Tony Snow (1955-2003)

Former White House press secretary Tony Snow died this morning at the age of 53. Tragically, he died far too young.

I always learned that if you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all.

Bye bye Tony

Another one bites the dust.

Tony Snow has announced that he's leaving the White House staff in two weeks. His last day, September 14, is the same as Karl Rove's last day, and three days before the official departure of Alberto Gonzales.

Although his unfortunate battle with cancer clearly has affected him, he's said that the reason he's leaving is because he's not making enough money as White House press secretary. This, of course, converts him from a potentially tragic figure into just another Bush crime syndicate jerk.

Also, I discovered this news because of a tremendous leap in hits on this sucky blog due to people searching for information on Snow's replacement, Dana Perino (right). I wrote about her when she first took over for Snow on an interim basis last March, and now my post is the 10th hit when you Google her name. Nice.

Well, Tony joins a long list of rats departing the sinking (sunken?) ship. I really do have sympathy for the guy for his illness, but to deny his illness and say that he's leaving for financial reasons? I think that's just ridiculous. If it's true, it's just sad, and if it's not true, then he's a bigger jerk for not being man enough to admit the extent of his illness.

See ya, Tony. Hopefully not having to lie and obfuscate on your boss' behalf in the future will give you better health ...

Color me suspicious

Hmmm ... I see Drunky McStagger is responding to his slap on the wrist from SCOTUS:

President Bush responded to a Supreme Court environmental ruling by settling on regulatory changes that don't need congressional approval, the White House said Monday.

Bush is announcing the steps he is directing his administration to take to combat air pollution in a Rose Garden appearance later Monday.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said the approach would involve several agencies, including the departments of Transportation, Agriculture and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

"What the president is now doing is saying to the relevant departments and agencies, 'You need to work together,' because it's enormously complex in terms and jurisdiction and everything else," Snow said.

Okay, setting aside the inherent comedy in Drunky being involved with anything "enormously complex," take a look again at the character of the changes he's proposing. What do you notice there?

"President Bush responded to a Supreme Court environmental ruling by settling on regulatory changes that don't need congressional approval"

What they mean, clearly, is "changes that don't risk congressional rejection." When has any ruling by the Bush crime syndicate been what's best for the country ... or the planet? Remember, this is the group that gave us "clean skies" that were anything but ... and so on.

Look for more changes that mean nothing, or that somehow benefit Big Business (and Big GOP Donors), over actually helping the environment. Announcement coming this afternoon ...

Who is Dana Perino?

With the news today that White House Fluffer Press Secretary Tony Snow sadly has suffered a recurrence of cancer*, we turn to his stand-in (and heir apparent?), Dana Perino. Sure, she's got a face made for The Weather Channel, but there's so much more to her than that. Why, she was the Outstanding Alumna at Colorado State University-Pueblo in 2003:

Dana Perino attended the University of Southern Colorado from 1990 - 94 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in mass communications and a minor in both political science and Spanish. While attending the University, Dana was very active on the forensics team and with KTSC. From there, Dana attended graduate school at the University of Illinois - Springfield where she also worked as a daily reporter covering the Illinois Capitol for WCIA-TV, a CBS affiliate. She then went on to work in Washington, D.C. for Rep. Scott McInnis of Colorado as a staff assistant before serving nearly 4 years as the press secretary for retired Colorado Congressman Dan Schaefer.

After Rep. Schaefer announced his retirement, Dana moved to England to marry Peter McMahon. After a year in England, Dana and Peter moved back to the United States and resided in San Diego, California for three years. During that time, Dana worked in the field of high-tech public affairs.

Two months after the September 11th terrorist attacks, Dana returned to Washington, D.C. to serve as a spokesperson for the Department of Justice. Several months later, she was asked to join the White House where she now [in 2003 - Ed.] serves as the Director of Communications for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). By statute, the CEQ oversees the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act, where all federal agencies must complete environmental assessments on their activities before they take action.

