OOPS! New White House Spokesman DISSED BUSH on FOX NEWS

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 11:03pm

Tony Snow On President Bush: ‘An Embarrassment,’ ‘Impotent,’ ‘Doesn’t Seem To Mean What He Says’



Fox News’ Tony Snow is expected to be named White House Press Secretary. Here’s some of what he’s had to say about the President:

– Bush has “lost control of the federal budget and cannot resist the temptation to stop raiding the public fisc.” [3/17/06]

– “George W. Bush and his colleagues have become not merely the custodians of the largest government in the history of humankind, but also exponents of its vigorous expansion.” [3/17/06]

– “President Bush distilled the essence of his presidency in this year’s State of the Union Address: brilliant foreign policy and listless domestic policy.” [2/3/06]

– “George Bush has become something of an embarrassment.” [11/11/05]

– Bush “has a habit of singing from the Political Correctness hymnal.” [10/7/05]

– “No president has looked this impotent this long when it comes to defending presidential powers and prerogatives.” [9/30/05] expand post »
Tony Snow On President Bush: ‘An Embarrassment,’ ‘Impotent,’ ‘Doesn’t Seem To Mean What He Says’

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 11:07pm

PJ, does it really matter anymore? This freaking Administration is so retarded that Patti and Braverman are asking Bush to play Corky for a revival of Life Goes On!

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 11:11pm

Brd - please sent me a tissue to clean off my computer monitor.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 11:25pm

Send a box my way....

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 11:27pm

– Bush “has given the impression that [he] is more eager to please than lead, and that political opponents can get their way if they simply dig in their heels and behave like petulant trust-fund brats, demanding money and favor — now!” [9/30/05]

– “When it comes to federal spending, George W. Bush is the boy who can’t say no. In each of his three years at the helm, the president has warned Congress to restrain its spending appetites, but so far nobody has pushed away from the table mainly because the president doesn’t seem to mean what he says.” [The Detroit News, 12/28/03]

– “The president doesn’t seem to give a rip about spending restraint.” [The Detroit News, 12/28/03]

– “Bush, for all his personal appeal, ultimately bolstered his detractors’ claims that he didn’t have the drive and work ethic to succeed.” [11/16/00]

– “Little in the character of demeanor of Al Gore or George Bush makes us say to ourselves: Now, this man is truly special! Little in our present peace and prosperity impels us to say: Give us a great man!” [8/25/00]

– “George W. Bush, meanwhile, talks of a pillowy America, full of niceness and goodwill. Bush has inherited his mother’s attractive feistiness, but he also got his father’s syntax. At one point last week, he stunned a friendly audience by barking out absurd and inappropriate words, like a soul tortured with Tourette’s.” [8/25/00]

– “He recently tried to dazzle reporters by discussing the vagaries of Congressional Budget Office economic forecasts, but his recitation of numbers proved so bewildering that not even his aides could produce a comprehensible translation. The English Language has become a minefield for the man, whose malaprops make him the political heir not of Ronald Reagan, but Norm Crosby.” [8/25/00]

– “On the policy side, he has become a classical dime-store Democrat. He gladly will shovel money into programs that enjoy undeserved prestige, such as Head Start. He seems to consider it mean-spirited to shut down programs that rip-off taxpayers and mislead supposed beneficiaries.” [8/25/00]

[justme2]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 12:24am

Why would they ask Snow to be Spokesman if he is saying things like this?

(not that I disagree with Snow in the least...)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 12:33am

Ask Papa.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 12:34am

Can you hear me?

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 12:35am

The guy sounds pretty eloquent, I'll give him that.

[justme2]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 12:41am

HA! great one brdlwyr!

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 7:31am

so let me get this straight, this president, who according to some never listens to opposing viewpoints, allows this person who has so many terrible things to say about him to be press secretary? and this is a bad thing how? let's face it, some people are going to criticize bush no matter what he does, they're so deranged by hatred. myself, i'm giggling hysterically. just as i was when discussing this possibility with a friend last week. i'm giving helen a month before she strokes out mid-interruption.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 7:41am

Please. Critically read what this man is saying. he might be seeming to come down hard on Bush, but when your criticism of him is that he's acting like a Democrat (when god knows he's not), you sort of lose me with that one.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 7:44am

...is that they chose Tony Snow becuase only he can "bust" the "false" perception that Bush lives "in a bubble."

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 7:50am

the official republican spin...is that they chose tony snow becuase only he can "bust" the "false" perception that bush lives "in a bubble."

uh, and that's 'cuz he worked for fox news which has been so hard on the president, right? please, is this really the best ya got on this, pj?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 8:13am

That's from the White House, don't blame me.

Clearly another nomination that was not thought out.

They assumed that BECAUSE he was from Fox News, he would follow the party line. Now they're spinning to make it look like they did this on purpose.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 8:18am

This just solidifies something anyone in the political communication arena has known for quite some time -- Republican press secretaries can be bought and sold.

I mean, do you KNOW how many openly gay press folks have gone back into the closet to be a part of this administration!?

