Tony Snow starts slipping

September 6, 2006

I’m beginning to think White House Press Secretary [tag]Tony Snow[/tag] hasn’t heard the phrase, “Never let ’em see you sweat.” With Labor Day behind us, and a challenging campaign season ahead, the pressure is on — and Snow is starting to wilt.

For example, Snow appeared on CNN yesterday afternoon to defend the White House strategy in Iraq. Wolf Blitzer had the temerity to bring up inconvenient facts, such as former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki’s pre-war prediction that “several hundred thousand soldiers” would be needed to maintain control over post-war Iraq. Snow responded:

“Well, and as you will recall, Wolf, when it came to the act of combat — as I recall what Ric Shinseki was talking about at the time is what was required to go in and take Baghdad. It turns out that it was the most effective military operations in history. […]

“I’m not going to sit around and engage in the game of gosh, what would we have thought back in April of 2003, because none of us quite knew exactly what to expect next. I am not going to hold [tag]Rumsfeld[/tag] accountable when neither you nor I would have been able to figure out what was going to happen.”

First, [tag]Shinseki[/tag] was talking about “post-hostilities control,” not just to take over Baghdad, so Snow was clearly mischaracterizing what happened. Second, for Snow to suggest that post-Saddam Iraq was a giant mystery that was impossible to predict is foolish — key officials at multiple agencies accurately predicted exactly would happen, and they were ignored or fired. And third, for the president’s official spokesperson to dismiss the notion of accountability for the Defense Secretary is not exactly a good sign.

But Snow was just getting started. Also yesterday, Snow decided to lash out wildly at Democrats with this gem:

“There have been some in the Democratic Party who have argued against the Patriot Act, against the terror surveillance program, against Guantanamo. In other words, there are some people who say that we shouldn’t fight the war, we should not detain — we shouldn’t apprehend al Qaeda, we shouldn’t detain al Qaeda, we shouldn’t question al Qaeda, and we shouldn’t listen to [tag]al Qaeda[/tag].”

When someone starts lying this recklessly, it generally means they’ve become unhinged. When the pressure is at its most intense, and high-ranking White House officials can’t keep their cool, it’s probably a sign that they’re in over their head.

And speaking of unhinged, Snow really lost it yesterday when dealing with NBC’s [tag]David Gregory[/tag].

Gregory: Okay. There’s so much emphasis by the President on his resolve and on the consequences of failure, which seems to dovetail to the political strategy of casting the vote as not a referendum on his leadership or his conduct in the war on terror, leading the war on terror, but on a choice between two parties and their visions. And I’m curious whether, in this document, there’s any reflection on the fact that this White House, this administration failed to anticipate a violent terrorist-based insurgency in Iraq, and also failed to adapt once it learned of its presence? And shouldn’t that be put before the voters this fall?

Snow: I think you’ve admirably expressed the Democratic point of view, but I don’t think —

Gregory: Actually, Tony, I don’t think that’s fair, if you look at the facts. If you look at the facts.

Snow: Well, I do…

Gregory: But hold on, let’s not let you get away with saying that’s a Democratic argument.

Snow: Okay, let me — let’s not let you get away with being rude. Let me just answer the question, and you can come back at me….

Gregory: Excuse me. Don’t point your finger at me. I’m not being rude.

Snow: Yes, you are.

Gregory: Don’t try to dismiss me as making a Democratic argument, Tony, when I’m speaking fact.

Snow: Well, okay — well, no —

Gregory: You can do that to the Democrats; don’t do it to me.

Snow’s reaction reminds me of the Stephen Colbert line, “Facts have a well-known liberal bias.”

Gregory pointed out reality, which as far as Snow is concerned, is a) to be immediately rejected out of hand; and b) dismissed as partisanship. So much for the “era of accountability.”

Remind me, how did Snow get this job?

Maybe during the move to the new location, the white house correspondents found their cajones in an old moving box marked “miscellaneous”.

I wonder if the correspondents in some way see Tony Snow as they would a competitor in the news business and aren’t eager to let him play alpha male any more.

Maybe the Busheoisie has done so much spin they’re dizzy.

  • “Some people” tell lies. We Americans are now finding out just who these “some people” are. “Some” have been producing policy from the WH, and “some” in Congress have been rubber stamping the loonacy. When “the American people” go to the polls in November, we will be voting out these “some people” we have been able to identify; not, however, with too much help from the MSM these past few years. Thank you for showing us the recent Snow jobs. -Kevo

  • ***Remind me, how did Snow get this job?***

    Who knows—maybe SnowFlake has a blue suit with an incriminating stain on it? Or was it a blue dress? You just never know, when it’s Tony Snow….

