Fox News: Is It Legal for CVS Not to Sell Smokes?

[kpete]

Fox News: Is It Legal for CVS Not to Sell Smokes?
Posted by Anne Laurie at 8:18 pm


The giant (RI based) CVS pharmacy chain has decided to stop carrying tobacco products, because they’re betting big on “primary healthcare delivery” (their MinuteClinics) as more people can afford to stay healthy, and fewer customers are buying cancer sticks anyway. The corporation has hardly been secretive about their market strategy; this was the top article on Boston’s Ch5 website (couldn’t find a video link that didn’t autoplay):

....................

So: There’s more money in selling health, less money in selling addiction. Blessed be the Invisible Hand! Except (as pointed out by commentor Trollhattan, among others) the bold Free Market objectivists at Fox News are losing their meagre moiety of marbles over this offense against tobacco-loving Amurkin FREEDUMB. Brian Powell, at Media Matters:

… On Fox’s The Real Story, host Gretchen Carlson approached the CVS decision with suspicion and a remarkably uninformed premise, asking, “Is it OK legally … to restrict tobacco availability in a private store like this?” She questioned her guests as to whether they would continue shopping at CVS and observed that, “For people who smoke, you know, they have a right to buy cigarettes. It’s not illegal.”

On Your World, Fox host and VP Neil Cavuto noted that President Obama supported CVS’ decision, and speculated that CVS was “getting scaredy cat” because “with the health care law and the changes and everything else,” selling tobacco products “didn’t look good.”…

And on Fox’s The Five, co-host Dana Perino tried to use the decision to attack President Obama’s signature health care law, saying, “I just wonder, is this President Obama now saying that corporations are allowed to have values and express them? Because if that’s the case, maybe corporations then don’t have to provide contraceptive care to their employees or their health plans. And the Supreme Court justices might want to think about that.”…

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/02/05/fox-freaks-out-over-cvs-ending-sales-of-tobacco/197947http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/02/06/fox-news-is-it-legal-for-cvs-not-to-sell-smokes/http://www.wcvb.com/page/search/htv-bos/news/money/cvs-caremark-plans-stop-selling-tobacco-products/-/9848680/24301640/-/d4os1i/-/index.html

[Dirty Socialist]

1. CVS Has A Right

To sell whatever it wants. Why does Fux News hate freedom?

[rurallib]

2. "These people are not only ignorant, they are proud of it"

The truest thing Obama ever said.

[sawdust]

3. How can a person not see thru faux

In the south faux is like christ speaking. How can anyone be so stupid? I honestly think faux is the anti christ. Wolf in sheeps clothing or faux in sheeps clothing. The great deceiver. Absolute men of faith will fight defending faux because they whole heartedly believe the nonsense.

[yellowcanine]

4. What should be illegal is to spout such ignorance on the air.

[steve2470]

5. oh yea it's illegal

From the same people kvetching about having to buy health insurance. Irony.

[RKP5637]

6. Fox News, "The Voice of Idiocracy!" n/t

[Barack_America]

42. Even worse, "Fox and Friends".

They share a single brain cell amongst them. I guess it wasn't Gretchen's day to use it.

[meow2u3]

43. Do you mean "Fox and Fiends"?

There, I fixed it for you.

[warrior1]

7. Baidu the even think that could be a winning argument for them

They don't care they just like to stir shit up.

[sarisataka]

8. Is it legal for Fox

to call themselves News?

[Xyzse]

34. +1

^∞

[Brigid]

9. If I own a store . . .

I get to decide what is sold there. What is wrong with these people?

[HereSince1628]

23. That's Fox's usual slant when talking about Plan B

Interesting that they've talked their thread into a knot.

[joeglow3]

27. As have those who demand people be forced to sell Plan B

It is amazing how natural it is for humans to be able to change their logic all the time.

[HereSince1628]

40. Yes, circumstance seems to be giving things a twist

[HappyMe]

32. That's pretty much what I think.

[treestar]

64. And that according to their own supposed theories

about the free market. Such morons.

[Scuba]

10. Can you see Alito? "Dana Perino said ..."

[Arcanetrance]

11. What happened to free markets it's finny how the forget their love of them when it suits them

[spanone]

12. faux, on the wrong side of every possible issue.

they are so predictable.

