Former White House press secretary Tony Snow dies at age 53

July 12, 2008

Tony Snow, dead at age 53.

Conservative commentator and former White House press secretary Tony Snow has died of cancer, Fox News reported Saturday.

Snow, 53, was a broadcaster for Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio when he replaced Scott McClellan as President Bush’s press secretary in May 2006.

Snow served just 17 months as press secretary, a tenure interrupted by his second bout with cancer. He resigned as Bush’s chief spokesman six months later, in September 2007, citing a need to earn more money. He then joined CNN as a commentator.

It wouldn’t be fair of me to pretend that I valued Snow’s work; I’ve criticized him enough times to prove otherwise. But even as he misled reporters and the nation, I always found Tony Snow to be an affable, likable guy, who enjoyed politics as much as I do. Even more important, I always respected his courage and tenacity when dealing with his serious illness.

My condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.

I’ve lost family to cancer, and it’s a fate I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

But all my memories of Tony Snow, on Fox “News” and as White House press spokesman, include him looking straight into the camera and lying his ass off, and all the while doing it with a smug condescension that implied that I was as idiot if I believed my lying eyes rather what he was saying

  • This morning NPR had a recording of Snow playing really cool blues on his flute.

    So he couldn’t have been all bad.

    Does Jesse Helms need a spokesman, wherever he is?

  • Unlike McClellan, Snow was a true Patriot and showed loyalty to his President and country.

  • Unlike McClellan, Snow was a true Patriot an unrepentant liar and showed exclusive loyalty to his the worst President and this country ever had.

    Fixed it for ya.

  • My heart goes out to his family. It’s tough to lose someone when they’re that young, even if you’ve been preparing yourself mentally for it for a while – nothing can really prepare you for the actual event.

  • My mother died of cancer just before she was rejected for social security benefits. It was a horrible ordeal for me and our family. Stress to a point of, instead of where is the beef, for me its where is the care? Watching Tony Snow as a spokes person for our government at first was O.K., then turned into a sour political mix of poisoned reasons in fraud and identity juggling that is far too obvious to say he, Tony Snow, didn’t know he was lying about all sorts of political actions Bush and Company have been tooling around in.

    That’s the real cancer Tony was fighting, lies that he was trying to make into truths. Sorry but Tim Russert falls into that contexual play ground of misinformation too as one of the greatest manipulater of video clips to make judgements, likely many clips doctored for the best effect. All creating the most clever steering ever presented in the broadcast industry reflecting the wide spread corruption in the history of journalism. I especially loved watching Chris Mathews play that clip of McCain at a small rally and a serious personal question posed to him as how the Republicans will get rid of Hillary that bitch. This clip played endlessly for weeks across the spectrum. Please the Media in grand banner and bellow make the claim of fair and balanced . that certainly was a political fix and McCain was smiling brightly all the while knowing this is part of the poitical fix.

    Our American system has dysfunctional leadership today that is so hugely incompatible and constitutionally unfaith it boggles the mind of simple people like me who are only a Joe six pack. Here, for most and those Democrats who voted for the FISA shows with arrogance and vanity of self grandiosity in part of the Democratic Party? For me, Jesse Jackson said it well not just for Obama; they all need to have their nuts cut off. Our Democratic associates that support such misguided legislation are no dimwits but are selfish parasites in this age. These types of Democrats demonstrate the acrid decay that permeates the Lieberman types. Americans now know how loaded our Congress is with a similar balance of deranged minds that collect every day on the public domain electromagnetic spectrum misinforming the electorate at every turn.

    Its O.K. to payroll CEO’s huge amounts to keep them silent about skullduggery or gives government officials raises and huge benefits. But to commence giving each American a retirement benefit above the poverty level is very difficult to do. When with a stroke of the pen that is all it will take to bring America into a new age. When in fact likely create the best foundation for the greatest foundation of prosparity in the new millenium. But for far too many, of course that is tax money, that is for the helping into their secret baby trust funds. That is something very difficult to give up.

