Snow’s jaw-dropper on withdrawal

May 16, 2007

Unprompted, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow responded this afternoon to Sen. Feingold’s measure to cut off money for combat operations in Iraq after March 31, 2008. I’ve seen just about every press briefing Snow has done, and this has to rank right up there among the craziest arguments he’s made.

Q: On the war funding bill, Senator Levin this morning pulled down his proposal, which would have had timetables, but with presidential waiver. Did the White House oppose that proposal?

SNOW: Yes.

Q: Why?

MR. SNOW: Because we made it pretty clear that we don’t think timetables are the way to go. What’s interesting, Ken, is the Senate also today voted on Senator Feingold’s proposal, which was straight-out withdrawal. And they voted against it by a margin of 67-29…. I think that sends a pretty powerful message to those who are continuing to conduct negotiations about the sense of the American people and the Senate, which is the idea of withdrawal is not — simply withdrawing on a timetable is not something that the American people, or, for that matter, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate support.

Um, Tony? Congress already passed a withdrawal timeline. The House passed it with a bipartisan majority; the Senate passed it with a bipartisan majority; and polls show strong majorities support across the country backed the measure. The president vetoed it.

“Withdrawing on a timetable is not something that the American people, or, for that matter, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate support.” It’s enough to seriously make me wonder whether Snow understands what’s going on around him. I assume he keeps up on current events; maybe he heard about the president vetoing funding for the war because lawmakers included provisions for withdrawing on a timetable?

When you work for Fox long enough, lying becomes as easy as smiling.

What disturbs me is when the reporters don’t call that creep on his lies. When they just go on to the next question, and let Snow’s lies just go by, they effectively agree that whatever he just lied about is true.

  • …Kinda makes ya wonder what ol’ “Tokin’ Tony’s” been smokin, now don’t it?

    Sorry for the bizarre spelling, but it seems to go well with SnowFlake’s newfound “anti-reality inflatable prophylactic shield bubble.” One can only wonder what the tripe that calls itself the MSM will do, once reality is restored to the WH press briefings. Maybe we can load the room full of bloggers, and leave the traitorous, used-to-be/wanna-be “journalists” out on the lawn to beg for scraps….

  • Heh, get this… Tony Snowjob compares the Republican presidential debates to American Idol…

    Q Did the President watch the television thing with the Republicans last night?

    MR. SNOW: I’m almost certain he did not, but I don’t know.

    Q This is the second time — isn’t he interested in Republican gatherings?

    MR. SNOW: Yes.

    Q He is. But why — this is the second time in a row. A lot of other people watched it. Why didn’t the President?

    MR. SNOW: Do you watch every episode of “American Idol”? (Laughter.)

    I agree, Tony. The Republicans running for president suck just as bad as American Idol does.

  • The WH does not see the press secretary’s job as requiring him to tell the truth to the American people; his job is to create sound bites that will get picked up and played on the evening news and the local stations, leaving those who hear what he says with the impression of truth. It is Colbert’s “Truthiness” in action, every single day.

    And they get away with it because, to begin with, probably few in the media ever reported correctly on the provisions of the Feingold bill, and that may be because even they failed to read it and learn what it said. So, you have media asking questions about legislation they haven’t studied, getting answers they can’t follow up on because they don’t know enough. It ends up being pure kabuki theatre, with people on both sides of the microphone appearing to be engaging in a truthful question-and-answer session, but who are, in fact, just playing a game.

    Who loses? We all do. This is how a president with a 28% approval rating manages to continue to get away with actions and policies that ought to have seen him and the rest of the West Wing operatives impeached or fired, and then brought up on criminal charges.

  • Chemo does strange things to the mind. Unfortunately it doesn’t explain the answers he’s given prior to chemo….

  • Hey, speaking of bipartisan majorities, what the *fuck* is up with 42 Democrats voting that it’s the “sense of the Senate” that Congress should send Bush a bill he can sign?

    Bush can sign any bill.

    He just chooses not to.

    Why *Democrats* would want to let him off the hook for being intransigent is beyond me, though.

    Bush may look like a dumb guy compared to Democrats (based on policy and delusions), but at least he’s smart enough not to negotiate with himself – and it looks like Democrats are on a new TV show, called “Are you dumber than a delusional reactionary?” and they keep falling all over themselves to show that they are.

  • We currently import over 60% of our oil, 30% of our imports come from the Middle East. This tranlates to about 25% of our oil coming from the Middle East which leads to a few interesting questions:

    1. If we exit Iraq and the region destabilizes and we lose 25% of our oil supply our current economy will contract a corresponding 25%. Are we really ready for this?

    2. If we decrease our oil consumption by 25% we can exit the Middle East with little economic risk – why isn’t any talking about this option? (25% Less Will Conserve Our Troops Home.) This will also cause an economic contraction but achieving the goal involves modifying our economic model so the contraction will not be as severe or painful.

    3. Why are politicians championing withdrawal without addressing the potential consequence of a staggeringly huge economic contraction?

    Too champion withdrawal without addressing oil consumption is not a solution at all – just a stepping stone to socioeconomic disaster.

    BTW – I want to get the US out Iraq as much as anybody…

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