[GoneFishin]

26. Ditto.

[awoke_in_2003]

13. Jesus...

that channel causes IQ damage.

[leftyohiolib]

14. them not selling smokes affects inter-state commerce- which scotus says u cant do

[Incitatus]

20. Can you elaborate?

Which law would pertain to this and why would it apply to CVS and not thousands of other retail companies that do not sell cigarettes, such as health food stores?

[leftyohiolib]

35. Wickard v. Filburn

and this was just one little wheat farmer

[Incitatus]

47. I see where that allows the government to set quotas on the production of commodities

to control price, but I still do not see how that applies in this case. CVS is not producer and even if it was, the case is about quotas on how much can be produced, not about forcing production. Their decision to not sell cigarettes has no affect on the supply.

If a state tried to ban the sale of cigarettes, I see where the Commerce Clause would apply.

[leftyohiolib]

49. based on this

If a large number of farmers engaged in the same activity, there would be a significant impact on the market demand for wheat, and national prices would be adversely affected – a substantial impact on interstate commerce

insert cvs stores for farmers and smokes for wheat

[Incitatus]

58. I guess the cigarette industry could try that argument .

But a farmer is a farmer. Setting a quota on something they produce is one thing. They can't force a farmer to grow a specific crop. A retail business is quite different. Nothing obligates them to sell a specific product. There are a lot of retail companies that do no sell cigarettes and CVS move to become more of a healthcare provider separates them apart even more from the other companies that do and doesn't fit with the new business model they are going for. I would expect that to be similar to the argument they would make if there was a case against them. Court decisions have certainly surprised me in the past, but that as a tough sell.

[niyad]

15. I thought fu**noise was all in favour of businesses doing whatever the hell they wanted to?

[progree]

16. Is it legal for CVS not to sell alcoholic beverages?

I changed your excerpt a little bit as a thought exercise (forgive forgive) --

On Fox’s The Real Story, host Gretchen Carlson approached the CVS decision with suspicion ... asking, “Is it OK legally … to restrict alcohol availability in a private store like this?” She questioned her guests as to whether they would continue shopping at CVS and observed that, “For people who drink, you know, they have a right to buy booze. It’s not illegal.”

About 18% of American adults smoke, and about 2/3 of American adults drink, so logically if Gretchen has a point about smoking, then there is an even more compelling reason to force CVS to sell booze (more than 3 times as many drinkers as smokers) .

[Incitatus]

22. The stupidity that comes from Fox is mind numbing.

Some people there apparently don't think their audience knows the difference between government prohibition and the rights of a private company.

[Mike Daniels]

29. Their audience doesn't understand "freedom of speech" when it comes to protests

so it stands to reason that they wouldn't understand that a private company can opt to remove various products from their shelves without it being a violation of consumer rights.

That FOX encourages this ignorance is all the more reason they have no business refering to themselvs as a "news" channel.

[sir pball]

44. The CVS on Decatur in NOLA sells booze..

Actually, when you walk in, the first three aisles are booze. And the coolers by the door, too. Everything from handles of tequila to chilled, individual-sized bottles of wine...plastic so you can drink them on the street!

[KamaAina]

45. Some CVS stores do not sell alcohol

notably the one on Market St. in SF, as I discovered to my chagrin while staying nearby.

[kestrel91316]

17. She's right, you know. It says right there in the US Constitution

that private businesses are required to sell tobacco products.

[kpete]

30. It took me 17x to quit, hope that was the charm...(been 3 months now)

[Bandit]

62. Congratulations but beware, cigarettes are insidious; now can be the worst time.

Tobacco is an insidious addiction. It makes your brain think funny stuff and I don't mean ha ha funny. Three to six months are a really bad time because you can easily convince yourself that you have ended the addiction and could easily handle ONE cigarette now. Don't let your mind fool you. There will never be a day in your entire life that will be ok to smoke even a little. NEVER.. so be Strong..

[hedgehog]

18. I've seen a Right wing meme now that if Obama applauds CVS for

not selling cigarettes on principal, then he should allow Hobby Lobby and the Church not to offer coverage for contraception because that's their principal.

The stupid, it burns!

