Here is the complete 4 1/2 minute announcement by President Bush:
The White House has announced he is the new Press Secretary:
Tony Snow will be named new White House press secretary on Wednesday morning, FOX News has learned. Snow is expected to be at the White House for the announcement. He has been mulling the offer for the last several days.
Just awesome news! This is exactly what the WH needs right now:
As a conservative columnist and commentator, Snow has been sharply critical of Bush and Republicans in Congress at times. The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, circulated unflattering observations by Snow about Bush.
“His (Bush’s) wavering conservatism has become an active concern among Republicans, who wish he would stop cowering under the bed and start fighting back against the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Wilson,” Snow wrote last November after Republicans failed to win the governor’s race in Virginia. “The newly passive George Bush has become something of an embarrassment.”
Last month, Snow wrote that Bush and the Republican Congress had “lost control of the federal budget and cannot resist the temptation to stop raiding the public fisc. (treasury)”
Snow, in an Associated Press interview Wednesday, said: “It’s public record. I’ve written some critical stuff. When you’re a columnist, you’re going to criticize and you’re going to praise.”
More proof?
Snow would be the first Washington pundit — in his case, one who has been an outspoken ideological voice — to take over the pressroom podium.
“President Bush hates responding to the press, hates responding to political enemies — he thinks it’s beneath him,” Snow said on Fox News in March. “He’s got a stubborn streak.” What the president needed, he said, was “a series of vigorous defenses” of his position.
A great quote from the Snowman is
Be Reagan!
A great deal of appreciation from myself to Mr. Snow for taking this job and all its headaches to come, not to mention the huge paycut. This is called serving your country. Good man.
Ed Morrissey writes how this will help the Administration get its message across more clearly then the last Press Secretary:
Will this make a significant difference for the Bush administration? Tony will make a more forceful and eloquent spokesman for the administration than either McClellan or even Ari Fleischer, who did an excellent job in the first term. From his years of radio duty, Tony knows how to talk extemporaneously and engage in debate on a moment’s notice. It would be hard to imagine Tony being at a loss for words or failing to present the best case for any position in which he believes.
Jeff at Protein Wisdom has already found out what the left will be calling this:
As I noted earlier, commenters at Think Progress?a ?serious? Democratic strategy and information site?had already begun calling Snow ?Snowjob,? and comparing him to Baghdad Bob and, sadly, Jos. Goebbels. Because, you know, Bush = Hitler and all.
I wouldn’t expect anything else from them. The left being civil is an oxymoron.
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