    As Pepolsi was huddled with a bunch of her childeren at the gavel one has to consider the over whelming evidence of deliberately intendended breaches of the Constitution yet ignored till now. Pelosi likely finally realizes her childeren need a place to spend that easy money and better hop to it to get going on public investigations indictments and convictions likely to happen before the election. for me the proficy is easy; while the stock market dives indictments and convictions start rolling out faster than the gas prices increase. The Arabs will have to make a serious decision which is also easy to do since they supply seventy percent of American oil via Bush and Company. Will they the Arabs throw Bush and Company under the bus. That would be a hoot.

  • From The Yahoo Obit:

    Snow resigned as Bush’s chief spokesman last September, citing not his health but a need to earn more than the $168,000 a year he was paid in the government post. In April, he joined CNN as a commentator.

    Something offensive about that.

  • Tony “Snow-Job”. In the Lord of the Rings the Wizard Gandolf (sp?) said (paraphrased) “It’s not how much time you have but what it is you do with the time you have”

    My niece died from cancer at the age of 14. On her death bed she often lectured us all on “what life was about was LOVE”. Imagine that. From a dying 14 year old. Tony on the other hand managed to use what time he had shilling for liars and crooks who tortured, fear mongered, raped our Constitution, and slaughtered and displaced tens of thousands of innocent civilians earmarked as “collateral damage”. He chose to utilize his time poorly. I feel bad for his family, but not for him. He could have used his position in life to help others but chose to help himself and others who cared little for life and greatly for wealth.

    He has to face his Maker now and try to explain why he did what he did. Let’s hope that person is an Iraqi who was obliterated during Bushits sublime orgasm, “Shock & Awe”…

  • So a lying, propaganda pushing, blindly partisan mouthpiece for the most criminal administration and the scuzziest media outlet in history croaks and his destructive hackery is brought to a end.

    Shit happens.

  • I knew Tony in high school and remember when his mother died of cancer.

    Didn’t like his politics but he was a charmer one-on-one.
    My condolences to his family.

    Regards, Gorby

  • Did I just stumble across the message forum of Little Green Footballs?

    No…LGF is probably praising him to the skies.

    Reality reigns here.

    I don’t believe in God, but Snow did. I wonder if he spent any time at the end getting right with his maker, i.e., asking forgiveness for the legion of lies he spewed on a daily basis.

    Nah. He probably thought God was a Republican, and IOKIYAR.

  • i don’t wish early death on anyone, but there was nothing likeable about tony snow’s public persona: he worked to advance the right wing’s interests, period.

  • Going on my “Thumper Principle” today. If I can’t say something nice… I will offer his family and friends condolences.

  • What is confounding to me is that Snow, the son of a woman who died of colon cancer at the age of 38, wasn’t given screenings every year from age 20 on. My beloved sister-in-law was diagnosed last year with Stage 4 colon cancer at the age of 40. The doctors told her it could have been growing for TEN years.
    She didn’t have regular screenings because no one else in the family has had colon cancer.

    But, for someone whose mother died of it, not to have regular colonoscopies is stunning. I am ASSUMING he didn’t have regular yearly screenings because I assume they would have caught the cancer much earlier.

    Please correct me if I’m wrong.

  • phoebes in santa fe

    Snowjob had regular colonoscopies. The only thing they found up there was his head.

    Condolences to his family.

  • Snow resigned as Bush’s chief spokesman last September, citing not his health but a need to earn more than the $168,000 a year he was paid in the government post. In April, he joined CNN as a commentator.

    Something offensive about that. — Larry G, @9

    If you mean that our so-called healthcare system is a disgrace and find it offensive, I agree. If, OTOH, you think it’s offensive that he felt $168K wasn’t enough… Well, that’s what’s offensive about our so-called healthcare system. Having cancer can be damned expensive and I don’t think he had the same coverage that the govt officials and Congressmen do. Probably felt he needed to leave a nest egg for the family, too, seeing that he was likely to “check out” early.

  • I feel bad for his family as well… for having had to put up with him that is… After all you can’t pick your own family.

    Good riddance… One more sycophant from the wrong ideological perspective gone, so many more to go.

    As mentioned by several other comments, he kept spewing his lies until the end, instead of trying to enjoy the remaining months of his life with his family. Or is that how right wing nuts enjoy their life: by making it miserable for the rest of us?

