While not a zero-sum game, there’s certainly a downside to this apparent addition to the Bush administration.
Tony Snow will be named new White House press secretary on Wednesday morning, FOX News has learned. Snow is expected to be at the White House for the announcement. He has been mulling the offer for the last several days.
Long before the announcement, oddsmakers were banking on Snow, host of FOX News Talk’s “The Tony Snow Show,” to be tapped for the highly visible White House post.
“I expect to see him at the podium in just a few days, in the press room at the White House,” Fred Barnes, editor of The Weekly Standard and a FOX News contributor, said Tuesday.
The talk radio host was given a clean bill of health by his oncologist Tuesday, following a CAT scan and other tests that were undertaken last Thursday. Sources said Snow was President Bush’s first choice, but he needed the all-clear from his doctors before he takes the job. Snow is recovering from colon cancer.
“He would like to do it. If he gets an OK from his doctor, I expect it will be Tony Snow and the press will welcome him with open arms,” Time magazine columnist Margaret Carlson said during the day.
Loss: my radio, which usually brings me about an informative hour-or-so of the Tony Snow show each weekday. I’d probably go to the effort of catching more if it was carried live on the DFW airwaves.
Gain: a talented, intelligent and well-spoken frontman for a White House beaten down by a disgustingly-adversarial media. Snow is an informed individual, comfortable in front of the camera, who does his research and has often called out the Bush administration for doing a poor job of rallying support for our military and the administration’s own efforts. If anything is missing, perhaps it was time someone was brought in with a little more willingness to actually confront the White House press hounds when the situation practically begs for it. That said, I probably place a higher value on bitter but well-deserved sarcasm than the average American. On the other hand, just how much does the average American pay attention to press briefings by the White House press secretary? I’ll wager it’s less than I check the nutritional information before doubling the tasty, greasy, strangely-orange chili beef on my beloved Steak ‘n Shake chili mac.