[progree]

19. I suppose the R.W. is also saying that pharmacies shouldn't be required to sell contraceptives

and certainly not the morning-after pill. Or condoms less than 3 mm thick. And also individual pharmacists should be able to decide individually whether or not to fill a prescription for birth control pills. And on and on.

[11 Bravo]

21. It is impossible to over state the sheer, abysmal, dumb-fuckery of FoxNews.

The Fox and Friends crew couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel.
And Gretchen Carlson was too fucking dumb even for that show!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

24. Fox News: We love the free market. Except when we don't. nt

[jsr]

48. +1

[bullwinkle428]

25. If CVS wanted to put in a "whites-only" lunch counter, Fox News would be

over the moon in their support for them. "It's a private business...they're entitled to do whatever they want!!1!1!"

[Mike Daniels]

28. If CVS opted to not sell the pill and if people got outraged you bet that FOX would side with CVS

Anyone who can stand to work for a network that encourages such blatant hypocrisy has no business describing their job as involving the distribution of "news".

[rurallib]

31. We were car shopping the other day. I notice no car dealers sold cigarettes

Is that legal? Someone call FUX!

[MissMillie]

33. The more I hear from that bunch the more I wonder

Where are they getting their crack?

[B2G]

36. Target chooses not to sell them

Gretchen Carlson is a moron.

[arely staircase]

37. there is so much idiotic bullshit in that it is hard to know where to start

So I won't.

[winstars]

38. They are just F---ing demented... They have to be actors, hired to say these things...

It is as if WE wrote their lines for them, intentionally trying to say the craziest, most stupid things.

The other day, when CVS announced this decision, I did say (to myself) that Faux will be against this. And after the Prez said he agreed with it, well, that was that!!!

[progree]

39. CVS may be ending the sale of cigarettes, but restrictions on the sale of booze are loosening

across the country.

In fact, the nation may now be "wetter" than ever.

An annual report released Tuesday by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) notes that the country is rapidly reversing laws imposing restrictions on the sale of alcohol, particularly on Sundays. Indeed, since 2002, 16 states have approved Sunday sales, bringing the total to 39, according to the organization."

More: http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post--us-becomes-less-uptight-about-booze-sales

[Vashta Nerada]

41. There's too much stupid in that excerpt I don't know where to begin.

[Blue_Adept]

46. Uh, it was already not legal to sell them in CVS stores in many places.

Already, Boston and 79 other Massachusetts communities, accounting for about half the state’s population, have passed such bans.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/02/05/cvs-will-stop-selling-cigarettes-tobacco-products/EbtXBHHBhkDj0qUkRXp1tK/story.html

So yeah, it was already legal to tell them they couldn't sell them.

[nyquil_man]

50. On Bullshit Mountain, it's only legal to refuse to sell something if gay people want to buy it.

eom

[TBF]

51. These people lower the bar for stupidity on a daily basis. nt

[underpants]

54. The RW just LOVES people to smoke

That and guns are their core "freedom" values

[ForgoTheConsequence]

52. Why doesn't CVS sell car tires?

It's my fucking right to buy car tires.

[BlueStreak]

55. I demand CVS sell me a pair of expensive Italian shoes

It is my right.

[penultimate]

53. They want the government to dictate what a private store sells?

Is there some birth control tie in here?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

57. They also want the federal government to block states from setting their own insurance regulations.

They also want the government to use eminent domain to seize private land for the use of a multi national corporation like TransCanada.

They also want the federal government in your bedroom and doctors office.


They're against the government, until they need it to enforce their will on people.

[cthulu2016]

56. Tell 'em CVS has a religious objection and watch their tune change

[Glassunion]

59. Teh stupid!!! It burns!!!

[Gothmog]

60. Gretchen is too stupid for words

Watching Fox will lower one's IQ

[jmowreader]

61. It's also legal to buy fan belts, blue jeans, house paint and 16-foot 2x12s

CVS doesn't sell those things either.

[OmahaBlueDog]

63. Wrong Question. The correct question is whether CVS will carry e-cigs

E-cigs are not considered to be a tobacco product. The regulation of this product varies from state to state. It's legal to advertise the product, and it does not have the age restrictions that tobacco has in many states. Nevertheless, it's highly addictive.

This is the question FAUX and everyone else should be asking.