House Speaker Boehner on smoking: 'I am who I am'

[a kennedy]

he newly installed speaker of the House admits he's a smoker and that he sometimes gets emotional, and he isn't apologizing for either.

Rep. John Boehner (BAY'-nur) tells NBC in an interview, "It's who I am."

The veteran Ohio Republican, who was sworn in this week to succeed Democrat Nancy Pelosi, was asked about talk that he's too inclined to tear up on occasion. Asked about this by interviewer Brian Williams, Boehner replied, "There are some things I feel really strongly about."

Boehner confirms he smokes cigarettes, saying "it's a bad habit." He says a lot of people tell him to quit, but "I am who I am."

He declined to say what federal program should be the first to be cut in the interest of slashing the deficit.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_UNAPOLOGETIC_BOEHNER?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME

[theophilus]

1. And I don't like who you are. n/t

[WhiteTara]

13. well, he is a heavy smoker and drinker

so he may be shortening his life. Go Boner!

[old mark]

2. K&R...didn't god allegedly say that to Moses? Or did I get god confused with Boner?...nt

[Erose999]

3. I yam what I yam and thats all that I yam. I'm Popeye the Sailor Man! Toot toot!!

[Phoonzang]

7. Damn, you got there before me. nt

[Erose999]

8. I wonder if Boehner smokes a corncob pipe? Nah, he probably has a gavel made into a pipe.

I doubt his tobacco is green, though.

[RoseMead]

4. Boehner confirms he's a blubbering Republican loon, saying "it's a bad habit."

He says a lot of people tell him to quit, but "I am who I am."

[jillan]

5. Forget his smoking, I think the fact that he keeps running for public office is the bad habit he

needs to break.

[safeinOhio]

6. It's a really good idea

to focus on smoking when you are a drunk.

[Motown_Johnny]

9. it may be in his contract with big tobacco, smoker for life

[sadbear]

10. You think he cries a lot now?

Just wait until he tries quitting.

[Vinca]

11. Read Matt Taibbi's article on Boehner. Case closed.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/matt-taibbi-the-crying-shame-of-john-boehner-20110105

[spin]

12. Has Obama quit smoking?

Boehner will quit when he's ready or he won't. No big deal.

My aunt smoked all her life and died in her 90s. Cancer didn't kill her. My uncle, her longtime husband, had died the year before. She wanted to be with him. While he smoked well into his 80s, cancer didn't kill him either. He fell down a set of stairs and broke his hip. It was replaced but became infected and was replaced again. He was walking again with a cane. He went to visit his mother's grave on a snowy day and the cane slipped into a hole where a potted plant had been. He fell and broke his other hip. It was replaced but he never recovered.