    Those interviews demonstrate two distinct facts. First, this administration is so wrapped up in itself that the denial of oxygen to the brain is now becoming quite evident. They’ve spun, and they’ve spun, and they’ve spun-spun-spun-spun—and now they’re like a spider with a really bad case of eye-web coordination, because they’ve trapped themselves in their own webs of deceit.

    But second—and herein lies the irony of it all—the media is beginning to turn away from this administration’s thoroughly-tarnished aura. It may well be that they’re trying to kick the kool-aid habit “cold turkey”—but it might also be that, seeing their political gravy-train about to turn into a massive train-wreck, they don’t want to be in the way when that “Tsunami of gravy” comes boiling down Pennsylvania Avenue. They’re beginning to realize that, if they don’t want to be on the outside, looking in, then they had better start mending fences with the Democratic Party; with moderates, progressives and liberals; with the now-clear majority of Americans in general….

  • Well, Steve, let’s hope the press continues to ask the questions it should have been asking for years.

  • If Wolf didn’t correct Snow than Snow won.

    I like David Gregory but I don’t know that he really won either.

    Are you sure we are judging Snow from the prespective of the undecided here, and not our own?

    Tony Snow got the job because of the Bushites’ total disdain for a Free Press and the American People.

  • I am not going to hold Rumsfeld accountable when neither you nor I would have been able to figure out what was going to happen.”

    Not withstanding the fact that “some people” did indeed figure out what was going to happen, wasn’t it supposed to be unka don’s job to know what was gonna happen? It certainly wasn’t tony’s or wolf’s job to know, although at least one of them may have had an idea.

    The whole idea of not holding rumsfeld accountable because tony wouldn’t have been able to figure it out is absurd in the extreme.

  • Kanopsis, it goes along with the idea that people want a president who’s a regular guy, not some fancy-pants who knows more than they do. Today’s White House is an environment where C students are valued and PhD’s are ridiculed.

  • the pressure is on — and Snow is starting to wilt. -CB

    Don’t you mean “the heat is on – and Snow is starting to melt?”

    😛

  • This could be their plan. Now that the Press is actually asking why and starting to hold them accountable the GOP will dismiss every inconvienent question or fact as liberal bias. I have a feeling that this will only hold water with the hard core nutjobs. Afterall theses should be questions that Snow can easily answer.

    As for Rumsfeld, kanopsis seems to have summed up the argument. By that logic, I should max out my credit cards and make minimum payments in anticipation fo a big lottery win. When th ebank comes to take everything i own I will simply say that I cannot tell the future and I fully expected to win the lottery. It’s not my fault I didn’t win!

  • “I am not going to hold Rumsfeld accountable when neither you nor I would have been able to figure out what was going to happen.”

    As kanopsis writes, this line of “thinking” is “absurd in the extreme.” As Rummy himself has said, once a plan is launched, the enemy has a say, so figuring out what would happen is ridiculous. What any responsible SoD would have done was prepare for contingencies, so that we would have at least been prepared to handle the unknowns we didn’t know because they couldn’t be known until they happened. Of course, to do this, one would have to entertain the notion that one’s initial assumptions might be wrong. The belief by Bush, Rummy, etc., that they are never wrong, is what got us into this mess and so many others.

  • Does it ever occur to these reporters, when Snow or any other shill accuses “some Democrats” or “some people”, to maybe ask the question “which Democrat or Democrats have ever said we should not apprehend or detain al Qaeda?”

  • Just to see a former Fox News talking head (and consumate “smooth guy”) wilt under pressure, and thus have the White House yearn for the days when Scotty McCellan ran the press room with his pet, Jeff Gannon, evokes one word: Priceless.

  • Lance beats me to something that i’m curious about: did wolf correct snow? or did he sit there, like a bump on a log, and move on to the next question, leaving the lie in place.

    as for snow, they got exactly what they wanted: a partisan gunslinger as press secretary.

  • “Remind me, how did Snow get this job?”

    The job of Press Secretary is to be the President’s mouthpiece, to deliver the President’s slant on (version of, lies about) the facts. Why anyone — especially the nation’s “top” “professional” “journalists” — takes Toady Snow (or anyone else in that job) seriously has always been beyond me. Snow is nothing more than a salesman looking for a sucker, a con artist looking for a mark. Get it?