    For those who think I’m callous about it. My sister in-law died last year from cancer, while she suffered pretty badly. (Age 46) The irony was that by the time she was legible for disability pay, she passed on. Her husband, had to sell the house in order to pay the hospital and doctor bills. Tony quit his $168,000.00 job because he felt that was not enough money, while he stood on the podium arguing why the minimum wage shouldn’t be raised.

    Again… good riddance of another right winger who’s done more wrong for the country than good.

  • The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. ~ William Shakespeare

  • Hoo boy, I expected to find a couple of entries here saying shit about the dead, but did NOT expect a majority. C’mon, folks, it’s one thing to be disgusted with a political figure’s politics, and yet another to jump up and down when they’re dead. The whole point of a free society, I seem to think, is RESPECT for those you disagree with, and perhaps even hate the guts of.

    Makes me wonder how many of those who have the moral fortitude to say shit behind the back of a DEAD GUY on an ANONYMOUS forum would be able to say it to his face when he was still alive. I’d wager, not that many. I’d wager you’d find your brass balls suddenly made of putty and a lot smaller than you thought. I would also wager that the most cowardly of you shout the loudest out here.

    Look, I thought Snow was as much of a hack as any, um, hack who would work for the Bush administration. I disagreed with him in life, but that does NOT make him deserve an early death from something as fucked-up as cancer. (And lest someone says anything, I’m a scientist who works in cancer research, so I AM doing something about it.)

    All I’m saying is, let’s have some respect for the dead, shall we? Think of what people would say when YOU are dead, if they’d even notice.

  • This really sucks. I didn’t have any respect for Mr. Snow professionally, but I’m always saddened when I read about someone dying.

    My condolences to everyone he left behind.

  • man, from reading many of these comments i realize there’s no difference between liberal and conservative assholes with no sense of decorum, much less compassion. although i didn’t agree with his politics i thought him a decent guy who would have never stooped to the level some of you have just done.

    i truly feel sorry for many of you.

  • One more sycophant from the wrong ideological perspective gone, so many more to go

    And that is the essense of the overwhelming hatred spewing from Left site to Left site that has posted the news of Tony Snow’s passing.

    The Left does not wish to engage in any political debate with those that disagree with them. The Left doesn’t grant “good faith” to those that politically disagree with them. The Left just wants them dead.

    Somewhere, Stalin is smiling.

  • Yeah, Dar, because the .000000007% of blog=readers who bother commenting are representative of anything.

    That said, I’m pretty grossed out by this thread. If you had stuck to calling these people ghoulish scumbags, I’d be right there with ya.

    I guess some people just use every bit of incoming information as a way to reinforce their narrow little worldview, and to puff themselves up. Sound like anyone you know, Dar?

  • screw you dar and screw you gil man.

    tony snow was a nasty piece of work and worked for other nasty pieces of work.

    hypothetically, sure, no one likes to hear that someone who has not passed the age of 65 or 70 has died. sure, no one likes to hear that someone who has not passed the age of 65 or 70 has died from a preventable cancer.

    but this is not hypothetical. tony snow was an actual piece of shit.

    what do either of you propose as the appropriate length of time after shit dying for it to be permissible to acknowledge good riddance to bad rubbish? one day? two days? three days? a week? a month? never?

    yeah, i thought so.

    if you’re a delicate flower, avert your gaze.

    tony snow was a nasty piece of work and will most definitely not be missed.

  • gil

    at dKos a 777 comment thread went right down the memory hole today. HuffPo, knowing their readership, didn’t allow comments. John Cole at Balloon Juice specifically asked that no one piss on Tony Snow’s still warm body and he’s catching what all from them.

    That’s the “reality-based” community, as evidenced by the indecent Karen above. “The personal is the political” has been the Left’s watchword since the 70’s. Anybody that disagree’s with Left talking points is not “mistaken” but eeevvviillll.

    Which is ironic, since the same Left will not call people who blow up buses full of Jewish people “evil.”

    to Karen — get help, dear.

  • Dar & gil_mann…

    Do you have any good examples of what Tony Snow, in his professional life, did good for society?

    I’m not talking about Tony Snow as a human being and family man, but as the mouth piece the majority of people knew him for.

