This is a note to never been smoker liberals or democrats who like to pontificate about how smoking is stinky, a rotten habit, and filled with health risks. Cut it out.
If you are not a doctor, don't do it. I am an ex-smoker, and I certainly understand people who have smoked that use this terminology (because we have to convince ourselves not to smoke), but to those who have never smoked: quit condescending.
One of the gripes that many liberals, progressives and Democrats have about the GOP, especially nowadays, is that conservatives are telling us what to do and how we should live our life. It's the same argument conservatives bashed us with for years. Many of us, especially those of us who have slight or major libertarian leanings (mine is slight- Cato sucks, and government should provide a safety net), really like this argument.
When anyone who smokes, the majority of which know they need to quit, hears us talking about how STUPID smoking is, they immediately tune out and wait for other arguments that can move them in a direction that says butt out- an argument that the GOP still holds. They may not hold it for long, but they do hold it.
When laws are passed saying that taverns or bars are banning smoking (and I could be persuaded with restaurants being banned), smokers shit their pants. Taverns are, by definition, establishments that make money off of risky behavior, and drinking and smoking often go hand in hand. If someone wants to open a no smoking bar, of which my city has two, it is certainly within their right if they find it to be a financially viable option. It should not be legislated.
Mind you, I feel the same way about porn, language, advertisements, and diaries, but we'll leave those arguments for another day.