I have to assume that White House Press Secretary Tony Snow no longer wants to be taken seriously. He just doesn’t care. He’s got the cool job, he’s getting to do some campaigning for far-right Republicans, and he’s a bit of a celebrity … so if his answers don’t coincide with reality at all, it’s simply of no interest. It’s not like Karl Rove is going to complain.
Snow, for example, sat down with Howard Kurtz yesterday on CNN’s Reliable Sources, where the press secretary proceeded to make some incredibly strange arguments. The discussion led with the Iraq Study Group, and reporters’ motivations for asking about the administration’s failed policy.
KURTZ: [T]he “New York Times” and the “Chicago Tribune” called it a “rebuke of the administration policy” and the “Wall Street Journal” called it a “searing critique.” So you’re taking a position, speaking for the administration.
SNOW: I understand that.
KURTZ: It’s very different from the way news organizations are characterizing this.
SNOW: Well, yes, but news organizations were characterizing, interestingly, in direct defiance and contradiction to what the people who wrote it said. And it is worth taking into account the motive’s aims and objectives rather than saying, “Ah-ha, here’s a searing critique.”
For instance, is it searing critique that this report says, at the beginning of its own segment on actions forward, that it says, and I quote, and this was not something I was asked about, “We agree with the goal of U.S. policy in Iraq as stated by the president.” […]
KURTZ: They also said the policy is not working.
SNOW: No, what they said is that you need a new policy.
That’s absurd, and Snow has to realize it. James Baker said the Bush administration’s policy is “no longer viable.” The report plainly says, “Current US policy is not working.” And yet, Snow continues to deny obvious truths on national television.
How is this any different from Baghdad Bob saying, “There are no American infidels in Baghdad,” when there were bombs exploding behind him?
Indeed, Snow went on to stick to the long-discredited argument that somehow media reporting of the tragedies in Iraq is inappropriate.
KURTZ: You said, “What I think is demoralizing is a constant effort to try to portray this as a losing mission.” Do you think that journalists deliberately portray Iraq as a losing effort?
SNOW: I don’t know if it’s deliberate or not, but there is a failure narrative that tends to run through a lot. And you, I’m sure, have talked to servicemen who come back and say, “Why don’t they cover what I do? This is not what I see.”
Snow does realize that the violence in Iraq is, if anything, being under-reported, right?
I don’t mean to harp on Snow’s dishonesty so much — I can see some of you sitting there thinking, “Yes, yes, Tony Snow lies a lot; we get it” — but it’s more than just bald-faced mendacity that bothers me. We occasionally see reports that the election results shook up the White House. Bush is listening more, Rumsfeld’s gone, “cooperation” will no longer be considered a dirty word, etc.
But Snow’s interview yesterday reinforces the notion that the Bush gang is still very much the Bush gang, so reality can be ignored and interviews are just another chance to mislead the public. This was the case before the election, and it’s obviously the case after it.