    Personally, I can say that I’ve done quite a few good things for society in my life, even though I will never have the podium he had that gave him the opportunity to do so.

    I’m not a coward or anonymous poster: I use my real name, and actually would have told him to his face what I felt about his blatant lies and distortions, if I had a chance. Unfortunately, given his position, I probably would never have been allowed past the security bubble in order to do so.

  • Bruno

    Ok, I’ve now posted my full name.

    Tony Snow was 17 months in his position. Even if you disagree with him, does that 17 months define his whole life? His professional life was one of being a writer, editor, columnist and then newscaster. If he touched people positively in the whole length of that career, who are you to say he did no good? If he was a decent man in his private life, good husband, good father, that too impacts society, so who are you to dismiss that?

    Adults can disagree politically. The juvenile attach personal moral worth to political views and thus dismiss the personhood of the individual they disagree with.

    Which are you, bruno? Adult or child?

  • Tony Snow was 17 months in his position. Even if you disagree with him, does that 17 months define his whole life? His professional life was one of being a writer, editor, columnist and then newscaster.

    The elephant in the middle of your paragraph is pronounced FOX. He was a founding anchor and spent ten-plus years there helping this shameless tool of the right energetically do the most possible damage to journalism–and to the country.

    If you want to judge Snow on his entire career rather than his stint as White House liar in chief, that’s fine. But show a little honesty about what that career involved.

  • Maria, you beat me to it…. How convenient of Darleen Click to omit the obvious.

    Yet no concrete example of what good he did…. That warm fuzzy stuff you’re talking about, goes for everybody… His private life is of no consequence, as none of that influenced our lives.

    Or… do you think it is OK to spew all those lies and distortions, then go home and be the good family men… Because it is all in a day’s work, and should not be held against you?

    You made a good point by pointing out that he was a “…His professional life was one of being a writer, editor, columnist and then newscaster… You forgot to mention that there wasn’t much truth associated with his writings.

    The ‘NEWScaster ‘would be more representative if you called it ‘IDEOLOGEcaster.’

  • oh good god, Fox is evil because it’s not CNN, NBC, CBS, NYTimes, WaPo, SFGate, LATimes, NPR, …

    because Leftism is the TRUE religion and we cannot have apostates in our midst.

    And when Obamessiah is coronated, then we can move to wipe out righwingerthuglican radio, then wingers using the internets

    No disagreement allowed! Non-leftists never argue in good faith, they are nothing but lying liars lying all the time.

    BECAUSE RETHUGLICANS AND CON-SERVATIVES HAVE NO REASON TO LIVE!

    Good lord, what a bunch of purile dreck you people peddle.

  • Darleen, if you’re fundamentally incapable of critically analyzing news sources, I’m not sure what you think you’re adding to a conversation in which you’re arguing for Snow’s credentials as a journalist.

  • Wouldn’t it be cool that after the long – awaited demise of the Bush crime family/administration’s war on science that researchers instantly found a cure for Snowjobs cancer?

  • Wow, you guys are lucky. It flies in the face of the law of averages, but clearly, none of you valiant liberal truth-tellers have friends or family members with disagreeable politics. Must make life nice and tidy for ya, not having to recognize the common humanity of wrong-thinking people.

    Bruno: No, actually, I don’t have any good examples of what Tony Snow, in his professional life, did good for society. But my point isn’t to defend him, it’s to vent my disgust with you lot for being such a horrid pack of jackals.

    On the positive side, y’all proved Darleen Click right about something–can’t say I’ve had the honor, but she strikes me as someone who doesn’t get to be right a whole hell of a lot.

  • May all beings live in and die in peace. The suffering of anyone, including people with unpopular ideas, is a tragedy. Condolences to his family and friends.

    By the way, who are the blue meanies on this site who wish cancer on anybody? What is decent, humane, or progressive about that sort of vicious comment????

  • OOOoooh, look at me! I’m so high and mighty because I won’t tell the truth about a dead man! Oooh, that makes me so much better!

    No.
    No it does not.
    Respect is earned, not automatic.
    And dying does not somehow magically confer it.

