1005&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/lockup_fnalv6.png?fit=1000%2C1005&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/lockup_fnalv6.png?fit=1000%2C1005&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3531,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3531","url_meta":{"origin":1894,"position":4},"title":"Philadelphia proposes banning tobacco sales in drug stores","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The mayor of\u00a0Philadelphia last week proposed banning tobacco sales in pharmacies and drug stores. This story jogged my memory that I think San Francisco did the same thing. Sure enough, San Francisco did ban tobacco sales in pharmacies, in fact some time ago -- 2008 -- longer ago than I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CVS Pharmacy"","block_context":{"text":"CVS Pharmacy","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=223"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3268,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3268","url_meta":{"origin":1894,"position":5},"title":"CVS study on smoking cessation: When money is on the line, it encourages smokers to quit","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"May 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"CVS Pharmacies, which is well-known for pulling all tobacco products out of its chain of drug stores, recently\u00a0helped with\u00a0a study on smoking cessation with some interesting results. Participants in the study were actually recruited by CVS, which apparently is very serious about combating tobacco use. Participants were offered a variety\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CVS Pharmacy"","block_context":{"text":"CVS Pharmacy","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=223"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Smoking_Costs-vi.jpg?fit=634%2C467&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Smoking_Costs-vi.jpg?fit=634%2C467&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Smoking_Costs-vi.jpg?fit=634%2C467&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1894"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1905,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894\/revisions\/1905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}