    I guess for us, raised on nothing deeper than TeeVee imagery, “Would you buy a used car from this man?” only applies if the individual in question is an unshaven, glowering paranoid (Nixon, for those to young to remember). If you’re dressed up, coiffed and have a pleasant smile, cynicism about motives never enters the picture. Same goes for our screen-deep image of a news person: Katie Couric is among our premiere new people? Based on what exactly?

  • t.snow: none of us quite knew exactly what to expect…’

    add that to the ever-growing list of bullshit called ‘no one could’ve expected that…’

  • I’m curious, along with Lance and howard, about Blitzer’s reaction. Not having seen the show, I’d bet on the “bump on a log” posture. That’s his penetrating, hard-hitting style.

  • I am not going to hold Rumsfeld accountable when neither you nor I would have been able to figure out what was going to happen.

    To follow up on kanopsis and beep52: There’s a reason we want to hire competent, expert people to figure out such problems, rather than asking what some dipshit press secretary would do. I am constantly annoyed by people who argue with me, saying that if I personally cannot come up with a solution for the disaster in Iraq, I have no reason for complaint.

  • My desk calendar features highlights from “The Onion”. Yesterday, the headline was “Ari Fleischer Replaced By Toby Keith”, with a photoshopped image of the good-ole-boy C&W singer standing behind the White House press room microphones. Are the editors of The Onion prescient, or what?

    If Toby actually had the job, wouldn’t he be doing a better job for Bush today? Tough questions could be brushed aside with a casual “aw, shucks… that don’t really matter!”. Press conferences could be casually presented as the song and dance routines they have become. The press would hold up their lighters at the end of the show and everyone would go home with a free t-shirt.

  • For those who said it’s about time the press holds WH to the fire, I just wanted to note that David Gregory and Helen Thomas are two reporters that I know of who have been doing just that for quite some time.

    Secondly, re Snow’s comments — “They” will just say you are taking his comments out of context. But it is “they” who are way out of context. Their credibility with the American people is about equal to the number of reasons “they” have given for invading Iraq. I think it’s 27 as of today’s date.

  • “I’m not going to sit around and engage in the game of gosh, what would we have thought back in April of 2003, because none of us quite knew exactly what to expect next. I am not going to hold Rumsfeld accountable when neither you nor I would have been able to figure out what was going to happen.”

    Just like Democrats, concentrating on the past. Republicans focus on the future. How many times have you heard Rove, Mehlman, Bush, Cheney and all the boys spout that nonsense about focusing on the future? Any moron that saw the Iraqi army get their asses handed to them in Gulf Storm knew that they would not play easy targets in a high tech war ever again.

    Snow, the chief deceiver.

  • finally, someone is sticking the facts back in their lying faces and not letting them get away with it! we need more!

  • Just like Democrats, concentrating on the past. Republicans focus on the future. — Lou (22)

    I bet they’re all livid that the phrase “move on” is now so tied to the other side, they cannot use it…

  • “In other words, there are some people who say that we shouldn’t fight the war, we should not detain — we shouldn’t apprehend al Qaeda, we shouldn’t detain al Qaeda, we shouldn’t question al Qaeda, and we shouldn’t listen to al Qaeda.”

    Snow is equating opposition of the various Bushite big brother tactics with not wanting to apprehend/detain/question/listen to al Qaeda, so he could slither out of 2Manchu’s suggested questions (not that they would ever be asked). However, Democrats have said the opposite – that we should concentrate on al Qaeda, Bin Laden and other top al Qaeda strategists, and the al Qaeda network. Needless to say, this is met with I-don’t-even-think-about-them-that-much or the implication that they are not that important (Though Snow claims in this press briefing that Bin Laden is their number one objective, there is little evidence to support this). Al Qaeda is only important to the Bushites when they need a quick sound bite or they capture one of their operatives and they want a media show. Operatives that were likely driven into alliance with al Qaeda by the Iraq war.

    No, Tony Snow, Democrats do want to apprehend/detain/question/listen to al Qaeda. They just want to do those things within the framework of right that Americans supposedly hold dear and that protect our freedom. They actually seem more committed to this end that your ridiculous administration. No justification, before or during the Iraq fiasco, has ever trumped the capture and detention of Bin Laden and the other top people in al Qaeda. Yet several-fold more resources of all kinds have been committed to said fiasco than to al Qaeda directly.

    Sorry, Tony, We all want to fight terrorism. “Some people” just believe we can do it without discarding the very rights and freedoms that we are protecting.

  • Remind me, how did Snow get this job?

    As I recall, they couldn’t get anyone else to take the job. And they can always count on FOX.

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