  • Darleen, gil: People like you are the worst kind of concern trolls. While I take no joy in watching people dance on others’ graves, you’re basically trying to white-wash a very bad and untrustworthy man’s life just because he is dead now. At least the people you are looking down your nose toward have the facts of this man’s life on their side. You have nothing but a churlish sense of smug superiority.

    Darleen, you in particular are an utter hypocrite about this, what with your “Stalin is smiling” comment at #31. So it’s OK to speak ill of a dead man you personally don’t like, but oh, not Dubya’s wonderful Mr. Tony Snow! If you’re going to sneer at people for speaking ill of the dead, be consistent.

  • Off-topic a bit (and ain’t that a tragedy), but I think news like this, and the various opinions of the liberals and progressives about it, kinda proves that (and this is SO profound), not all people think alike. Shocking I know. But just because most, if not all, of us feel the same way on the war in iraq or abstinence-based sex ed or gay marriage, or Gitmo or Bush being a war criminal, we might all have different opinions on other matters, like whether or not a man who made a living peddling conservative swill should be treated with dignity and respect because he’s shuffled off this mortal coil.

    When libs/progs treat their ideological enemies with respect, the right mocks them for being no-ball pussies, too weak to be taken seriously, too chicken-shit to stand up in a fight. Ain’t that just like a lib?

    But when libs/progs DO show that backbone, decide that some people are beyond considerate thought or the respect to have their opinions heard (and that’s not just reserved for the departed, we’ve all gone batshit crazy over the batshit crazy utterings of people like Bolton and Kristol and Hannity and Grand Poobah [with the accent on Poo] Limbaugh), then they’re shrill, they’re snotty, their sarcasm exposes them for being the effete intellectuals they are or think they are. And really, ain’t that just like a lib?

    Just because we share some outrage on certain subjects doesn’t mean we have to feel the same way on every news story. If the story were about Tony Snow writing his memoirs, or hosting a one-hour special on the history of the media in the war in Iraq, none of us would be gushing praise. I completely understand the “hey, come on man, show some respect at least for his family” mentality. But really, some people’s legacies are undeserving of respect, and imho, Snow’s legacy is one of them. He willingly peddled lies for 10 years on Fox News, not reporting the news, but shaping people’s perception of reality by coloring the truth to suit the needs of his corporate masters. His time peddling lies directly for the Bush Administration (with those lies well-documented all over the web, on the Daily Show, everywhere but the “real” media), lies he knew were lies, makes it hard for me, for one, to be silent and respectful. His shame should be shouted for rooftops, if for no other reason, than to insure that no dickhead journalism (or probably a Communications) major in college doesn’t grow up looking at Snow as a role model.

  • Shade, please consult your intertubes glossary. Darleen* is a straight-up right-winger (and probably a troll, though I guess there’s an outside chance she really is this passionate about it and isn’t just looking to set lefties off), and I’m not sure what I am, but if I were a concern troll, I’d point out how poorly you reflect on Carpetbagger in particular and, in a more general sense, non-ghoulish people who also support Social Security, universal health care, not taking over countries just for the hell of it, etc., and that your ideological enemies can now use your own words against you. And that atheists and Michelle Obama are angry. Concern trolling’s like the blues– a severely limited palette, but it’s what you do within its strictures.

    Actually, I guess I’m a troll too, since I don’t care about Snow and only piped up because people were being so awful. I know, I’m compromised–and probably a Bush supporter–because I’m not comfortable speaking The Truth no matter what the circumstance, not like that’s the BASIS FOR CIVILIZED SOCIETY or anything.

    Slappy, this isn’t about his legacy. This is about people hearing he died and saying “good.” If that’s the wages of not being on our side, why aren’t we talking assassination? That’d be more utilitarian than waiting until they’re harmless and then spitting on their corpses.

    Of course, no matter what I type, it’ll show up in comments as I >Oooh, that makes me so much better!

    HmDK, I’m not gonna lie to ya. It TOTALLY DOES. I make up for it in plenty of other ways, but in this case, yeah. Save it for Rumsfeld. And frankly, anyone who’s not spent from dancing on Helms’s grave wasn’t dancing on Helms’s grave hard enough.