As the director of communications, Ms. Perino communicates many times a day with the President's director of communications, his press secretary and his director of media affairs, handling all environment-related media calls for the White House, as well as serving as the spokesperson for the White House on environmental issues. In addition, she serves as the coordinator for all agencies on environment, energy and natural resource issues, as well as reviewing and approving the agencies' major announcements, while keeping the other White House offices apprised of CEQ actions.

This is all well and good. However, based on the skills and experience of other young women in the Bush administration crime syndicate, it's really fealty to King George that's the most important qualification of all. Plus she lived in England. They probably need someone like her so Drunky McStagger can find England on a map.

So now you know ... the rest of the story.

* The rightwing nutjobs think all liberals are rooting for Snow's death. It's just not true. I wouldn't wish cancer on anyone, even someone as reprehensible and morally bankrupt as Tony Snow, and I wish him and his family the best.

House sets deadline: August 31, 2008

The House of Representatives just passed a spending bill that would fund military operations in Iraq, but requires that combat troops leave the country by August 31 of next year.

It didn't pass by much, though, meaning a lot of Democrats voted "no."

Before the 218-212 vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told CNN that Democrats had the numbers to pass the bill.

To get the votes, the leadership had to win over anti-war Democrats who felt that the measure didn't go far enough.

But some of the war's most liberal critics said they weren't buying it.

"Four years ago we were told we had no alternative but to go to war. Now we're told we have no alternative but to continue to war for another year or two," Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, said. "The fact of the matter is we do have alternatives."

Kucinich said, "Congress has the power to stop funding the war. That's what we should do. That's what we should have done and that's what I'm going to continue to work toward. We have to get out of Iraq, period."

However, Rep. James McGovern, an anti-war Democrat from Massachusetts who had been on the fence, said he would vote yes.

"I have come to the conclusion that defeating the supplemental bill before us today would send a message to George Bush and Dick Cheney that they will continue to have a free pass from this Congress to do whatever the hell they want to do," McGovern said during Thursday's floor debate on the measure.

McGovern's not the only one. Rep. Elijah Cummings, an anti-war Democrat from Maryland who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said he's been getting mixed signals from constituents.

But Cummings said he was ready to vote yes, insisting that Democratic leaders have not twisted his arm.

"A vote against the supplemental would cause us to have a stripped-down bill, and there would be no voice saying, 'Mr. Bush, stop this war immediately.' "

The bill's chances for becoming law aren't that great, speaking objectively. Someone who never speaks objectively agrees:

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Thursday the House bill "has zero chance of being enacted into law."

"It's bad legislation; the president's going to veto it, and Congress will sustain that veto," he said.

But it sends an important message, that the Bush crime syndicate is losing traction and losing support, both on Capitol Hill and elsewhere.

Yes, I believe the House should go farther; I agree with Rep. Kucinich and others. But the political reality is that cutting funds lock, stock, and barrel is never going to pass, even in the current climate. We just can't afford ideological purity right now.

Indeed, what the House has done here is not a meaningless gesture. It's an important step towards recognizing that the "war" in Iraq is misguided and futile. If Drunky McStagger and his gang don't recognize that now, they'll be forced to recognized it soon enough.

Hurry up and wait, redux

The other day I noted that the preznit is deciding what to do about Iraq, but he won't tell us until January. Said Bush spokesman Tony Snow, "Nanny nanny boo boo."

Not really. But the Great Decider is still deciding:

Explaining the delay in unveiling his own new war blueprint, Snow said Tuesday the president "generally knows what direction he wants to move in" on Iraq but wanted more information from his advisers about the ramifications for the U.S. military, Iraq's internal politics, regional relations and other matters.

"There may be some areas on which there are still going to be debates, but most have kind of been ironed out," Snow said.

Hoo boy, that's some kinda certainty there. "Kind of been ironed out?" I guess that's a big STFU "we'll get back to you on that."

But on Wednesday, [Snow] sought to play down the idea that the president had made most of his decisions.

"By a direction, I meant a general direction," he told reporters. "I apologize if that gave the impression that it's down to 'this and this and this.' There are still a lot of options that are being examined."

Perhaps, but you wouldn't know it by the headline (which may have been changed by the time you read this):


Yep, he's a decider all right.