He says:
"...But if this tax will cause a lot of folks -- poor or otherwise -- to quit smoking and add a few years to their life, then I call that good legislation."
So it's probably safe to say that his ideal end state would be "tax smokers out of their vice." Except these taxes are bankrolling the expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program to an extra 4 million "poor" children. If everyone quits smoking, what will happen to these poor children?
I guess no healthcare for them. Although he obviously doesn't care about them either:
"Critics say the tax will disproportionately hurt poor people. Fine! Did we somehow forget that poor people already are likely to be in poorer health because they are living in areas where there are food deserts, and that means lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables?"
So poor people are unhealthy because they don't get enough fruits & vegetables, AND they smoke?
What a buffoon.