If I was okay with outing people, I'd write a list.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 8:19am

If they asked ME, I could write a BOOK...!

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 8:45am

That Snow guy reminds me of Don Murray.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 9:14am

well, damn that thinkprogress.org website for getting out the white house's message. probably another rovian plot. how can they fall for it time after time?

[Elphaba]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 10:05am

I loved Life Goes On........

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 10:11am

From the CNN article on Snow's appointment: "The position will be Snow's second stint at the White House, where he was director of speechwriting during the President George H.W. Bush's administration."

Wow. They really should have just mined Bush I's entire administration from the very beginning. They really stretched far outside their comfort zone on this one.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 10:11am

More from thinkprogress. Snow repeats the right-wing false hood about Valerie Plame not being covert, when it's been said time and time again that the CIA sent the case to Justice because she WAS covert.

===


Tony Snow On The Issues «

Fox News’ Tony Snow is the new White House Press Secretary. Here’s a look at where he stands on some key issues:

ON BUSH’S ENERGY POLICY: “This year’s presidential clunkers included an energy policy filled with stuff that even Jimmy Carter abandoned…It is as if some huckster got the chief executive’s ear and told him about the can’t-miss investment of the future: cellulose fermentation. Impressed, the president wants everybody to invest. It’s like a chain letter, only compulsory.” [Townhall.com, 2/3/06]

ON BUSH’S MEDICARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: “Bill, how does the president persuade conservatives in his own party that he’s one of them, given what we’ve seen with spending? You’ve seen Medicare, you’ve seen an education bill. These are things, I dare say, that if they’d been done under Bill Clinton, Republicans would have been howling.” [Fox News Sunday, 11/30/03]

ON RACIAL INEQUALITY: “Those eager to exploit differences between blacks and whites in America ignore the fact that the differences have all but vanished.” [Townhall, 1/20/06]

ON PROGRESSIVE TAXATION: “Furthermore, progressive taxation undermines the notion of shared citizenship…The federal law thus treats economic success the same way it treats embezzlement or murder — as a forbidden activity to be punished with increasingly harsh sanctions.” [Townhall.com, 3/2/01]

ON THE RULE OF LAW: “The president, in his responsibilities as commander in chief, sometimes has to do things that may or may not comport with the law…[T]he argument has always been that the constitutional obligation to serve as commander in chief sometimes pushes aside contemporary laws. [O’Reilly Factor, 1/20/06]

ON HIGH GAS PRICES: “Why is that per gallon crude oil price so high? Because people are jittery. You’ve got a guy in Iran saying we’re going to build a nuclear weapon. You’ve got people complaining about Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon. There are jitters about the stability of the Middle East.” [O’Reilly Factor, 4/18/06]

ON THE VALERIE PLAME INVESTIGATION: “Now, it turns out that [special counsel] Peter (sic: Patrick) Fitzgerald doesn’t — can’t even identify any harm. She wasn’t a covert agent. She wasn’t compromised. As a result, what you’re doing is possibly sending a senior administration official off about a faulty memory over something that wasn’t a crime.” [O’Reilly Factor, 2/3/06]

ON RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES: “Conservative columnist Tony Snow criticized [former Sen. Robert] Smith and other ‘Taliban Republicans’ for their rigid views. ‘The Taliban Republicans take a dark view of human nature,’ Snow wrote. ‘They consider the rest of us a bunch of potential dupes and regard society as a stew of corrupting influences.’” [Church & State, 9/99]
Tony Snow On The Issues

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 10:18am

ON RACIAL INEQUALITY: “Those eager to exploit differences between blacks and whites in America ignore the fact that the differences have all but vanished.” [Townhall, 1/20/06]

!!!! Aside from, in some places, finally being able to drive down the street without pointing and staring, I wonder how exactly he'd describe these differences having vanished.

ON THE VALERIE PLAME INVESTIGATION: “Now, it turns out that [special counsel] Peter (sic: Patrick) Fitzgerald doesn’t — can’t even identify any harm. She wasn’t a covert agent. She wasn’t compromised. As a result, what you’re doing is possibly sending a senior administration official off about a faulty memory over something that wasn’t a crime.” [O’Reilly Factor, 2/3/06]

Wow. But let's impeach Clinton over lying about a sexual encounter that had NOTHING to do with his administration.
Seriously. This is one time when but, but, but, Clinton! is the accurate retort.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 10:22am

Conisdering that Washington DC is about as racially diverse as the KKK, I wonder how he'd know the status of racial equality.

Did he go to a black church and find out that they say the word "Jesus," too?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 10:58am

More Snow jobs on race below from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

===

Welcome Tony Snow!

April 26, 2006
By: Phil Singer, DSCC

Considering how critical he has been of George Bush and his handling of fiscal spending, security, and domestic policy, it will be curious to see how Tony Snow steps into his role as White House spokesman. The following is a short compilation of some of Snow’s greatest hits on George Bush and the White House as well as a collection of his more memorable quotes on a number of social issues, including a defense of David Duke and his claim that “racism isn't that big a deal anymore.”


