I’ve respected the new White House press secretary Tony Snow for a long time, ever since the day he was substituting for Rush Limbaugh back in 1997, the day that Mother Teresa died. The manner in which he dealt with her death and lauded her life, especially in noting that her good works could not be separated from her faih. I was further impressed by, a few years later, how he talked about the importance of his family and how they took precedence over any work, however important. Finally, I’ve respected that he’s a straight shooter who talks sensibly and doesn’t get caught up in the Beltway mumbo-jumbo and that’s a very good reason he’s press secretary.
Which is why, I’m happy to see him taking the media by the horns so quickly. The NewsBusters blog quotes Bill Sammons of the DC Examiner:
New White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is starting off in a combative mode against the press by issuing detailed rebuttals to what he considers unfair coverage of Bush.
“The New York Times continues to ignore America’s economic progress,” blared the headline of an e-mail sent to reporters Wednesday by the White House press office.
Minutes earlier, another e-mail blasted CBS News, which has had an unusually rocky relationship with the White House since 2004, when CBS aired what turned out to be forged documents in a failed effort to question the president’s military service.
“CBS News misleadingly reports that only 8 million seniors have signed up for Medicare prescription drug coverage,” Wednesday’s missive said. “But 37 million seniors have coverage.”
Good for Snow. For too long the media have gotten away with slanting the coverage to suit their own liberal tendencies and now there’s someone in the White House who won’t go along with it. I just hope that someone else further up the food chain doesn’t get cold feet at the new, more combative approach. After all, what do they have to lose at this point? What they have to gain is the renewed respect of the President’s base of support.
Technorati Tags: media bias, politics, White House
Why d’ya think they hired him? (rhetorical question)All I can say is Let is Snow, let it Snow, let it Snow.