2/24/97
The insidious ad paid for by big tobacco suggest that the McCain tobacco bill is a bipartisan bill that would soak low income taxpayers and create "larger government bureaucracies". Since when have big tobacco companies flinched from profits from low income earners? The tobacco companies have historically drawn their clientele from those with the least education and hence least earnings; if they really cared about low wage earners they wouldn't market their deadly wares.
That being said, there is a whole lot of truth to their self righteous assertions. The new tobacco legislation would divert a large portion of revenue to expansion of the "war on drugs" a favorite portion of the Republican big government agenda. The government bureaucracies that wage this "war" [principally in low income areas BTW] are the most corrupt in government - largely by the huge profits created for criminals by the criminalization of private behavior. Undoubtedly, much of the money would be used to "balance" budgets and keep Democratic spending programs afloat which have been hurt by the diversion of monies to payment for mass incarceration scams - which are NEVER paid for [at least at the level where they're passed] by raising taxes.
While the tobacco companies are disengenous in their self righteous claims there is a ring of truth to their assertions. Unfortunately, it is not exactly the type of government spending that the commercial media would have us believe. In their viewpoint taxes only pay for "liberal" spending programs with the military spending and prison fairies picking up the tab for the rest.
2/24/97