ON GOP/BUSH ADMINISTRATION

2006: Snow Said Bush Looks “Guilty.” In light of Bush’s mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, the Dubai ports deal, and plummeting approval ratings, Snow said “…you ever seen those guilty guys in a court case, you know, the guilty guys are sitting passively? That's what the president looks like…” [Fox News, 3/4/06]

2005: Snow Said Bush Looks Impotent. “No president has looked this impotent this long when it comes to defending presidential powers and prerogatives.” [Snow Column, 9/30/05]

2006: Snow Said Bush “Lost Control” of Budget. In his syndicated column, Snow wrote, “A Republican president and a Republican Congress have lost control of the federal budget and cannot resist the temptation to stop raiding the public fisc. George W. Bush and his colleagues have become not merely the custodians of the largest government in the history of humankind, but also exponents of its vigorous expansion.” [Snow Column, 3/17/06]

2005: Snow Called Bush an “Embarrassment” Following the Democratic electoral wins in 2005, Snow said that “…George Bush has become something of an embarrassment.” [Snow Column, 11/11/05]

2006: Snow Criticized Bush’s Domestic Policy Commenting on Bush’s State of the Union Address, Snow called Bush’s domestic policy “listless.” [Snow Column, 2/3/06]

2000, 2003: Snow Found Fault with Bush’s Fiscal Policies. Snow has sharp words for Bush on his lack of “spending restraint.” In 2003, Tony Snow said, “When it comes to federal spending, George W. Bush is the boy who can’t say no. In each of his three years at the helm, the president has warned Congress to restrain its spending appetites, but so far nobody has pushed away from the table mainly because the president doesn’t seem to mean what he says.” In 2000, Snow said Bush “will shovel money into programs that enjoy undeserved prestige, such as Head Start.” [The Detroit News, 12/28/03; Snow Column, 8/25/00 ]

2000: Snow Took Bush to Task On His Grammar. In 2000, Snow said Bush got “his father’s syntax. At one point last week, he stunned a friendly audience by barking out absurd and inappropriate words, like a soul tortured with Tourette’s.” In the same column, Snow wrote that “The English Language has become a minefield for the man, whose malaprops make him the political heir not of Ronald Reagan, but Norm Crosby.” [Snow Column, 8/25/00]

2004: Snow Criticized Bush’s CIA. Snow said, “We have now got a CIA that is largely incapable of putting human assets, spies on the ground, and seeing things. And furthermore, there's a huge deficit of people who can even speak languages, such as Arabic, to be able to blend in with the local culture.” [The O'Reilly Factor, 7/9/04]

ON SOCIAL ISSUES

2003: “Racism Isn’t That Big a Deal Anymore.” In October 2003, Snow defended Rush Limbaugh’s controversial comments that Donovan McNabb was overrated and that reporters are disposed towards black quarterbacks. “The comment wasn't racist,” Snow said, “but that did not stop political opportunists from accusing Rush of bias.” Snow added, “Racism isn't that big a deal anymore.” [“Fox News Sunday,” 10/5/03, emphasis added]

1991: Snow Defended David Duke. In 1991, then-White House speechwriter Tony Snow defended former KKK leader David Duke, saying, “Duke is talking about things people really care about: high taxes, crummy schools, crime-ridden streets, welfare dependency, equal opportunity. A lot of politicians aren't talking about these things.” [Chicago Tribune, 11/20/91]

2005: Snow Thinks Calling Racism Systemic Is “Making Excuses” In June 2005, Snow said that calling racism and poverty systemic is “making excuses” for cultural problems in the U.S. rather than trying to understand the situation of the poor. “When you say systemic, it sounds like you're trying to make excuses…in other words, it sounds like you're giving people a copout.” [The O’Reilly Factor, 6/30/05]

1999: Snow Said Keyes “Cries Racism” Too Often. In a discussion on the Republican presidential primary candidates, Snow accused Republican Alan Keyes of “crying racism” too often. Snow said, “He does have a penchant for crying racism … When he was at the State Department and he was the hot – the higher-ups there were not listening to him, he blew up and accused them of racism as well.” [Fox Special Report With Brit Hume; 12/3/99]

1998: Snow Loves The “Least Politically Correct” Holiday. In 1998, Tony Snow commented that he loves Thanksgiving because it is “the least politically correct” holiday. Snow said, “I love Thanksgiving. It is the least politically correct of all our holidays. It celebrates the old-fashioned bourgeois family. It praises God, who's creator non grata in most of our public schools, and it bespeaks our national faith in higher truths and greater goods, as well as in our neighbors and ourselves.” [Fox News Sunday, 10/30/98]

2000: Snow Knows of No Examples of Wrongful Execution. Snow said on Fox News that he has “never heard anybody come up with proof of anybody since 1976 who's been executed wrongly.” [Fox News: The Edge with Paula Zahn, 6/21/00]

1995: Snow Said Anti-Smoking Campaign “Federal Nannyism” Tony Snow wrote in a 1995 USA Today column that the government’s anti-smoking effort was “federal nannyism.” [USA Today, 4/14/95]
Welcome Tony Snow!