    *whose thing about Stalin was dumb enough on its own that you didn’t need to willfully misinterpret it

  • There’s a chunk missing up there where I tried to make a sideways heart and it did something HTML-wise, and what’s weird is it ended up cutting out a joke that was about HTML. I guess HTML didn’t find it funny.

    If you got far enough to read what I’m talking about your life is even sadder than mine, but still, just to clarify.

  • One difference between Liberals and Conservatives is that Liberals seek to assassinate the character of dead Conservatives but its not the case the other way around. But thats OK, because you’re all just soooo righteous.

  • Tony Snow lies dead. Munchkins sing and dance. Obama throws water on Republican-lie-wielding McCain, and melts him. Moving on now….

  • […] Liberals seek to assassinate the character of dead Conservatives but its not the case the other way around. — Richard Miller, @49

    Let me make sure that I understand you correctly… You’re saying that dead Conservatives do not seek to assassinate the character of (presumably living) Liberals? I should hope not! Conservatives, once well and truly dead, should stay silent (except, maybe, on Halloween).

    All this “de mortuis nil nisi bono”… So much hooey. I’m sorry for Snowjob’s family. I’m even sorry — a little bit — for him that, terminally ill as he had been, he had to try and look for a better paying job, to take care of his condition (and his family, once he was gone). But. Death doesn’t make him a better person that what he’d achieved in his lifetime, any more than getting shot down and captured 40 yrs ago makes McCain an ideal president.

  • DICK Miller says:One difference between Liberals and Conservatives is that Liberals seek to assassinate the character of dead Conservatives but its not the case the other way around. But thats OK, because you’re all just soooo righteous.

    Well DICK, you’re saying that conservatives (by that you mean those who value small government, individual rights and fiscal responsibility, right?? Have you checked bu$$h’s record lately? But then again, I’m sure you don’t care.) don’t assassinate the character of dead repigs? Hmmm. Guess that’s probably true, Mainly b/c you get off on assassinating the character of live and dead Democrats, even those with no legs and only one arm that they lost in a war fighting for our great country (remember what you and your ilk did to Max Cleland?). Ever listen to your drug-addict hero, Rush, or rather, Rust Limpbone, kicking the man and the legacy of FDR? So, do us all a favor, take your high and mighty condescension, and your faux indignation, and stick it where the sun don’t shine, if you squeeze it past your head.

  • Right, Dick, conservatives never hail the death or ill health of Democrats. THere was genuine outpouring of emotion and prayer circles all around the right-wing media when Ted Kennedy went under the knife a few weeks ago.

    Jackass.

    BTW, Dick Miller is one of my favorite character actors, and while he usually plays tough-talking conservative types, he’d probably punch you in the dick if he knew someone was using his name to peddle such swill.

  • gil @ #47: “if I were a concern troll, I’d point out how poorly you reflect on Carpetbagger in particular and, in a more general sense, non-ghoulish people who also support Social Security, universal health care, not taking over countries just for the hell of it, etc.”

    Hypocrite much, Gil? Are you so self-absorbed that you don’t realize how you utterly contradict yourself in just that one sentence?

    You *are* a concern troll, Gil, and, contrary to what you want to believe, that makes you beneath me and almost everyone else here. Except Darleen. You’re equal to that. Congratulations, troll.

  • Yes, Shade, I realize the contradiction. It’s called being cheeky. There are all sorts of playful uses to which you can put the language when you see it as more than just a cudgel.

    I didn’t intend to draw you out and get you all worked up, but I can’t say I’m unhappy it turned out that way. I guess I AM a troll, and a damned effective one at that.

  • It is truly amazing how inconsiderate and vile liberals can be. Worse than spoiled children with their hatred.

    When something happens to someone on the left, the right wing blogs are respectable and considerate.

    When something happens to someone on the right, the lefty blogs get shut down to prevent embarrassment by their childish commenters.

    Observing that behavior alone says a LOT about the two separate ideologies.

    Another confirmation that I am on the RIGHT side of this battle.

  • “concern troll” — interesting meme. so folks appalled by the lack of human dignity in exchange for political expediency are branded as such. i guess ghandi and the dalai lama qualify as concern trolls.

    not sure this is ‘change we can believe in’.

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